McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is a frequent feature of Cramer’s morning show. The fast food giant’s shares have lost 1.7% year-to-date primarily due to 5% since mid-June. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), like other food companies, is at the risk of its business being disrupted or shrunk due to GLP-1 drugs as they help users control their hunger. The shares fell in June after a downgrade from Redburn. Commenting on stock downgrades, Cramer outlined:
“[On a third downgrade based on a lower value proposition than before in case of a recession] They’re gonna be wrong. They are gonna be wrong. Okay Kempczinski is under fire because of the chicken strips and then next week we’ll all get chicken strips with the wraps. You want to see how ugly chicken strips are, they’re ugly, they don’t look like, I don’t know what they look like. . .but I know that Chris will kill that if it doesn’t sell . . . And people are really underrating Chris. He is a great CEO. McDonald’s has a history of getting rid of CEOs if they don’t work, getting rid of dishes if they don’t work.
Earlier, Cramer discussed Morgan Stanley and Loop Capital downgrading McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s stock:
“It amazes me that analysts refuse to learn from their mistakes that some stocks should not be taken off the buy list. Today, Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock of McDonald’s, saying it’s arguably too expensive and that it will probably not be insulated from some structural pressures on fast food. Now, with the stock at 25 times earnings, consensus estimate’s too high. Morgan Stanley moved [it] to Equal Weight or Hold. [The] stock dropped $2 and 58 cents or 0.84% on that.
McDonald’s Corporation (MCD): Those Who Downgrade The Stock Will Be “Wrong,” Says Jim Cramer
A cook in a busy kitchen assembling cheeseburgers for orders.
Listen, McDonald’s is an amazing company. It didn’t become amazing because it stuck with bad ideas… The strength of McDonald’s is that they don’t fight battles they can’t win. When something doesn’t work, they just dump it and they move on. Which is why I say you downgrade a stock like McDonald’s at your own peril.”
While we acknowledge the potential of MCD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
Henrik Werdelin has spent the last 15 years helping entrepreneurs build big brands like Barkbox through his startup studio Prehype. Now, with his new, New York-based venture Audos, he’s betting that AI can help him scale that process from “tens” of startups a year to “hundreds of thousands” of aspiring business owners.
The timing certainly feels right. Mass layoffs across a variety of industries have left many workers reconsidering their career paths, while AI tools have markedly lowered the barrier to building digital products and services. At the center of that Venn diagram is Werdelin’s latest venture, with its promise to help “everyday entrepreneurs create million dollar AI companies” without requiring technical skills.
Werdelin’s journey from Prehype to Audos reflects the broader transformation happening in entrepreneurship right now. At Prehype, the focus was on working with tech founders to build traditional startups, the kind that might raise millions and aim for billion-dollar exits.
Now, he tells TechCrunch, “What we’re trying to do is take all that knowledge, all the methodology that we’ve created over the years of building all these big companies, and really trying to democratize it.”
The idea is that “everyday entrepreneurs” may sense a shift is afoot but may not be keen to experiment with so-called AI agents or know how to reach customers. Audos is more than happy to help them, supplying these individuals with AI tools to build sophisticated products using natural language, and taking advantage of social media algorithms to find them their niche customers.
“Facebook and a lot of these platforms, they are just incredible algorithms, and they’re incredible at figuring out [how to reach your customer] if you define a customer group,” says Werdelin, who co-founded Audos with his Prehype partner Nicholas Thorne. In fact, Audos uses this system to quickly test whether a founder’s business idea has sustainable customer acquisition costs.
The approach seems to be working. Audos has helped launch “low hundreds” of businesses since its beta launch, with its own customers discovering the platform through Instagram ads asking “Have you ever thought about starting something, but don’t know where to go?” Among them, Werdelin says, are a car mechanic who wants to help people evaluate repair quotes, an individual who is selling “after death logistics” services, virtual golf swing coaches, and AI nutritionists. In a winking reference to billion-dollar businesses, or so-called unicorns, he calls these one- and two-person teams “donkeycorns.”
All went through the same process: they clicked on Audos’s ad, its AI agent launched a conversation to figure out the problems these individuals want to tackle and who they want to serve, and, when it was satisfied with the answers, Audos got them in front of potential customers as fast as possible.
As for returns, Audos operates on a fundamentally different model than traditional accelerators or venture capital. Instead of taking equity, the company takes a 15% revenue share from the businesses it helps launch. In return, founders get up to $25,000 in funding, access to those AI-powered business development tools, and help with distribution, primarily through paid social media advertising.
“We’re not taking any equity in their business,” Werdelin says, partly because “we don’t think these companies might ever get sold. What we’re really inspired by are the mom-and-pop shops that are the backbone of our society.”
The revenue share continues indefinitely, similar to platform fees charged by Apple’s App Store. For founders, that means giving up a significant portion of their revenue in perpetuity — a 15% cut that could cost entrepreneurs hundreds of thousands of dollars over time. Some will undoubtedly see that trade-off as worthwhile; others might question whether the long-term costs justify the benefits.
Audos’s value proposition raises other questions given how quickly the landscape is changing. While Werdelin emphasizes helping founders build relationships with customers, it’s unclear how much of that work the AI agents can actually handle. There’s also the matter of differentiation. As Werdelin readily acknowledges, “the world is full of these tools” and they’re getting better rapidly. What happens when entrepreneurs can access similar AI capabilities without paying a permanent revenue tax?
Audos’s VCs don’t sound worried about those scenarios. True Ventures led Audos’s $11.5 million seed round, with partner Tony Conrad explaining the appeal in a Zoom call this week. In addition to having confidence in Werdelin and Thorne, says Conrad, “I think there are just lots and lots of people” who might eagerly embrace the opportunity to work with a platform like Audos.
Conrad draws parallels to Instagram’s $1 billion exit with just 13 employees, suggesting that AI could enable even more leverage, even if Audos — which itself employs just five people altogether currently — isn’t chasing unicorns. As Werdelin explains it, “What we’re after here is the millions of people who can create million-dollar businesses or half-million dollar businesses that are real and life changing.”
Adds Werdelin separately of why he spun up Audos, “What we’re trying to do is to figure out how you make a million companies that do a million dollars turnover. That’s a trillion dollar turnover business.”
It doesn’t sound crazy. Extending the benefits of entrepreneurship to people who traditionally haven’t had access to startup capital or technical skills is an increasingly compelling proposition as traditional employment begins to feel less and less stable. “We believe that there should be somebody who goes out and really helps these smaller entrepreneurs that are building something that is not venture backable,” says Werdelin. “We believe that the world is better with more entrepreneurship.”
Audos’s other investors include Offline Venture and Bungalow Capital, along with numerous high-profile angel investors – Niklas Zennstrom and Mario Schlosser among them.
Pictured above, left to right, Audos co-founders Nicholas Thorne and Henrik Werdelin.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is off and running, and has produced plenty of talking points and storylines already. Let’s catch you up on what’s happening, what you’ve missed and what’s still to come.
We will update this file throughout each matchday with the latest reporting, analysis and fun from the competition.
The lead: Rayan Aït-Nouri shows class in Man City win over Juventus
ORLANDO, Fla. — Manchester City haven’t had a recognized left back in the squad for nearly four years, but Rayan Aït-Nouri seems determined to show Pep Guardiola what he’s been missing, playing a key role in Thursday’s 5-2 win over Juventus.
Aït-Nouri, though, is already showing the benefits of having a specialist. After arriving from Wolverhampton Wanderers ahead of the Club World Cup, the 24-year-old was so bright on his debut against Al Ain that when Guardiola was asked to assess his performance, he simply said: “Wow.”
The City boss picked a stronger team against Juventus — handing starts to Rodri and Rúben Dias for the first time — and Aït-Nouri was even better. He created two big chances inside the opening 10 minutes. After just four minutes, the Algerian — playing high up the pitch and tucked into midfield at times — arrowed a cross at Bernardo Silva, who saw his header saved. Moments later, it was Aït-Nouri’s pinpoint pass through the Juventus defense that allowed Jérémy Doku to cut inside and score the first in what was an impressive win over the Italian side at Camping World Stadium. Aït-Nouri almost capped his first-half performance with a goal of his own, but his shot into the turf from outside the box was stopped from nestling in the corner by a diving Michele Di Gregorio.
It’s exactly the kind of attacking output that Aït-Nouri was brought in to produce. He got five goals for Wolves in all competitions last season. Perhaps even more impressive was his seven Premier League assists. That matched Kevin De Bruyne‘s output and was one more than Trent Alexander-Arnold.
It’s still early days, but Aït-Nouri looks to have filled a gaping hole in Guardiola’s team. And having signed a fee of only £31 million, he could yet go down as one of the transfers of the summer. — Rob Dawson
Dusan Vlahovic is arguably the player who has been linked most with a move to the Premier League without actually coming close to a transfer to England’s top flight. The Juventus forward went into the Group G clash against Manchester City with reports in Italy suggesting that he is on Manchester United‘s list of summer targets.
In the past, the 25-year-old has been targeted by Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, but after hitting 49 goals in 108 games for Fiorentina, he opted to stay in Italy with a move to Juventus in 2022. With Juventus open to offers for Vlahovic this summer, the game against City was a chance to prove his credentials to United, or any other major club in the market for a new striker, but the Serbia forward had a frustrating 90 minutes against Pep Guardiola’s side in Orlando.
Vlahovic missed two good chances before finally getting on the scoresheet in the 84th minute — when the game was lost for Juventus, who had already conceded five against City. And while he took his goal well to make the score 5-2, Vlahovic struggled against City defenders Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji and did little to suggest he could be the answer to United’s goalscoring problems. — Mark Ogden
Al Ain exit tourney with win over Wydad
With no consequences on Thursday, Al Ain finished their Club World Cup participation with a breezy, busy 2-1 win over Wydad AC in Nashville to ensure they went home on a high note.
It has been a tough tournament for the 2023-24 AFC Champions League winners, whose naive defending was picked apart to the tune of 11 goals by Man City and Juventus. Early in Thursday’s clash, it looked to be another long afternoon as the Moroccan side found the net inside four minutes: right back Mohamed Moufid‘s low cross found Cassius Mailula unmarked in the box, and Mailula had time to control and fire into the top corner beyond Rui Patrício.
Wydad opens the scoring early through Milleola ⚽🇲🇦
Yet Al Ain quickly regrouped and bossed much of the first half, with eight shots and over 60% of the ball. They got their well-deserved equalizer in first-half injury time, with Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba converting a penalty — after some 30 seconds of waiting — following Ayoub Boucheta‘s clumsy challenge. Then, just five minutes into the second half, they scored again in somewhat controversial fashion. Kaku‘s curled, left-footed finish from 15 yards out was highlight-worthy, but rewatching his goal reveals Al Ain’s good fortune. Matías Palacios looked to have lost possession inside the area after a clumsy touch, but remarkably, he won the loose ball with a heavy challenge — one lucky not to have been reviewed — before getting back to his feet and finding Romero unmarked for the elegant finish.
A mistake by the Wydad defender leads to the second goal for the Al-Ain leader 🟣
The second half played out at a gentler pace from there, with Al Ain preventing Wydad from registering a single shot on target en route to victory.
In the end, Group G was really the only group to be resolved before the final round of games, which is a cruel fate for two teams that brought plenty of panache in their carry-on luggage for this Club World Cup party. — James Tyler
“It was hard,” she declared. “It was the worst choice I’ve made in a really long time.”
So, why did she give it a go in the first place? As she remembered jokingly telling Matthew, “I was saving us money!”
“An Amazon [waxing] kit is $20,” reasoned Kelly, who married the NFL star in 2015. “You can do it yourself instead of driving somewhere else, paying $50 for a wax.”
Earlier this month, Kelly shared another confession, this time about how ingesting weed gummies has helped her as a mom.
“Gummies are great,” she said on the June 16 episode of her podcast. “Sometimes I feel like gummies make me a better parent. They calm me down. It’s like the glass of wine.”
Kelly emphasized that although she doesn’t reach for a gummy “every night,” she’s found that doing so has had a demonstrably positive impact on her home life.
“As long as they’re in bed, fed and happy and feel loved,” she reasoned, “who cares how they get there? Like, just get them there.”
Matty Healy and his band The 1975 will headline Glastonbury for the first time on Friday night
After two days of build-up, Glastonbury will open its main stages on Friday with performances from music stars including Alanis Morissette, Wet Leg, Rizzle Kicks, Denzel Curry, PinkPantheress, Loyle Carner and Busta Rhymes.
The day will reach its climax when rock band The 1975 headline the Pyramid Stage at 22:15 BST, giving their only concert of the year.
The band, fronted by Matty Healy, have reportedly spent four times their festival fee on a “specially designed set” for the show.
Meanwhile, there’s fevered speculation over the mystery acts on this year’s bill, with Lewis Capaldi rumoured to be making a return to live music at the festival after a two-year hiatus.
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Lewis Capaldi has been dropping hints that he’ll make his return to the stage at the festival
The singer stepped out of the limelight in 2023 after a difficult performance at Glastonbury, where a combination of anxiety and Tourette’s caused him to lose his voice.
The singer received a huge outpouring of support from fans, who helped him finish his set by singing along to Someone You Loved.
Days later, he scrapped his future concerts, saying he needed time to get his “physical and mental health in order” and “adjust to the impact” of his Tourette’s diagnosis.
With a new single, Survive, released at midnight on Friday, the star is the presumed frontrunner to play the Pyramid Stage’s “TBA” slot at 17.00 BST.
Friday’s other big enigma is the surprise guest who is scheduled to open the Woodsies tent at 11:30.
The venue, formerly known as the John Peel Tent, is dedicated to alternative pop and indie acts – with rumoured performers including Olivia Dean, Jamie xx, Lorde and Haim, who have a gig in Margate later on Friday.
Meanwhile, The 1975 will top the main stage bill, with fans hoping for a glimpse of their forthcoming sixth album, tentatively titled GHEMB (God Has Entered My Body).
Others started their festival with a “ravers to runners” 5k race on Thursday morning, braving a torrential downpour as they circled the site.
And thousands of revellers spent Thursday night sampling the festival’s nightlife, as the dance stages opened with DJ sets from acts like Confidence Man, Eliza Rose and BBC news analysis editor Ros Atkins.
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A spectacular circus show served as the opening ceremony for this year’s festival
This year’s festival is expected to have a political dimension, too, with performances and talks addressing political upheaval, conflict in the Middle East, the climate crisis, and the rise of the far right.
Among the speakers is former Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who will take part in a panel called “Standing Up for ‘Getting Along’ in a World that’s Being Pushed Apart”.
He told the festival’s on-site newspaper The Glastonbury Free Press that the talk was inspired by the idea that “everything is done to try and divide us”.
“And I think if people can pull together – because I think most of us are decent human beings – then just a bit more kindness in the world would go a long way at the moment.”
Festival founder Michael Eavis said he stood by the event’s left-leaning ethos – which sees a share of profits go to organisations including Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace.
“I think the people that come here are into all those things,” the 89-year-old told the Free Press.
“People that don’t agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else.”
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she was exploring legal repercussions for Elon Musk’s SpaceX company after a rocket explosion scattered waste across the country.
“There is indeed contamination,” the leader said during a Wednesday press conference, pledging to file “necessary lawsuits” in international court.
Sheinbaum said Mexico is launching a general review of the damage and its impact.
Gov. Américo Villarreal of Tamaulipas, where shards landed, urged the country to also investigate whether SpaceX was complying with regulations regarding Musk’s project’s proximity to population centers after a May 27 failed launch left ruins in the state, according to The Associated Press.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
“Just a scratch,” Musk posted to X after the unsuccessful June takeoff without directly acknowledging the incident.
His officials also allege there were no hazards from debris.
“Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials,” SpaceX wrote on X.
“There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue,” it added.
A red Ferrari vehicle_ Image by Sue Thatcher via Shutterstock_
Overnight through early Wednesday morning saw the figurative wheels fall off the corn market as the December 2025 issue fell to a new contract low.
From a structural point of view, the extended selloff indicates the commercial side is growing more comfortable with expected supplies in relation to expected demand (NOT USDA BASED).
From a long-term investment point of view, positions haven’t changed much.
During one of my recent road trips, I tuned into an oldies station and Kenny Rogers’ classic “Lucille” happened to come on. This is one of those songs when the parodies were better than the original, with one version changing the key lines to, “You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel”. What made me think of this pre-dawn Wednesday? A couple things: First, the news continues to remind us a screw is loose, or a nut has run amok, either way usually resulting in a wheel (or more) coming off. Second, looking at the corn market specifically, the wheels have literally come off leaving us with nothing but the red rocket wagon sliding down the hill. I’ll talk more about this momentarily. A look at today’s quote screen shows the US dollar index (USDX) gaining back some of Tuesday’s selloff, adding as much as 0.34 Wednesday morning. It’s interesting to hear the continued debate/arguing over what the next move by the US Federal Open Market Committee should be. Despite all the childish name calling in Washington, D.C., the Fed fund futures forward curve continues to show we shouldn’t expect any move until possibly September, with a possible hike creeping into the picture.
And now, the corn market. Let me begin by saying King Corn made a feeble attempt at rallying early in the overnight session as the December issue quietly added as much as 1.5 cents. But then, as mentioned in the open, the wheels fell off. After poking its head to a high of $4.3050, Dec25 (ZCZ25) fell to a low of $4.21, down 8.0 cents from Tuesday’s close. All this is well and good, and should be expected given corn’s Round Number Reliance, but as the late Paul Harvey would say, here’s the rest of the story: Recall when I talked about Dec25’s contract low of $4.28. That is gone now, with the next target the round number of $4.20, then $4.10, and the big round number of $4.00. What happened? Corn is a weather derivative, possibly the key weather derivative market in the Grains sector, and weather factors have come together in an equation that results in larger expected supplies. It really is this simple. If the market price is going down, in this case the December futures contract, it means the supply curve is shifting outward, an Econ 101 way of saying expected supplies are increasing in relation to expected demand. Again, not based on USDA’s imaginary numbers.
The December corn contract broke through to this new despite weekly stochastics already sitting below the oversold level of 20%. Keep in mind the long-term monthly chart shows a sideways range between the August 2024 low (Dec24) of $3,85 and the February 2025 (Dec25) high of $4.7975. Due to the Round Number Reliance, I view this range as $3.80 to $4.80.
What does this mean for Dec25?
Given new-crop fundamentals continue to grow less bullish/more bearish, the door is opened wider for a test of the low end of the range near $3.80. Our key reads on real fundamentals continue to be new-crop futures spreads and the percent of calculated full commercial carry covered.
However, Dec25 priced at $4.21 puts it in the lower 24% of its price distribution range based on weekly closes-only back through the 2020 contract. A move to $3.80 would put it in the lower 11% of the range.
Funds held a sizable net-short futures position, last reported at 107,244 contracts as of Tuesday, June 17. From Tuesday-to-Tuesday this past week, Dec25 was down 9.75 cents indicating the net-short position likely increased again. The record large noncommercial net-short futures position is 266,067 contracts from the week of February 20, 2024, meaning there is room for Watson to continue to add to its holdings.
Through a series of short option positions, this price has been raised to roughly $5.01
I am not an option specialist, one of those who plays chess while the rest of us play checkers. I tend to use seasonality and volatility (2 of the 3 filters in Market Rule #3: Use filters to manage risk), leaving the rest of the Greeks (marketing tools, not people from Greece) to the professionals.
Long Dec26 futures near $4.62, also on January 31
On the date of publication, Darin Newsom did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
Staying cool during the summer is about more than comfort; being overly hot can accelerate the aging process and be the difference between life and death. The NIH has guidance on how to handle hot weather, including a recommendation to stay in a place with air conditioning, if possible. Luckily for those in warmer climates, Hisense’s WC08W25A, its latest smart air conditioner, is on sale for $249.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, which is its lowest price ever.
I’ve tested a previous-gen window air conditioner from Hisense, and was impressed by how easy it was to set up and use. The 8,000 BTU WC08W25A can fit into windows that are at least 13.6 inches high and between 24.5 and 39 inches wide. It cools down your entire room more evenly by pushing air in four directions simultaneously, which can help you feel cooler faster, given the way warm air rises. You can control the four-mode air conditioner with a remote, touch-sensitive buttons, or the ConnectLife App, assuming it’s connected to your Wi-Fi network.
Using the mobile app allows you to manage your air conditioner from anywhere. You can turn it on when you’re returning home, which can help reduce your utility bill and ensure the room is cool when you enter. If you have a regular schedule, you can also set it to automatically turn on and off at specific times. The WC08W25A is designed to cool rooms up to 350 square feet, but Hisense offers similar models with the same features that are appropriate for areas double that size.
In the years since Matt and graphic designer Rachael Kirkconnell left his 2021 season together (then briefly split and eventually reunited), they’ve faced many a breakup rumor.
“I think everybody needs to take a break from social media,” the former Bachelor exclusively told E! News at a July 18 Baskin-Robbins event. “Our lives are lived so much in front of our phones that when anybody steps out of being on their phone 24/7, people think it’s the end of the world.”
In fact, Matt said marriage remains the end-game for the pair.
“I think the good thing about our relationship is we go at our own pace,” the First Impressions: Off Screen Conversations With a Bachelor on Race, Family, and Forgiveness author told E! News in May 2022. “And you’ve seen with other couples—they force the engagement and they’re not together anymore. So, I think what we got is a working recipe and we’re gonna get there.”
But less than three years later, Matt announced he and Rachael split.
“Father God, give Rachael and I strength to mend our broken hearts,” the reality star wrote on Instagram Jan. 16, 2025 alongside a throwback photo of them on The Bachelor. “Give us a peace about this decision to end our relationship that transcends worldly understanding. Shower our friends and family with kindness and love to comfort us. And remind us that our Joy comes from you, Lord.”
