☕️ Ripple effects

Cut Day is here... September 18, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [SmartAsset]( Good morning. Qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which was no walk in the Common, just got even harder. On Monday, the Boston Athletic Association said that most aspiring runners will need to run a marathon five minutes faster in the lead-up to the 2026 race to qualify for Boston. For men aged 18–34, the new threshold is 2 hours and 55 minutes, while women and nonbinary applicants need to record a time of 3:25 or less. Not to scare you away from training, but you should know that completing a marathon in 2 hours and 55 minutes requires an average mile pace of 6:40. If that doesn’t sound like your speed, you can still try to run Boston by raising money for charity, no qualifying time required. —Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Cassandra Cassidy, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 17,628.06 +0.20% S&P 5,634.58 +0.03% Dow 41,606.18 -0.04% 10-Year 3.642% +2.0 bps Bitcoin $60,137.10 +4.29% Intel $21.47 +2.68% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks [hardly moved]( yesterday as investors were paralyzed with fear exercised caution ahead of today’s long-awaited interest rate cut announcement from the Fed (more on that below). Just like Mondo Duplantis, the S&P 500 reached a record high early in the day before falling back down, erasing the gains. Meanwhile, Intel rose following news of its partnership with Amazon.  ECONOMY [Rate cut unboxing this afternoon]( [Graphic of the New York Stock Exchange under a magnifying glass]( Scialabba The macroeconomics version of a gender reveal is kicking off at 2pm ET today, when the Fed will announce the first interest rate cut in over four years. Financial watchers are split between two predictions: a standard 0.25% cut or a more aggressive one of 0.5% (investors are [betting on]( the latter, while many analysts think the former). Regardless of its size, today’s rate cut and subsequent ones are expected to make borrowing cheaper for consumers and businesses, with [ripple effects]( throughout the economy. Celebration for your wallet While a single rate reduction won’t fatten your checking account, the Fed is expected to keep slashing rates, which is good news for homebuyers in particular: - Mortgage rates have already come down slightly in anticipation of rate cuts. - There might be more open houses to go to. Many homeowners have held off on selling their property since buying a replacement dwelling would involve taking out a mortgage at a sky-high rate. Taking out a car loan could get cheaper and credit card APRs might go down, too. Expensive debt has been taking a toll on Americans, with the share of consumers behind on credit card balances and auto loans at its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis as of July. On the flip side, sliding interest rates herald the end of the high-yield savings accounts with returns of up to 5% per year. Business boom? Cheaper loans could lead to more mergers and acquisitions, benefiting investment banks like Goldman Sachs that facilitate these transactions. Meanwhile, banking giants warned that lower rates could hurt their consumer lending units since they’ll make a smaller profit on auto loans and mortgages. Lower borrowing costs could also spur business activity and a stock market rally as companies would pay less to get cash for new undertakings and expanded hiring. But…a business boom can only happen if the overall economy is healthy. Last month’s strong [retail spending]( is an optimistic sign, though only time will tell whether the Fed timed its rate cuts right to avoid a downturn.—SK PRESENTED BY SMARTASSET [Startup disrupting retirement industry]( [SmartAsset]( This Princeton grad’s startup raised $161m to [help people plan for retirement](. If you’re one of the whopping 110m Americans over age 50—or a wise millennial planning ahead—SmartAsset’s no-cost tool makes it easy to find vetted financial advisors who serve your area. Research suggests that people who work with a financial advisor could end up with about 15% more money to spend in retirement.¹ Kick-start your retirement plans today. [Try SmartAsset’s free quiz]( to get matched with up to three financial advisors serving your area, each legally bound to work in your best interest. It’s never too late to plan to work toward financial freedom. [Get your financial advisor matches today](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Lebanese soldiers stand guard near a hospital in Beirut]Anwar Amro/Getty Images Thousands of Hezbollah operatives injured by exploding pagers. Lebanese officials said more than 2,700 people were hurt and nine killed when wireless pagers [blew up simultaneously]( across the country yesterday afternoon. Hezbollah blamed Israel, which signaled this week that it intends to ramp up its military campaign against the Lebanese paramilitary group. The Wall Street Journal reported that the affected pagers were from a “new shipment that the group received in recent days.” Hezbollah fighters reportedly began using pagers after the Oct. 7 attacks out of fear that Israel had compromised its cellphone networks. It’s unclear how the devices were made to explode at the same time. Israel declined to comment. Diddy indicted on sex trafficking charges. Per an [unsealed federal indictment]( Sean “Diddy” Combs is accused of running a criminal enterprise that engaged in racketeering, sex trafficking, sexual violence, kidnapping, bribery, and other charges. The music mogul was arrested Monday in Manhattan, about six months after Homeland Security agents raided his Miami and Los Angeles homes as part of a human trafficking investigation. The indictment alleges Diddy violently coerced women to engage in sex acts called “Freak Offs” that were then recorded and used as “collateral.” Combs’s lawyer said he is innocent and will plead not guilty. FanDuel’s parent company made a $2.6b play for Italy. Flutter, the company behind FanDuel, bought Italian gambling service Snaitech [for $2.6 billion]( CNBC reported, as the US gambling giant pushes further into international markets. The move comes a few days after Flutter purchased a majority stake in NSX Group, one of Brazil’s biggest gambling operators. The global expansion differs from the strategy of Flutter’s main rival, DraftKings, which is focused on the US market, per CNBC. Also yesterday: FanDuel and DraftKings were sued by the Major League Baseball Players Association for allegedly using players’ names and likenesses without permission. SOCIAL MEDIA [Instagram makes teen accounts private]( [Teens on cellphones.]( de la Hoz/Getty Images Instagram just made it harder to become a 16-year-old GRWM influencer. Yesterday, the social media app [introduced]( its biggest suite of features to protect minors amid growing pressure from politicians and the public. The changes will designate all new and existing Instagram accounts set up by users under 18 as “Teen Accounts” and automatically make them private: - Anyone under 16 will need approval through the app’s parental supervision tool to change their privacy settings. - Parents will also be able to see whom their kids DM (but not the content of messages) and what topics they manually chose to see more of on their Explore pages. - Teen Accounts will also feature “Sleep Mode,” which pauses notifications from 10pm to 7am. Luckily, no one ever lies on the internet. But the company says it’s using a few methods, some involving AI, to verify users’ ages—like requiring them to upload images of their IDs or submit a video selfie. Big picture: Instagram and other social media platforms have received more pressure than their underage users’ chin zits. The Senate [passed]( a controversial child internet safety bill in July, but it has since stalled in the House. Parent company Meta is also facing a lawsuit from several states accusing it of designing apps so kids get hooked.—MM TOGETHER WITH ENERGYX [EnergyX]( General Motors bets big on this lithium stock. 414,469 tons. That’s how much lithium GM will need per year to meet their 2035 EV target, which is why they led a $50m investment round in EnergyX. [Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% better]( than conventional methods. Plus, where those methods take 12+ months, EnergyX needs just two days. Now they aim to produce 65k tons of lithium per year between North America and South America. [Invest in EnergyX before their raise closes Oct. 3](. WORK [Women still lag behind men in the workforce]( [Fearless Girl statue]( Galai/Getty Images A decade after former Meta exec Sheryl Sandberg encouraged women to be assertive in corporate America with her book Lean In, women still hold less power at work than men. A new study from Sandberg’s advocacy group, LeanIn.org, and consulting firm McKinsey reveals that, despite some progress, women have not been able to [girlboss]( their way to the corner office. The [study]( found: - 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, compared to 5% in 2015. - Women now hold 29% of C-suite positions, up from 17% in 2015. - The share of women in manager roles is 39%, an increase of only two percentage points from a decade ago. But here’s the kicker: Most women in C-suite positions were promoted to “staff” roles—mostly chief HR officers—rather than “line” roles, which manage core business operations and are seen as a pipeline to the CEO position. The setback starts early, too: The report found that for every 100 men who get their first opportunity to be a manager, only 81 women get the same. Zoom out: Unless more companies lean in to programs aimed at advancing [diversity]( the study’s authors estimate that white women will reach gender parity with men by 2046, while women of color won’t achieve it until 2074.—CC STAT [Prime number: Larry is No. 2](#) [Larry Ellison]Kimberly White/Getty Images This is the biggest win for Larrys since the 1984 NBA Finals. Oracle chairman and yacht enthusiast Larry Ellison (briefly) became the [second-richest person]( in the world this week, according to Forbes estimates, surpassing Jeff Bezos, when Oracle’s soaring stock took his net worth along for the ride. As of this writing, Ellison, who founded Oracle in 1977 and still owns 40% of it, fell back down to a pathetic third place with a $203b net worth. But that could change again soon as the AI boom powers the cloud computing giant to new heights. Perhaps Ellison can now afford to buy the 2% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai that he doesn’t already own. NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Sam’s Club]( the Walmart-owned membership store chain, is raising wages for workers to stay competitive with rival Costco. - [Uber]( will verify passengers’ account info with a third-party identification service as part of a growing effort to keep drivers safer. - [JPMorgan]( is in talks with Apple to replace Goldman Sachs as the issuer of the tech company’s credit card, the Wall Street Journal reported. - [Snap]( revealed a new version of its AR glasses, Spectacles, which cost ~$1,200 and are only intended for software developers. - [The Trump family]( launched their enigmatic crypto platform, “World Liberty Financial,” which is co-run by a former YouTube pickup artist. RECS [Wednesday to-do list] Cook: The 50 best New York Times [recipes]( of the last decade, picked by readers. Play: This new collection of [’80s-era video games]( is winning over reviewers. Watch: Embrace spooky season with the 75 greatest [horror films]( of all time. Bond: Time Magazine says this five-minute game will make your dog [like you more](. Travel together: An AI-powered travel [planning tool]( with a group chat feature that makes traveling with others [easy]( Shop: Make bad hair days a thing of the past with these [sugar-free biotin gummies]( *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Word Search: The theme of today’s Word Search is…pizza toppings. [Click here]( to see if pineapple made the cut. Fed chair trivia On this historic day for Chair Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve, let’s see how well you know the past several Fed chairs. We’ll give you the years they served and their initials—you have to provide their names. 2014–2018: J.Y. 2006–2014: B.B. 1987–2006: A.G. 1979–1987: P.V. 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=4904f90a]( ANSWER Janet Yellen Ben Bernanke Alan Greenspan Paul Volcker Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: enigmatic, meaning “difficult to interpret or understand.” Thanks to Ria from Colorado and others for the mysterious suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ✳︎ A Note From EnergyX This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX’s Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at [invest.energyx.com/](. Written by [Adam Epstein]( Sam Klebanov, [Matty Merritt]( [Cassandra Cassidy]( and [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Take The Brew to work - Marketers: [Marketing Brew]( - Corporate: [CFO Brew](  [HR Brew]( - Tech: [IT Brew](  [Tech Brew]( - Retailers: [Retail Brew]( - Healthcare: [Healthcare Brew]( Get smarter in just 5 minutes - Money & Career: [Money With Katie](  [Bossy](  [Brew Markets](  [The Playbook]( 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