Clarity Before Chaos

Presented by 1810
18: A tribute to the Enlightenment — the age of clarity, reason, and fresh ideas.
10: A 10x return on your awareness. Stay sharp, act smarter.

Good morning. It’s Monday, June 2nd.
The year’s half over, your gym membership is collecting dust, and student loan forgiveness might still be a myth. But hey—at least you're opening this email. That’s more than most resolutions can say.

—1810 team

MARKETS: YTD CHECK-IN

Stock data as of Friday close. Crypto as of 2am ET.

📈 MARKET ANALYSIS: BULLS VS. REALITY

Despite the headlines—wars, tariffs, tech layoffs—the S&P 500 is slightly up YTD, and May ended with a 30-year high. But this rally is mostly top-heavy:

• NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple are doing the heavy lifting.

• Small caps and value stocks? Not invited to the party.

• Tech earnings beat expectations, but consumer discretionary and REITs are struggling.

What this tells us: the “market” is up, but most of the market isn’t. Watch for corrections if interest rates stay sticky and job growth stalls in Friday’s report.

⏳ Bottom line: Proceed with optimism—just keep one eye on the Fed, and the other on your credit card APR.

ECONOMY

Steel yourself: Tariffs are back.

🗣️ “We’re doubling it.” — President Trump, at a US Steel rally in PA

What happened: Starting June 4, tariffs on imported steel and aluminum double to 50%. Cue the international side-eye:

• 🇨🇦 Canada: “Catastrophic.”

• 🇬🇧 UK: Just signed a trade deal... what happened?

• 🇪🇺 EU: "We regret it" (but we’re planning a response).

Why it matters: More tariffs = higher costs for manufacturers. And despite the name, US Steel can’t ramp up fast enough to cover the gap. That means delays and price hikes could trickle down to—you guessed it—you.

WORLD

💥 Jamie Dimon’s bond market red flag

JPMorgan’s CEO says the US bond market is on the verge of cracking—citing debt, taxes, and overregulation. Treasury Secretary Bessent says, “He always says this.” Still... maybe keep an eye on your bond-heavy retirement account.

🚀 NASA nomination nixed

Elon Musk’s billionaire astronaut buddy Jared Isaacman is out as NASA nominee. His donations to Democrats raised GOP eyebrows. Space exploration, it turns out, is also political turf now.

✈️ TRAVEL

Flying solo? You’ll pay for it.

Thrifty Traveler reports major airlines are charging more for solo travelers than group bookings.

• Example:

  • Chicago → Peoria

    • Solo: $269

    • Group of 4: $181 each

United and Delta fixed it. American Airlines? Not yet.
Moral of the story: grab a friend, even if it’s just for the booking.

💸 PERSONAL FINANCE

Don’t budget. Automate.

Budgeting sounds noble. Doing it every week? Not so fun. Here’s the modern hack:

1. Open a high-yield savings account. (Current rates: ~4.5%)

2. Set auto-transfers: paycheck →

   • 20% savings

   • 30% fixed bills

   • The rest is guilt-free spending.

💡 Bonus tip: If you get a raise, raise your auto-transfer. You’ll never miss the money if you don’t see it.

📊 TL;DR: Budgeting is good. Automating it is better. Treat your finances like a Netflix subscription—set it and forget it (until it costs too much).

CALENDAR: THE WEEK AHEAD

• 🏀 NBA Finals: Thunder vs. Pacers, Game 1 on Thursday

• 🏒 NHL Finals: Panthers vs. Oilers, Wednesday

• 🎾 French Open Finals: Women’s Saturday, Men’s Sunday

• 🐎 Belmont Stakes: Sunday (with horses that sound like newsletter names)

• 📉 Jobs Report: Friday. Analysts expect +130K jobs

• 🎭 Tony Awards: Sunday. Hamilton reunion!

• 🕊️ Hajj pilgrimage: Begins Wednesday

• 🕹️ Nintendo Switch 2 drops: Thursday

• 🇫🇷 D-Day anniversary: Friday (81 years)

STAT

Hamptons summer rentals are down 30%.
CNBC says it’s the weather and Wall Street vibes. But agents say this is just FOMO in disguise—people are waiting too long for a "deal" that never comes.

🏖️ TL;DR: If you want that beach house, book it before it becomes a WeWork pop-up.

🎯 Final Word

There’s a reason Buffett reads 500 pages a day and you’re reading this newsletter:
Information compounds. Attention is the new alpha.

While everyone’s chasing dopamine, you’re chasing clarity. That’s rare. Keep going. The edge is built quietly, daily, before everyone else wakes up.

See you tomorrow.
—1810

🧠 Stay Enlightened.