United States of America eSeries: AMC's stunning rally 🍿

AMC's stunning rally 🍿

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Dave here, in for Allison again, who is finishing up some much-deserved R&R. Either that, or she's just avoiding me… Anyhoodles, let's do this.

By David Goldman

🌿 AMAZON LIGHTS UP

Amazon has some … interesting ways of improving employee wellness, from yoga breaks on warehouse floors to literal despair closets for workers who need a break from an unrelenting day of packing up all the dumb crap you buy online.

Now Amazon, one of the world's largest and most influential employers, is endorsing a new kind of employee wellness: Cannabis. The company said it will no longer drug-test most new hires for marijuana (except drivers), and it endorsed federal cannabis legalization.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

The company isn't exactly giving employees a license to toke up at work. It's still going to check to ensure employees aren't impaired while on the job, and it will test for all drugs – including cannabis – after any incident on the warehouse floor.

Amazon will also reevaluate its so-called Time off Task policy, which sounds straight out of "1984": It automatically tracks workers' productivity by analyzing the time they spend on breaks. Critics have said that the policy contributes to a stressful work environment that treats workers as cogs in a machine rather than as people, my colleague Brian Fung notes.

The company claims the policy is "misunderstood," but acknowledged it needs a second look.

MY TWO CENTS
Amazon loves to promote all the good it has done for employees, including $15 minimum wage, promotion opportunities and a host of wellness endeavors. Public pressure has worked, even as the company fights unionization and battles antitrust accusations.

In advance of Prime Day – June 21 and 22, in case you hadn't heard – Amazon could use some good press. Prime Day is one of the busiest times of the year for Amazon workers, who frequently complain about back-breaking work. After a tough day on the job, smoking some pot might not be such a bad idea.

🏠 WANT A HOUSE? BRING CASH

The ridiculous American housing market has reached peak insanity.

In April, 25% of all home sales were all-cash deals, up from 15% a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. That doesn't mean buyers are showing up with suitcases full of cash – but it does mean they have the means to do just that, my colleague Kathryn Vasel reports.

That seems wild when a 20% down payment is a nonstarter for so many Americans struggling to afford homes in this market. But that's the state of the housing market with a fifth fewer houses on the market now than at this point last year.

It's created a vicious cycle, in which people worried about finding a new home are staying in their current homes, limiting inventory and inflating housing prices, keeping people in their homes … OK, you know what a vicious cycle is. You're smart. You read Nightcap.

📈 NUMBER OF THE DAY

120%

Shares of AMC surged more than 120% Wednesday to a new peak above $70 before falling back slightly. Trading of the shares was halted twice due to volatility. The popular WallStreetBets Reddit board has boosted the stock lately as a way to hurt short sellers who bet against the company.

🗣️ QUOTE OF THE DAY

It sounds, like, so small — 'It's two days off, get some rest. But to me, it's the end of the world, because those two days were everything. I'm going to be short on all my bills, and that stresses me out and makes my life a lot harder.

— Erika Gutierres, a worker at a JBC facility in Cactus, Texas

The meatpacker restored operations Wednesday after a devastating ransomware attack knocked out operations at nine plants Tuesday. For workers like Gutierres, that day off wasn't one she could enjoy – or afford.