The Di Vino Comedy Continues |
Di Vino is made from pasteurized cow's milk in the Veneto region of Italy. It's immersed in vats of red wine and matured for three months. The cheese has a unique personality and can be enjoyed on its own as a main dish, a lot like this newsletter! The Divine Comedy, meanwhile, is an epic poem by Dante about the journey from hell through purgatory and, finally, to heaven. It's an appropriate cheese pun for today given that I think we're at least out of inflation hell, for the time being, and possibly even approaching the mid-point of purgatory. Also: This makes me your Virgil. Still, in the greatest anticlimax since H.G. Wells killed the invading Martians in War of the Worlds by (spoiler alert!) giving them all a nasty cold at the end of the book, Fed Chair Jay Powell cut interest rates by half a percentage point yesterday and pretty much nothing happened. Sometimes, as your romantic partner(s) will doubtless tell you, an anticlimax is a good thing. And with the pressure bearing down on Powell yesterday to get his rate cut right, markets could have jittered if he bungled it. As it was, stocks rose a tad after the cut, then fell a tad. (A "tad" is economist lingo for a "bit.") But they're still close to their overall records. There was no lurching. We spoke to a Vanguard analyst who said there's likely no impact on election campaigns, but I disagree. And what does a Vanguard analyst know compared with Virgil, anyway? If markets had dropped on the cuts, Trump would have benefited. As it is, Harris benefits. I'm an economist and political commentator now, because I don't have PR people warning me to steer clear of politics to protect my company's impartial reputation. I'm just glad we've all been talking about this for months. Well done, Jay. You did the thing that had no immediate short-term effect and yet might shore up the economy over the longer term. Perhaps. I like that in my Federal Reserve chairfolk. No wonder you were appointed. Just be careful not to catch any nasty colds over the coming months. Ze cheddlines! Life is rarely as gouda as you expect. —Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor P.S. Atlanta's retired subway cars are now home to marine life on our Instagram! |
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"The Fed is trying to act in some ways preventatively, to keep the labor market at a stable place." — Josh Hirt |
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1. Does Home Depot Owe You Money? |
Home Depot has agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of overcharging customers in California.
The suit, initiated by prosecutors from six California counties, claimed Home Depot charged customers at checkout prices higher than those advertised due to "scanner violations."
As part of the settlement, the company has not admitted any wrongdoing but has committed to "enhance the consistency of its pricing practices." Sounds sorta like admitting wrongdoing to me? No?
The settlement requires Home Depot to implement several measures, including using the "lowest advertised prices," hiring a "high-level internal price monitor," which is presumably a person to look out for this stuff, and "conducting regular price accuracy checks" across its California stores. (All of this is known, to us regular folk, as "running a responsible business.") The funds from the settlement will be distributed among various consumer law enforcement and regulatory bodies across the state. In other words? You're not getting any of it.
For context, Home Depot made $4.5 billion in net profits last year, so the $2 million settlement is 0.004% of that (known to businessfolk as "the cost of doing business"). Its stock was up 0.34% on the news, or about $1,144,920,000 in market capitalization, bringing the company's total valuation to $381.64 billion.
Way to stick it to the man, California. Read More |
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2. Trump Launches Crypto Venture That Does Not Sound at All Dodgy in Any Way Whatsoever |
Donald Trump, alongside his children, has launched a new cryptocurrency venture named World Liberty Financial. We're calling it the WoLiFin of Wall Street. Catchy, eh?
Most of the details will be run by crypto entrepreneurs Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman. Herro, who sometimes spells his name with one "r," has described himself as the "dirtbag of the internet," while Folkman used to teach classes on how to seduce women. His reasonably high-quality company was called Date Hotter Girls, and offered lessons on "attracting, dating and keeping women of beauty and quality."
So far, nothing about this story is surprising.
Donald Trump Jr. said the venture aims to serve individuals struggling to secure financing from conventional banks. He didn't spell out how it'll do that since the digital currency associated with the company will only be available to accredited investors, not to regular folk in the street. Unless of course Donald Jr.'s father gets elected president. Then maybe he could overturn some of the government regulations around such things?
In entirely unrelated news, the business launch also raised ethical concerns, particularly due to its timing ahead of the election, and Trump's promises to implement crypto-friendly policies if elected. Wait. That is related news. That's news related directly to the last paragraph. Apologies.
In the past, Trump has denounced Bitcoin as a "scam." (Something something stopped clocks something something.) Critics and ethics watchdogs have expressed apprehension and drawn a contrast with other past presidents' efforts to sever business and political overlaps. Read More |
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| Old Atlanta railcars have found a new life underwater. 🚋🐠
Once bustling with commuters, these railcars are now submerged 65 feet into the Atlantic Ocean, transforming into artificial reefs that serve as a habitat for marine wildlife.
At the end of last year, MARTA sank two railcars off Georgia's coast. The cars were thoroughly cleaned of hazardous materials and inspected by the Coast Guard before being deployed.
In August, the DNR Coastal Resources Division's first dive discovered soft coral growth and at least nine species of game fish thriving around the sunken railcars. |
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3. 23andMe Board: We're 87.5% Resigning |
23andMe stock fell 7% yesterday after the resignation of seven of its eight independent directors. They'd clashed with CEO Anne Wojcicki regarding her intentions to take the company private.
The firm's shares are down more than 60% since the start of the year. And its total value has plummeted from $6 billion when it first went public to $170 million today. Oof.
This latest news comes after Wojcicki's announcement in April about her intentions to privatize the company. In August, she offered $0.40 per share. Now they're worth $0.31 per share on the open market, so she might get a better deal. Wait. I hope the mass resignations weren't part of a plan!
Still, at least Elizabeth Warren was able to get an ill-advised DNA test proving she was part Cherokee, prompting Donald Trump to call her "Pocahontas" during the 2016 election and torpedo her presidential campaign.
It's almost as if this whole "tell me about my DNA" thing is a complete waste of time.
Mine is English, if you couldn't guess. A bit Welsh. A bit Irish. Definitely not Scottish, which I'm told is not the same thing as the other bits. But mostly English. I don't need a pricy blood test to figure it out. My family has lacked imagination since we emerged from the bogs. Read More |
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4. Jerome Powell Can Sleep Easy Knowing He Didn't Crash the Economy |
It's time to eat my hat. I said the Fed would cut interest rates by 0.25% and they've cut them by 0.50%, in what most analysts are describing as an aggressive move against me personally to stave off a recession. I said I would eat my hat if they did that. So. Reactions on Wall Street were relatively mild considering the advanced notice and historic nature of the Fed's cut. Jay Powell can sleep knowing he didn't crash the economy in an election year where the economy is a pivotal issue for undecided voters. Powell is a lawyer, a registered Republican, and a fan of the Grateful Dead, incidentally. And his net worth is over $20 million.
We spoke with Josh Hirt, a senior economist at Vanguard, after the news broke:
"It was slightly larger than we were expecting," he said. "We were favoring a 25-basis point approach. But, you know, it's a very close call. And frankly we saw the merits of a slightly larger increase this time, too."
We're in an election year. How will this impact the campaigns?
"I wouldn't expect this to have a real material impact," Josh said. "You know, you've seen, you know, through time the last few months that the economy is still doing quite well in terms of the Fed's mandates. But I wouldn't expect this to have a substantial impact on on campaigns."
And how about balancing reducing inflation with keeping unemployment down?
"The key thing to remember is that federal policy does work itself through the economy with a time lag," Josh said. "So, it does take time. Certainly the Fed is looking to be a bit forward looking here. They're moving before inflation is actually a 2%, but has been making substantial progress and appears to be on a trajectory that would keep it close to 2% over the near term. And same thing with the labor market. We've definitely seen cooling. You've seen some slowing there, without question. And those are going to be the two areas to keep watching. And the Fed is trying to act in some ways preventatively, to keep the labor market at a stable place. They're really trying to keep unemployment in a range around the current levels, perhaps moderately higher."
In other words: Nothing to see here. Which actually is something to see. The nothing. You know? Watch Now |
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5. The Supermoon Eclipse Sounds Amazing But Was Actually Kinda Blah |
The Earth's shadow created the appearance of a bite taken out of the supermoon for about an hour on Tuesday night, with the peak of the eclipse occurring at 10:44 p.m. ET.
Unlike a total lunar eclipse, which can cause the moon to turn a dramatic red color (known as a blood moon), the partial eclipse only darkened a portion of the moon without altering its color.
Noah Petro, a NASA project scientist, noted that the "top right" corner of the moon appeared darker due to being in the full shadow of Earth, even though not a large portion was covered in darkness.
You've got to feel for poor Noah, though, haven't you?
Tuesday's full moon was the second of four supermoons anticipated in 2024. A supermoon appears larger and brighter due to its closer proximity to Earth. September's supermoon was notably closer, at just 222,637 miles away. It's like it was just down the block! Read More |
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