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Nike had a very bad day... [Advertisement] June 29, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [Alltrails]( Good morning. If you can believe it, yesterday was the final trading day of the first half of 2024. It might be a good time to reflect on your New Year’s resolutions to see how you’re measuring up halfway through the year. Here’s our progress report for inspiration: - Keep plants alive () - Get those pants hemmed () - Unwrap the yoga mat purchased on 1/1 () - Name sleep paralysis demon () - Finally find a magazine with a big Z in the headline to finish that ransom note () —Molly Liebergall, Matty Merritt, Cassandra Cassidy, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 17,732.60 -0.71% S&P 5,460.48 -0.41% Dow 39,118.86 -0.12% 10-Year 4.343% +5.0 bps Bitcoin $60,229.89 -2.07% Nike $75.37 -19.98% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks [ticked down]( slightly yesterday, even though the Fed’s preferred inflation reading showed price growth slowing last month. But the picture looks much rosier if you zoom out: For the first half of the year, stocks were on a tear, especially those in the tech-heavy Nasdaq, thanks to investors’ unquenchable thirst for AI. - Stock spotlight: Nike had its worst day ever, shedding $28 billion in value after revealing flagging sales (more on that later).  GOVERNMENT [SCOTUS just gutted regulators’ power]( [Protesters outside Supreme Court]( A. McCoy/Getty Images The Supreme Court took a sledgehammer to federal agencies’ powers yesterday in the most historic hobbling since Kathy Bates’s performance in the film Misery. In a 6–3 decision down conservative/liberal lines, SCOTUS [overturned]( one of the most-cited precedents in American law: the [Chevron doctrine]( a 40-year-old decision that gave broad power to interpret laws to the federal agencies tasked with regulating everything—from healthcare to net neutrality. Since 1984, it has enabled departments and commissions like the CDC and FCC to determine how vague laws should be implemented in their areas of expertise. With the precedent gone: - Courts are no longer required to defer to agencies’ interpretations of unclear laws, which is expected to make it more difficult for agencies—led by subject matter experts appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate—to regulate the industries they oversee. - The power to determine how a certain statute should be applied will instead return to judges, who are probably less familiar with the nuances of a subject like factory emissions, for example, than the EPA is. Chief Justice Roberts stated in the majority opinion that the 17,000 lower court decisions and 70 Supreme Court rulings that have used the Chevron doctrine’s precedent will still stand. But federal regulations that aren’t explicitly backed up by clear-cut laws will likely face new legal challenges. Targets may include: Recent car- and power plant pollution limits set by the EPA, the FDA’s ability to fast-pass “breakthrough” drugs and medical devices, and the FTC’s April [ban on noncompetes]( according to [Bloomberg](. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan warned that yesterday’s decision could also spell trouble for long-standing agency rules that weren’t or couldn’t be challenged before. This is a long-sought victory for legal conservatives, who have been aching to curtail the power Chevron gave to unelected bureaucrats (who tend to reflect the ideological beliefs of whoever is president at the time). If Trump returns to the White House, the ruling could also grease the wheels for a big edit-undo on Biden administration policies.—ML PRESENTED BY ALLTRAILS [Go further this summer]( [Alltrails]( Longer days bring endless adventures. Make this summer count with [AllTrails+]( - Offline Maps will keep you on track, with or without service. - Trail Previews show terrain + elevation for better planning. - Guides share details + insider tips for national park trips. - Advanced Conditions help you find shade and avoid the rain. Get 50% off all our adventure-ready [AllTrails]( features for just a few more days. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [The Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. ]The Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Jon Cherry/Getty Images SCOTUS sides with January 6 rioter on obstruction charge. The Supreme Court’s term is nearly over, so the justices have been busy this week, and today’s rulings included one that found prosecutors [overreached]( in charging a Jan. 6, 2021, rioter with obstruction under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a law aimed at financial crimes. The decision is likely to lead to similar charges against other Capitol riot participants getting dropped—and could even impact the prosecution of Donald Trump, who’s been charged under the same provision. The high court also [ruled]( that cities can ticket homeless people for sleeping outside. Expected on Monday: a decision on Donald Trump’s immunity and one on social media moderation. Joe Biden says he won’t quit the 2024 race as replacement talk grows. The president fumbled his first debate of the election cycle against Donald Trump with unfocused rambling answers that revived concerns about his age, but despite calls from prominent Democrats to let someone else be the party’s candidate, he [said]( yesterday he isn’t backing down. “I don’t walk as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know,” Biden told supporters at a North Carolina rally. “I know how to tell the truth, I know right from wrong, and I know how to do this job.” The US keeps breaking travel records. Not since the heyday of Michael Phelps has America broken so many records: TSA said it expected to screen 3+ million flyers at the airport yesterday, and that’s just the beginning of an anticipated [record-breaking weekend](. The Fourth of July travel bonanza comes after a record number of people (just under that 3 million mark) got on planes last Sunday—and seven of the 10 busiest US air travel days ever occurred between May 23 and June 27, according to the Wall Street Journal. The TSA also expects to see 32+ million travelers between the holiday and July 8. The unprecedented numbers in the sky may be thanks to cheap flights and international wanderlust fueled by a strong dollar. RETAIL [Nike stock trips up after another bad outlook]( [Nike tennis shoes]( Berthelot/Getty Images Nike hasn’t fumbled this hard since your middle-school math teacher showed up to homeroom in a pair of Air Force 1s. Shares of the sportswear giant [dropped]( 20% yesterday after Nike announced it expects sales to fall 10% during the current fiscal quarter. Analysts argue that Nike has made several missteps, including failing to innovate while upstarts like On Running and Hoka raced past the iconic brand. The company has tried to pull away from retailers like Foot Locker and bet on its own direct sales through its website and stores, but it said in April that the strategy was a mistake. - The once-star of sneakers has already seen its stock fall over 17% in the last 12 months. - In its last fiscal year, Nike reported flat sales and its slowest annual sales growth in 14 years (ignoring pandemic upsets). - Nike says its lifestyle department—specifically the Converse line—is now lagging behind the competition. The new plan of attack: Nike wants to focus on releasing new product lines, something it has slacked on in recent years. It also hopes to win back 1) Chinese consumers with the help of [new high-end Jordans]( and 2) the customers it [lost]( to rivals Adidas, Hoka, and On.—MM For more on Nike’s struggles, watch: “[Why Nike is Facing Its Worst Performance in Years]( TOGETHER WITH DELTA [Delta]( Build a more equitable future. Talia Bender Small has spent years working with The Female Quotient to advance equality in the workplace and close the gender gap. We sat down with Bender Small to gain insight into [workplace equity]( and learn strategies for driving success in our professional lives. [Get the scoop](. AI [Why are so many companies mad at Perplexity?]( [Perplexity logo]( AI An AI company that’s making headlines by spelling doomsday for publishers just got itself in hot water with one of the biggest names in tech. Perplexity AI, a chatbot-powered “answer engine,” is facing an investigation by Amazon after unsettling everyone in the publishing world by allegedly ripping off other people’s [work](. Here’s what went down: - Earlier this month, Forbes claimed that Perplexity stole and [repurposed]( one of its articles, including a custom illustration, with only the word “sources” and a tiny Forbes logo as attribution. - WIRED then [alleged]( that Perplexity intentionally bypasses other websites’ Robot Exclusion Protocol, which is sort of like a wall on a web page designed to prevent bots from scraping its content. The protocol has been an important part of keeping the internet humming. - Yesterday, Amazon Web Services opened an [investigation]( into whether Perplexity is doing this with a tool hosted on AWS’s servers, which would violate its terms of use, according to Wired. Perplexity denies that its servers bypass the Robots Exclusion Protocol (“robots.txt” to techies), but it said it used a third-party web scraper that did. Big picture: Perplexity is not the first AI company to use the internet to create a chatbot that can respond to “are sagittarius and leo compatible?” However, its alleged flouting of robots.txt is noteworthy. It’s not necessarily illegal, but, much like a player taking a long bathroom break during a pro tennis match, it’s heavily [frowned upon]( STAT [Prime number](#) [A woman with a Fujifilm digital camera]Jon Cherry/Getty Images First it was fedoras, then vinyl records, and now the nostalgia addicts of TikTok have revived another seemingly outmoded product: the digital camera. Even though everyone’s phones can snap pics, Fujifilm—whose camera business slowed so much it pivoted to healthcare—[can’t keep up]( with the resurgent demand for its retro-looking digital camera line, according to Reuters. The division that includes cameras accounted for 37% of the Japanese company’s revenue during its last fiscal year, which ended in March, up from 27% the year before. Last year’s boost to profits reflected the first year digital camera sales rose (rather than sinking) since 2010, with higher-end cameras seeing the biggest sales growth, per Semafor. We want TikTokers to decide iPod Nanos are a must-have next. NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Time magazine]( is the latest publication to strike a deal with OpenAI to allow the company’s AI to train on its content. - [Uber and Lyft]( have agreed to pay drivers in Massachusetts $32.50 per hour and to cough up $175 million to settle a lawsuit over their classification of drivers as independent contractors. - [Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon]( will report to prison Monday after the Supreme Court refused to consider his appeal of his conviction for defying subpoenas from the House Jan. 6 committee. - [The superintendent of Oklahoma’s schools]( ordered the Bible to be included in the fifth- through twelfth-grade curriculums as states test the limits of religion in public schools. - [Paramount]( shut down the video archives on websites of its networks including MTV and Comedy Central, instead directing people to its subscription streamer, Paramount+ (which recently announced a price hike). - [A pair of pandas]( from China have arrived safely at the San Diego Zoo. RECS [Saturday To-Do List graphic] Today, ICYMI, we’re bringing you the most-clicked links from the Recs section this month. Don’t fuhgeddaboudit: Watch the cast of The Sopranos [reunite 25 years after]( we first saw Tony get emotional about the ducks. Does alcohol go bad? Here’s [when to toss]( various spirits to keep your drinks tasting fresh. TIL: Why prescriptions come in [orange bottles](. Grab a slice: America’s [best pizza joints]( (and they’re not all in NYC or Chicago). Anything but typical: Want a credit card built for [simplicity, transparency, and privacy]( That’s what you get with [Apple Card](. Oh, and Daily Cash back on every purchase. [Apply now](. Terms apply.* *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew crossword: Everyone’s offering a value menu these days, even Jack in today’s crossword. [Play it here]( and snag your discount. Open House Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that knows the value of a good breakfast nook. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price. [Oklahoma mansion near lake with giant a walls of windows and breakfast nook.]Zillow Today’s [modern farmhouse]( is in Kellyville, Oklahoma, about 21 miles southwest of Tulsa. From above, the home kind of looks like a barn, but from the ground, you can see it’s a 4,623-square-foot trendy paradise. Amenities include: - 5 beds, 4 baths - Wall of windows - Big mysterious shed How much for the Sooner hideaway? SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=a905682a]( ANSWER $1.5 million Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: curtail, meaning “to make less by or as if by cutting off some part.” Thanks to Melissa from Philadelphia for not stopping short of sending in the suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. Written by [Neal Freyman]( [Abigail Rubenstein]( [Molly Liebergall]( [Matty Merritt]( and [Cassandra Cassidy]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Interested in podcasts? - Check out ours [here]( [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011