Good morning. Smell is the most underrated sense. Have you ever walked by an Abercrombie & Fitch store at the mall and not gone inside to have your mom buy you cargo shorts for the spring formal? Thought so. But we're not here to sell you trendy apparel; we're here to sell you trendy candles. And not just any candles—candles with fragrances designed specifically to get you into whatever mental space you're aiming for, whether it's to be more creative, calm, or energetic.  We have a limited number in stock, so grab yours now. —Neal Freyman, Max Knoblauch, Jamie Wilde | | | |  | Nasdaq | 12,081.39 | | | | | S&P | 4,132.15 | | | | | Dow | 32,990.12 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.853% | | | | | Bitcoin | $31,727.49 | | | | | Salesforce | $175.00 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 9:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The curtain has dropped on May and, after dizzying falls and equally dramatic gains, stocks closed the month mostly where they started. Salesforce's bullish earnings report showed that even with all the economic uncertainty, demand has remained strong for business software.
- But not for IPOs. The market for public listings has essentially frozen over. No companies, including SPACs, went public in the US last week for the first silent week in more than two years, according to Renaissance Capital.
| | | | Saul Loeb/Getty Images President Biden and Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the two most powerful people in the world outside of any Barry's instructor, met yesterday in the Oval Office to discuss the US economy—specifically, the inflation that's jacking up Americans' cost of living and cramping Biden's popularity. The meeting is just the fourth between the two since Biden took office in February 2021. That might seem odd Shouldn't the president and the country's top economic policymaker be talking just a little more often? Did Biden forget to Venmo him for the WrestleMania PPV? Well, despite working 0.6 miles from each other, Biden and Powell give each other the cold shoulder by design. The Federal Reserve is intended to shape monetary policy independent of the US federal government, and that's for one primary reason: Short-term political considerations shouldn't influence the Fed chair's decisions on what's best for the economy in the long term. - For example, a president might not want the Fed to hike interest rates because it would slow down the economy and tank markets during an election year.
- But while that policy might hurt the prez's election prospects, the White House doesn't have the power to do anything about it.
Most recent presidents have let the Fed do its thing without exerting pressure, but one exception is former President Trump. If you were reading the Brew while Trump was in office, you would have noted how he frequently tried to bully Powell (whom he elevated to Fed chair) into cutting interest rates more quickly. Biden, in a WSJ Op-Ed published on Monday, said that he wouldn't try to influence the Fed's policies like his predecessor did, and that it's the central bank's responsibility to control inflation—which, of course, may be an attempt to deflect some blame as well. While leaving the heavy lifting on inflation to Powell, the president did propose some actions Congress could take that would help lower prices, including passing clean energy tax credits that would lower utility bills, building more than 1 million units of affordable housing, and allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.—NF | | | With profit margins at a measly 5%–10% due to high real estate and labor costs, a lot of full-service restaurants aren't exactly feelin' the amore right now. In fact, average labor costs for pizza places has soared to 31.3%. But Piestro, a completely autonomous, labor-free approach to restaurant ownership, is here to save the day. Piestro uses advanced robotics to craft artisanal pizzas in 3 minutes, cutting labor costs down to zero and limiting real estate needs to the size of, say, two vending machines. Piestro has already scored $580M in preorders via commercial contracts—and now you, too, can invest in the future of pizza. Get your piece of the pie here. | | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images  SCOTUS put Texas's social media law on hold. The Supreme Court blocked the state's controversial law that would prohibit large social media companies from banning, demonetizing, or downranking posts in Texas based on "viewpoint"—which tech industry groups argued could result in harmful content, such as Russian propaganda, flooding those platforms. This law, and similar ones introduced by other states, could turn into a prolonged legal battle, The Verge reports.
 Canada proposes new gun laws. The country introduced legislation on Monday that would freeze the buying, importing, selling, and transferring of handguns, along with other measures that would curtail access to firearms. Prime Minister Trudeau said that while most gun owners in Canada are responsible, levels of gun violence there are "unacceptable" and that "we need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action, firmly and rapidly, it gets worse and worse and more difficult to counter."
 Mexican Pizza shortages have reached critical levels. Just days after delaying the Mexican Pizza musical starring Dolly Parton and Doja Cat, and less than two weeks since it returned Mexican Pizzas to the menu, Taco Bell has announced that it's having a hard time filling orders for the iconic dish. "Replenishing the beloved menu item is taking longer than we'd like," the company said in a statement. It's not the only staple food facing shortages: Popcorn supply for movie theaters is expected to be tight during the summer blockbuster season.
| | Photo Illustration: Dianna "Mick" McDougall, Photos: Getty Images/20th Century Fox Very Important People, step aside: The UK just dropped a new immigration program for what it's calling "High Potential Individuals." If you've graduated from one of the world's 50 best universities within the last five years, you're eligible for a two- or three-year visa—no job offer required. To make it onto the UK's list of qualifying unis, a school has to first land on two out of three of these global college rankings: The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, and The Academy of Ranking World Universities. Sorry, Barstool Top 50 Party Schools. - The high potential individuals, per the UK: graduates of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, UC Berkeley, NYU, UPenn, MIT, UCLA
- Those with less potential: graduates of Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Rice, everyone writing this newsletter
To check if your school made the cut (20 in the US did), here's the full list. Zoom out: The UK is facing a serious worker shortage, and this new visa program is an attempt to convince highly skilled employees that chips > fries.—JW | | Succession/HBO via Giphy Just like they're required to disclose top executive pay, US publicly traded companies are required to disclose the compensation of the median worker from their global staffs. Well, according to a new WSJ analysis of 2021's worker pay, the numbers look pretty good. At the majority of S&P 500 companies, median worker pay is higher than 2019 levels—including 150 companies that reported an increase of 10% or more. More than 140 companies reported that their median employee makes six figures, proving your parents' advice to "write Netflix an email and ask them to let you make a movie" is pretty shrewd after all. (Netflix's median employee makes around $200k.) Other interesting findings: - 12 out of the top 25 best compensated median employees worked at tech companies.
- Retail pay has improved. In 2019, 56 companies reported the median worker's compensation to be less than $30,000, compared to 41 in 2021.
- Hiring sprees led to big shifts. Delta hired 13% of its total workforce in 2021 (11,000 people), so its median worker received 41% less compared to 2019.
Zoom out: Despite wage increases, the labor share of national output—basically, the working class's share of the pie—has remained stagnant compared to pre-pandemic levels. That's likely due to higher costs from inflation eating up wage increases, and the fact that CEO pay increased as well (up 31% from 2020, to $20 million).—MK | | Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images Stat: US streams of Kate Bush's 1985 single "Running Up That Hill" jumped 9,900% on Monday compared to the previous Thursday, and clocked in at No. 2 on Spotify's Top 50 chart for the US. Why? The certified bop was featured in Stranger Things's new season, released on Netflix last Friday. And other '80s songs have been given new life thanks to Gen Zers on TV. When Euphoria featured Sinéad O'Connor's 1987 power ballad "Drink Before the War" on episode five of season two, its Spotify streams surged 26,900%. Quote: "It's not wrong to be different." Jerome Powell wasn't the only big shot to visit the White House yesterday. Suga and the other members of the K-Pop supergroup BTS met with the president to discuss Asian inclusion and bring more attention to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Shares of Hybe, the company that manages them, rose before their visit. Read: A day in the life of a hedge fund analyst. (Ming Zhao) | | Bo's back: Comedian Bo Burnham, who helped us get through Covid lockdowns with his now iconic Inside special, released the outtakes on Monday. Watch them here. European hospitality: Check out this map, and the ensuing explanation of why people in certain European countries will serve a guest food, and why others won't. Get ready for summer: CoolCabanas, the team behind some of the world's hippest beach products, is running an exclusive 50%+ OFF sale for all Brew readers the next 48 hours. Shop now to save $100 on any large CoolCabana with the code BREW100 while stocks last.** It's shorts szn: And these wear-anywhere shorts are a perfect Father's Day gift. They've got 4-way stretch, quick-dry properties, and high-performance fabric to keep you fresh all day. Take 20% off your first purchase.* 365 days of Daily Cash*: Apple Card gives you unlimited cash back on every single purchase—real cash that you can spend however you want. Terms apply. Apply for Apple Card here. *This is sponsored advertising content. **This is a paid partnership. | | - Rafael Nadal, the undisputed King of the Clay, defeated top-seeded Novak Djokovic in an epic quarterfinal match at the French Open.
- Shanghai authorities began lifting a two-monthslong Covid lockdown on the city.
- Inflation in the eurozone hit 8.1%, its highest annual level since the euro was created in 1999.
- DeLorean released new info (and photos) around its new gull-winged EV.
- The owner of Salt Bae's steakhouse is reportedly in talks to sell a stake at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
| | Word Search: Get in the Halloween spirit *checks calendar* five months early with today's puzzle on knockoff costumes. Play it here. Spell check To prep for the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals on Thursday night, see if you can determine the correct spelling of these commonly misspelled words. - Embarass / Embarrass
- Advisable / Adviseable
- Carribean / Caribbean
- Liaison / Liason
- Supercede / Supersede
- Inoculate / Innoculate
| | - Embarrass
- Advisable
- Caribbean
- Liaison
- Supercede
- Inoculate
| | | Written by Neal Freyman, Max Knoblauch, and Jamie Wilde Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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