This week: The downfall of First Brands and Tricolor has led to finger-pointing between banks and private credit firms. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss whether these fraud-related bankruptcies are a sign of major issues to come within the credit market. Then, car prices and sales are up across the board. The hosts cover the state of the auto industry, the spike in EV sales caused by expiring incentives, and what it’s like to own a Crybertruck these days. And finally, QQQ is probably the only ETF you’ve heard of thanks to its aggressive advertising. The hosts explain the unusual structure of the wildly successful ETF that led to a Super Bowl ad level marketing budget but very little profit for its own trustee Invesco.

In the Slate Plus episode: What the heck is going on with matcha prices??

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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