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| Presented By Meta |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen · Jul 15, 2022 |
| Happy Friday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,181 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by Noah Bressner. |
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| 1 big thing: Gas stations evaporate |
 Data: National Petroleum News, NACS. Chart: Axios Visuals The number of gas stations has been in steady decline for decades. Volatility in gas prices — along with the rising popularity of electric vehicles — will squeeze them even further, Axios' Felix Salmon reports. - Several California cities have banned new stations. But most gas stations aren't owned by big multinational corporations. The ups and downs of fuel prices are cutting into many of their bottom lines.
Gas prices, after spiking upwards, have now declined for 30 consecutive days, per GasBuddy. That's good news for drivers, but terrible news for gas station owners. - The pattern of a sharp rise in gas prices, then a slow fall, is the worst possible dynamic for such businesses.
How it works: When a gas station refills its own tanks, it buys weeks' worth of fuel — sometimes months' worth, in the case of diesel — at a single high price, The Wall Street Journal explains (subscription). - If prices then start to fall, the gas station is forced to sell at below its own cost.
Between the lines: This year might not be as bad for gas stations as 2008. Convenience stores sell more prepared food these days, which has higher margins and can help cushion any blow from gas price volatility. - The fill-up industry is surprisingly unconsolidated. 80% of the gas bought in America is purchased from a franchised convenience store that's individually owned — even if it bears the brand name of a multinational.
👀 What we're watching: Though mom & pop shops still dominate, big box stores have muscled into the game. Once they start using gas as a loss-leader, smaller players are forced to lower their prices or face going out of business entirely. |
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| 2. ⛽ Why gas prices are falling |
 Data: GasBuddy. Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios Gas prices, a big driver of the historic inflation that has triggered rage and pain across America, are drifting down but are still way up from the beginning of the year. - As of this morning, the national average price for a gallon of regular is $4.58, AAA says.
What's happening: U.S. inventories "are slowly growing, in part because of continuing releases of oil by the government from its strategic oil reserves and reduced consumption," the N.Y. Times reports (subscription). Threat level: The trend "could easily reverse, especially if a hurricane knocks out a refinery on the Gulf Coast, since global oil supplies remain fairly tight." |
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| 3. 🗳️ "The bullseye is in the middle" |
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| Cover: The Economist |
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| From across the pond, The Economist warns U.S. Dems: "For the good of America, the governing party urgently needs to take on its own activists." - Why it matters: "It is not enough for Democrats to bemoan Republican disinformation. They need to counter the idea that they themselves are in thrall to their own extremes."
🌊 If you missed it last night in Axios Sneak Peek, the GOP is in danger of sabotaging a red wave: Top Republicans, once confident about winning control of the Senate, fear they'll blow it after nominating several deeply flawed candidates in winnable states, Axios' Josh Kraushaar and Andrew Solender report. - Mitch McConnell has been sounding this alarm for months: Electing fringe candidates with checkered pasts could squander a golden chance to reclaim power. Now McConnell is left hoping for a red wave so wide and powerful that candidate quality is irrelevant.
Keep reading. |
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| A message from Meta |
| The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real |
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| Meta is helping build the metaverse so aviation mechanics will be able to practice servicing different jet engines – preparing them for any complex job. The results: A more skilled workforce. Learn how Meta is helping build the metaverse. |
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| 4. 📷 1,000 words: A hero's entrance |
| Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Congress gave its ultimate final salute to Hershel W. "Woody" Williams, a 5-foot-6 "force of nature" in the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, and the last remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. - 77 years after his wartime heroism, Williams, who died last month at 98, lay in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, a tribute reserved for the nation's most distinguished private citizens, AP reports.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Only six others have received the honor: civil rights icon Rosa Parks, the Rev. Billy Graham and four Capitol police officers. |
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| 5. 🌞 Charted: 10 hottest years |
 Data: NOAA. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals NOAA's latest monthly report finds a 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest in records dating back to the late 1800s, Ben Geman writes in Axios Generate. - Why it matters: 2022's heat reflects the wider and dangerous global warming.
🚨 The globe's 10 hottest Junes have all occurred since 2010. - This was the sixth hottest June in the 143-year record, back to 1879.
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| 6. 📦 Amazon slashes own labels |
| Amazon "has started drastically reducing the number of items it sells under its own brands, and the company has discussed the possibility of exiting the private-label business entirely to alleviate regulatory pressure," The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription). - Amazon's private labels now encompass "everything from vitamins and coffee to clothing and furniture, with brand names such as Amazon Basics, Goodthreads and Solimo. However, Amazon has said that its house brands only account for about 1% of its retail sales."
Between the lines: "The growing scale of its own offerings increasingly put Amazon in competition with other sellers on its platform, angering those sellers and resulting in antitrust scrutiny," The Journal notes. |
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| 7. 🏙️ Remembering Ivana Trump |
| Donald Trump and his then-wife, Ivana Trump, outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan after she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen in 1988. Photo: AP Ivana Trump — the first wife of former President Trump and the mother of his three oldest children, who helped her husband build some of his signature buildings, including Trump Tower — died in Manhattan at 73. - The couple married in 1977 and divorced in 1992. They had three children: Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
Ivana Trump played a role in building up the Trump media image in the 1980s, when they were one of New York City's most prominent power couples, Reuters reports. - The Trump family said in a statement that Ivana Trump, who was born in Czechoslovakia, "was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination."
- A police spokesperson said she was found on the stairs inside her apartment and that foul play was not suspected.
She spent much of her youth in competitive skiing. While on a modeling trip to New York in 1976, she met Donald Trump, and they were married nine months later. - Ivana Trump was the vice president for interior design for the Trump Organization and managed the historic Plaza Hotel, which Trump acquired in 1988 — all while raising their three children.
- She supported her former husband's run for the White House in 2016, telling interviewers she periodically offered him advice.
🗞️ Today's N.Y. Times front page has a lovely headline on the obituary: "Former President's First Wife, Who Became a Mogul Herself." |
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| 8. 🍨 1 food thing: Ice cream scream |
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| Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios |
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| Ice cream prices continue to rise along with other dairy products — but demand hasn't melted, experts tell Axios' Kelly Tyko. - Ahead of National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, June's Consumer Price Index found ice cream prices were up 12.5% over the last year.
What's happening: Ben Wynkoop, a grocery expert with the supply-chain platform Blue Yonder, told Axios that ice cream is "discretionary, but also a small treat that shoppers will still buy during inflation as they look for some small ways to treat themselves as they look for other areas to cut spending." |
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| A message from Meta |
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| Virtual reality will enable students to see and experience biological concepts in new ways — deepening their knowledge and sparking curiosity. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. Learn how Meta is helping build the metaverse. |
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