Hi! Following a flurry of positive mentions on r/WallStreetBets, healthy retail flows, and recent record prices, gold and silver might just be the newest meme stocks, presumably bumping the likes of Opendoor to bronze place. Today we’re exploring:

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Pop-Tarts, Doritos, and Uncrustables have joined the protein craze taking over America’s snack aisle

If you thought coffee, popcorn, or beer were the last dominoes to fall in the race to proteinify everything… think again. The rising (pep)tide has now come for America’s favorite toaster pastry.

On Tuesday, Kellanova, the maker of Pop-Tarts, Eggo waffles, and Pringles, said it’s rolling out a “Pop-Tarts Protein” range in early November. The new offering will come in the brand’s three classic flavors: strawberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and blueberry, each containing 10 grams of protein per serving.

The launch comes after PepsiCo teased high-protein Doritos just last week, and JM Smucker released a protein-packed version of its Uncrustables earlier this month. All are part of the wider rush from CPG giants to reframe even their most processed snacks as healthy or functional, as the GLP-1 and wider fitness boom continue to affect consumers’ shopping and eating habits.

In the last couple of years, protein has even overtaken carbs in the diet discourse: Google search interest for “high protein” has surged ahead of that for “low carb,” which had long dominated diet trends before the pandemic.

According to Bain & Company’s April research, 44% of US consumers said they aim to eat more protein — up from 34% a year earlier and ahead of other trending foods surveyed, such as supplements and vitamins (36%), organics (29%), and unprocessed foods (15%). 

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Reading an article online? It’s now a coin flip whether it was authored by a human or AI

Ahh yes, it’s another great day to be someone who writes words for an online audience. I’m sure I won’t come across any news on the internet likely to send me into an existential spiral about my career choices… 

According to new figures from AI-powered SEO company Graphite, cited by Axios on Tuesday, artificial intelligence is now behind more online articles than humans, as the internet groans beneath the weight of bot-generated content more broadly. Yes, while OpenAI’s latest text-to-video generation model, Sora 2, has at once been captivating and horrifying audiences in recent weeks, AI has been starting to dominate the world of online writing for months now.

Rather than just totting up the amount of em dashes in the piece or checking if Margaux Blanchard cropped up in the byline, Graphite used AI detection software across a sample of 65,000 English-language online articles and listicles to gather the data. The company determined that examples mostly or wholly written by AI were outweighing human-authored versions as early as November 2024, almost exactly two years on from the launch of ChatGPT.

Our analysis of the same dataset suggests that the two have been roughly equal ever since, though it’s hard to imagine that staying the case for too long. That’s especially true when you consider that, contrary to what you might expect, researchers at MIT have found that “content generated by generative AI and augmented AI is perceived as of higher quality than that produced by human experts,” according to humans in blind test conditions.

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The advantages of trading futures

If you’re currently trading stocks and ETFs, you may be missing out on some of the benefits of futures:

Get more capital efficiency: With a lower margin requirement, equity futures offer more margin savings compared to up to a 50% requirement for stocks. 

Find the future that’s a right fit for you: With flexible contract sizes and products like Micro E-mini S&P 500 (/MES) & Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (/MNQ), there are appropriate futures for active traders of all types.

Never miss out on market moves: You can trade futures 23 hours a day, 5 days a week, so you can access trading opportunities outside of regular market hours. 

Go short with less hassle: With no locate requirements or borrow fees, you can short futures without some of the headaches of shorting stocks or ETFs.

Apple TV dropped the “plus” as streamers keep pulling back on originals

Apple just quietly dropped the plus sign from its streaming service, Apple TV+. In a Monday announcement about the upcoming streaming debut of “F1: The Movie,” the tech giant casually slipped in a single line:

“Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity.”

Whether it’s a sign that Apple may soon add an ad-supported tier — Apple TV remains the only major streamer without one — or simply a brand refresh, the makeover lands as the “peak TV era” is officially over.

According to data from Luminate, series cancellation rates soared past 20% across almost every major platform — and even 40% for some — in 2023, marking an “inflection point” for Hollywood.

Rates of cancellations have since eased, but that doesn’t mean streamers have suddenly grown more generous; they’re just making fewer shows to begin with. Per Ampere Analysis, scripted TV commissions from six major global platforms, including Apple, Amazon, and Netflix, fell 24% year over year in the first half of 2025.

From plus to less

That could explain why Apple decided to drop the plus sign, once a symbol of something extra, in an industry that’s scaling back — reversing years of billion-dollar investments in original shows, low prices, and ad-free promises. Indeed, Apple TV’s rebrand comes just months after it raised its monthly subscription fee by 30% in August.

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Stretch your capital further with futures: Futures margin generally represents a smaller percentage of the notional value of the contract, typically 3-12% per futures contract compared to up to a 50% of face value required for stocks.¹

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