Good morning. If you’re a war reenactor or a long-distance runner, Boston is the place to be right now. The Boston Marathon will be held later this morning, and celebrations kicked off this weekend for the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War. Friday marked 250 years since Paul Revere galloped on his famous ride to warn that the British were coming, a journey that would now have him pass seven Dunkin’ shops for refueling purposes. And on Saturday, people in Minutemen costumes reenacted the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which opened the war on April 19, 1775.
You can tell the groups apart because the soldiers ran toward their problems and the marathoners seem to be running away from something.
Markets: Investors return to work after a three-day weekend, hopeful that a heavy slate of earnings reports will give the market a much-needed lift after another down week. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% over four days last week as tech behemoth Nvidia became the latest American company caught in the trade war crossfire.
Twenty-one humanoid robots were unleashed on the streets of Beijing on Saturday, but this was not the mechanical uprising forewarned by James Cameron—it was China’s robot-makers showing how their androids would fare in a half-marathon.
Much like the films in the Terminator saga, the results were mixed:
The winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes; the men’s race victor crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 2 minutes.
Other automated competitors achieved a steady pace, but some barely made it beyond the starting line; one flailed wildly, crashed into a fence, and broke into pieces.
While these robots were taking literal strides, the industry itself has been making major metaphorical ones.
US tech giants see humanoids as the future: Apple, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla, and Google have made significant investments in the field. Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicts that its Optimus robot, which was powered by humans in special suits in 2024, could generate more than $10 trillion in revenue. Per Pitchbook, investors have dropped $7.2 billion into more than 50 tech startups since 2015 as part of the robot uprising.
China is playing catch-up
According to the International Federation of Robotics, China has manufactured more industrial robots every year since 2021 than every other country combined. So, while it’s fun to watch China’s humanoids flounder in that half-marathon, it’s a sign that China is closing the gap on the US.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology identified humanoid robots as the “new frontier in technological competition” in a 2023 document that aimed to establish mass production and supply chains for core components of them.
Per CNN, China’s local governments have invested at least $10 billion in robotics over the past three years.
Core tech is a problem. China is ahead in some areas but behind when it comes to the AI chips, sensors, and operating systems that power the robots. Many developers rely on Nvidia’s chips, but US export restrictions due to national security concerns have China scrambling.
Big picture: Goldman Sachs predicted last year that the global robotics market would be worth $38 billion by 2035. “The ChatGPT moment for general robotics is just around the corner,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in January.—DL
How? By using assembly lines to condense homebuilding from 7+ months to hours, BOXABL ships readymade houses to their final destination, where they’re unfolded and immediately livable.
They’ve already built and delivered 600+. But the real transformation’s still coming.
DHL is scaling back deliveries due to tariffs. If you’re in the US and expecting a high-end package from overseas, there’s a chance it’s not getting to you. That’s because, starting today, DHL is temporarily halting shipments to the US valued at more than $800 due to a “significant increase” in red tape at customs caused by tariffs. Shipments below $800 can still pass through, although that will change beginning on May 2, when the White House is set to close that loophole. Low-cost operators such as Temu and Shein are expected to be impacted.—DL
OneGoogle antitrust trial reaches the remedy phase. The final phase of Google’s antitrust case regarding search dominance begins today. US District Judge Amit Mehta will hear from the Justice Department and the ~$2 trillion tech company about how they each believe Google should break up to shed its status as “a monopolist,” as Judge Mehta called it last summer. Lawyers for the government want Google to stop paying third-party phone providers a premium so that it is set as the default search engine on devices. It may also seek for Google to spin off its Android operating system and the Chrome web browser. Late last year, Google’s vice president for regulatory affairs said, “People don’t use Google because they have to—they use it because they want to.” This phase of the trial is expected to take several weeks, and Google cannot appeal until it’s complete.—HVL
Draft of alleged State Department reorganization executive order made the rounds. The 16-page document, first obtained by the New York Times, calls for “a disciplined reorganization” that would cut “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio decried the document as “fake news.” The NYT said there was no evidence that Rubio or State Department officials signed off on the draft, but that a reorganization of the agency has been in the works. The document called for the consolidation of embassies and consulates and the elimination of roles focused on women’s issues, democracy, climate, human rights, and criminal justice.—HVL
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a horror movie set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, had Hollywood execs screaming before the first preview rolled. That’s because the agreement Warner Bros. struck with writer and director Coogler for the film has been keeping them up at night.
Big asks: Coogler, who also directed Black Panther and Creed, among other movies, reportedly sought ~$90 million for Sinners with a few strings attached. He needed to retain control of the film’s final cut and receive a percentage of the box-office gross from the beginning of the film’s theatrical run (rather than waiting for a cut after it became profitable, which is more common). But he also insisted that ownership of the film would revert to him after 25 years. Warner Bros. agreed.
The rest of Hollywood freaked out
“The lifetime, long-term value of our film properties is what makes a studio a studio,” an anonymous executive told Vulture. Insiders worry this deal will create a precedent and cannibalize the value of a studio’s library, which continues to earn revenue through licensing and distributing to different channels, like pay-per-view. Another unnamed exec said this deal could be “the end of the studio system.”
Big picture: Cumulatively, Coogler’s past movies have earned over $1 billion. He told Business Insider that he wanted to own this film for personal reasons and that he wouldn’t pursue ownership of future titles. Sinners finished No. 1 at the domestic box office this past weekend in its debut, bringing in $45.6 million.—HVL
Earnings due from Tesla, Alphabet: The Magnificent Seven have been anything but this year, with their shares suffering in a chaotic market. Tesla reports tomorrow after a tumultuous 2025 that has seen the company fail to meet delivery expectations in Q1 and reportedly cut back on production of its Cybertrucks. Alphabet announces on Thursday, this after Google’s recent legal defeat in an antitrust case against its advertising business. Other notable reports on tap: Capital One (tomorrow), Boeing (Wednesday), and Chipotle (Wednesday).
Meta’s antitrust trial resumes: The FTC is accusing CEO Mark Zuckerberg of purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp to gain an unfair monopoly in the social media space, while the defense is expected to argue that the success of those apps is a product of Meta’s acquisition. Testimony will continue this week, with one Vanderbilt law professor telling Quartz that she expects to hear more expert testimony: “Judges tend to put a lot of stock in expert opinion in antitrust cases, especially when it comes to market definition and monopoly power.”
Luigi Mangione will be arraigned on federal charges: On Friday, the man charged with the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson can enter a plea on four federal charges: a firearms offense, murder through the use of a firearm, and two counts of stalking. Mangione has already pleaded not guilty to 11 charges he faces in New York and four in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant. Mangione is being held in federal custody in Brooklyn.
Everything else…
The 2025 Boston Marathon starts this morning. The London Marathon is on Sunday. The runners in your office will talk about them all week.
Today is also National Tea Day. The kind you throw in the harbor, not the office gossip.
The three-episode, Season 2 premiere of Andor drops tomorrow on Disney+.
Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the first video uploaded to YouTube.
The NFL Draft begins on Thursday and runs through Saturday.
The sentencing of former US Rep. George Santos is scheduled for Friday. Prosecutors are asking for more than seven years in prison for identity theft and wire fraud.
[blows on fingers] The Accountant 2 hits theaters on Friday.
Money may not grow on trees, but for Home Depot, it’s definitely put down roots in the home improvement chain’s 2,000 garden centers. Home Depot’s gardening category is worth $20 billion annually, which is more than paint, lumber, or appliances bring in, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While the gardening department encompasses lawn furniture, grills, and bags of soil, there is no doubt that flowers are driving the success. Home Depot aims to turn plant buyers into repeat customers who don’t give up gardening in frustration. To that end, the retailer operates 25 trial gardens across nine US climate zones and studies plants under various conditions. That’s how it identified the SuperCal all-weather petunia, a popular flower that can be grown in all climate zones. As the WSJ noted, almost everything in Home Depot’s gardening centers this year came out of the company’s annual trials from the past several years.—HVL
A Boeing 737 Max intended for China’s Xiamen Airlines landed back at Boeing’s US production facility on Saturday. No word on if they will receive a refund to their card or store credit.
Volvo plans to cut up to 800 US jobs in response to tariff uncertainty, according to Reuters.
A mistake led to the White House’s battle with Harvard, according to a Trump official, after a list of demands was sent to the university without authorization.
The CEOs of Meta, Oracle, and JPMorgan Chase sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of stocks before tariff announcements rocked the financial markets.
Coca-Cola, which already won the hearts of Americans as the No. 1 soda in the US, is also poised to beat Pepsi in the trade war.
Turntable: No Reese’s peanut butter eggs left? Not to worry—Turntable is the perfect little treat for your Monday. Find the words hidden here.
Marathon trivia
Here’s some marathon trivia for race day in Boston: There are seven marathon “majors”—the most prestigious marathons in the world—after Sydney was added this year. Besides Boston and Sydney, can you name the other five cities that host marathon majors?
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Today’s Word of the Day is: humanoid, which means “having human form or characteristics.” Thanks to Dominic K. from Alexandria, VA, for a suggestion with some soul in it. Submit another Word of the Day here.
DHL is scaling back deliveries due to tariffs. If you’re in the US and expecting a high-end package from overseas, there’s a chance it’s not getting to you. That’s because, starting today, DHL is 
One Google antitrust trial reaches the remedy phase. The final phase of Google’s antitrust case regarding search dominance begins today. US District Judge Amit Mehta will hear from the Justice Department and the ~$2 trillion tech company about how they each believe Google 
Draft of alleged State Department reorganization executive order made the rounds. The 
Wash: 
