For the first time in over four years, Jerome Powell stepped up to his little podium and announced an interest rate cut. And not just any ol’ traditional, quarter-percentage-point (25-basis-point) cut—Powell announced a whopping half-percentage-point (50-basis-point) reduction in borrowing costs.

Economists started pushing the Fed to cut rates in July, but the central bank resisted, wanting more proof that inflation had tempered. While everyone expected a cut yesterday, no one knew what size it would be. But the central bank started bold, setting its benchmark rate between 4.75% and 5% in a sign that it’s now more concerned with the job market than inflation.

The Fed seemed to find the proof

Fed officials said they felt more confident that inflation was cooling, announcing that they expect the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) annual inflation rate to hit their 2% goal in 2026. For reference, it hovered around 2.9% at the end of 2023.

Inflation wasn’t the Fed’s only factor. Powell said the rise in the unemployment rate this year was concerning and that he expects the rate to inch up to about 4.4% before the end of the year, from 4.2% currently.

• He emphasized that the job market and the economy were still in “good shape.”
• But the Fed hasn’t managed to tamp down inflation while simultaneously keeping unemployment rates low since the mid-1990s. So, it would be a huge feat if it can now.

Powell also made it clear that he’s not promising to keep the big cuts going.

For now, the only thing every industry/economist/Wall Street trader can agree on in response to yesterday’s rate cut is: “It’s about time.”

Looking ahead…most economists seem to be done worrying about a recession and expect more cuts in the future that could potentially push interest rates closer to 3% by the end of 2026.—MM

An ocean of white gold is out there for the taking—and we’re not talking about surfing. One of the most critical and short-supplied commodities in our economy is lithium, the key component in batteries for phones and EVs. Thankfully, one company’s been honing their extraction technique for nearly a decade, and they’re accepting investors for a limited time.

Meet EnergyX. Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% more efficiently than conventional methods. Plus, where modern methods take 12+ months, they need just two days. That earned a $5m DOE grant toward a recently announced US lithium plant and the rights to 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land.

Now they’re riding the lithium wave to the top of the $546b energy storage market. Join EnergyX as an early investor before their raise closes on Oct. 3.

Hezbollah walkie-talkies explode on second day of deadly attacks. In a second wave of attacks widely believed to be carried out by Israel that ratcheted up regional tension, walkie-talkies used by the paramilitary group in Lebanon detonated just one day after pagers used by the group exploded. Though the attacks appeared to target Hezbollah, bystanders were also harmed. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 20 people were killed and 450 were injured yesterday, and 12 were killed Tuesday, including two children, while thousands were injured. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel. Israel has not commented directly but said a “new era” of war was beginning. 

Boeing furloughs white-collar employees as factory workers strike. To cut costs while 30,000 unionized workers who make its planes are on strike, Boeing will temporarily furlough tens of thousands of executives, managers, and other staff, its CEO informed employees yesterday. Boeing was cash-strapped even before the strike began and has warned that the work stoppage could eat into its recovery. The company and the union have already returned to the bargaining table with a federal mediator in hopes of reaching a deal to end the strike.

23andMe’s whole board resigned over the CEO’s plan to take it private. All seven of the struggling DNA testing company’s independent directors stepped down from its board Tuesday night, leaving only founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. A committee formed by the board had previously rejected Wojcicki’s plan to take the company private, concluding that it didn’t offer a high enough premium to shareholders. Wojcicki persisted with her efforts, but in their resignation, the directors said they still hadn’t seen a “fully financed, fully diligenced, actionable proposal,” so they couldn’t agree on the strategic direction forward. The CEO said in a memo to employees that she was “surprised and disappointed” by their decision.

The original leftovers-enabler has reached its shelf life: Tupperware Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week after struggling to stay relevant in an e-commerce-heavy world where most women no longer throw celebrations to hawk plasticware.

Here’s what’s going on with the 78-year-old brand:

• Tupperware reported a $1.2 billion debt problem and only ~$680 million in assets in a court filing on Tuesday.
• Declaring Chapter 11 will let the container queen stay open while it restructures and attempts to turn into a “digital-first, technology-led company,” CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said.

Times have changed. Tupperware didn’t. It shot to kitchen fame among 1950s women who hosted “Tupperware parties,” where they’d sell colorful airtight containers to friends and family, and sometimes recruit them to do the same (making it one of the first MLMs). Tupperware largely didn’t expand beyond its direct sales model—even as online shopping exploded and rivals like Rubbermaid gained ground. It only started selling permanently through major retailers in 2022, partnering with Target and Amazon.

Looking ahead…Tupperware hopes to find a buyer, which could be difficult since plastic has fallen out of favor with health-conscious consumers. “Revitalizing the brand will be an uphill struggle,” analyst Susannah Streeter said.—ML

This rare travel credit card offer is turning heads. This could be one of the best travel offers of 2024. Earn a whopping 60,000 points toward travel when you spend just $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. That’s worth an insane $750 toward travel, which is hard to pass up.

If MrBeast and his production company were ever in beast mode, it’s officially been deactivated. Contestants from the yet-to-be-released game show Beast Games have filed a lawsuit against the show’s creators, YouTube sensation Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson and Amazon, alleging they enabled a culture of mistreatment and abuse while filming.

In the class-action lawsuit, five anonymous contestants claim they were not adequately paid and were forced into dangerous conditions while filming in Las Vegas. The lawsuit alleges that:

• Several contestants were hospitalized as a result of the games.
• Participants lacked access to medical care, were denied breaks during filming, and were fed “sporadically and sparsely.”
• Female contestants were subject to sexual harassment throughout production.

The lawsuit comes a month after a New York Times report detailing similar conditions. Beast Games was set to be the largest game show in history, with a $100 million budget, over 1,000 contestants, and a $5 million prize. MrBeast and Amazon did not provide comments on the suit to news outlets.

The hits keep coming. Earlier this week, the YouTube tycoon was met with widespread backlash for launching a “healthier” Lunchables competitor that doesn’t seem to be healthy at all. In July, he fired an employee who was accused of grooming minors. And last month, old videos resurfaced of MrBeast using homophobic and racist slurs.—CC

Soon, in addition to enviable independent bookstores and organic everything, Portland, Oregon, will also be able to boast about its own women’s basketball team. The WNBA has awarded the city an expansion team that will start playing in the 2026 season, bringing the league’s total number of franchises up to 15. The owners of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns paid $125 million for the not-yet-named franchise, according to the Associated Press. It’ll be the league’s third expansion franchise rolling out over the next two years, with the other two in the San Francisco Bay Area and Toronto. This is Portland’s second try at a WNBA team as its last, the Fire, folded in 2002 after two years of play. But right now, women’s basketball is crushing it: The WNBA recently wrapped its most-watched regular season on ESPN, averaging 1.2 million viewers a game—a 170% increase from 2023, per Sports Illustrated.