Good morning. Major kudos to the brave souls who are still reading business news on the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend. On a programming note, we'll be in your inbox tomorrow with the Brew Review, but off Monday while we sweat all the mayo out. Have a great July Fourth! —Neal Freyman, Joe Abrams, Matty Merritt, Jamie Wilde | | | |  | Nasdaq | 11,127.85 | | | | | S&P | 3,825.33 | | | | | Dow | 31,097.26 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.894% | | | | | Bitcoin | $19,380.37 | | | | | Lennar | $74.60 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 7:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: After their worst first half since 1970, stocks climbed to kick off the second half of the year, led by homebuilding companies. But it still wasn't enough to notch a winning week—the three major indexes have posted weekly losses in four out of the last five weeks.
| | | | Francis Scialabba This holiday weekend, even your one friend who claims to love spending time at the airport is probably dreading a visit to Terminal C. Air travel is expected to be chaotic as a surge in passengers for July Fourth poses a major test for airlines that are already hanging on by a thread. First, the stats: 3.6 million people are projected to fly this weekend, per AAA. That's up ~1.5% from a year ago but 9% off 2019 levels. Even though passenger numbers are lower than they were pre-Covid, airlines have not been handling the volume well. - Passengers filed 3,173 complaints against US airlines in April, almost 3x the number made the year before.
- Customer service lines have been so swamped that one traveler, who was on hold for three hours and 45 minutes with American Airlines trying to make reservation changes, hung up the phone and drove to the nearby airport to complete the booking, per the WSJ.
The airlines know they're in a pickle. Delta took the dramatic step of allowing passengers to change their bookings for free this weekend, meaning…it anticipates a lot of passengers will have to do that. So what's up? How did we get here? It mostly comes down to different flavors of "labor shortage." Airline staff: Even after airlines received more than $54 billion in pandemic relief from the federal government to keep staff on payroll, the industry had lost 31,000 workers by 2021. Many of those workers, such as ramp staff or ops agents, haven't come back, leaving a chasm between resurgent demand and the employees available to meet it. Air traffic controllers: Airlines argue that the mass delays and cancellations are a result of another kind of labor shortage: too few air traffic controllers. Frontier's CEO told DealBook that "the No. 1 issue that has impacted our operations has been air traffic control." The FAA, of course, disagrees. Pilots: When air travel was in the dumps during the pandemic, airlines incentivized their pilots to hit the golf course, and thousands left the industry with generous early retirement packages. Getting them back has been a challenge made more difficult by the regulations required to become a pilot: They have to log 1,500 hours of flying experience before being able to take the controls of a commercial jet. Big picture: Americans can take comfort in the fact that the chaotic air travel situation is even worse in Europe, where flight cancellations were double those of US carriers between April and June, per flight tracker RadarBox.com.—JA, NF | | TOGETHER WITH THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | | Let's face it: There are a lot of opinions out there on how to make your money go further. But the information you choose to follow (or ignore) comes down to your decision-making and your timing.
And the key to making the best decisions and staying ahead of the game? Staying informed. That's where The Wall Street Journal comes in. With trusted insights, in-depth analysis, and informed journalism, you'll gain confidence and peace of mind knowing that you're getting all the info you need to make the right decisions for you, at the right time. Get unlimited access to everything The Wall Street Journal has to offer (plus exclusive WSJ+ perks!) for just $4 a month. Sign up today for this great deal. | | Hey Arnold!/Paramount Global via Giphy Only had to use one emoji this time.  More SPACs collapse: At least four SPAC mergers were called off in the 24 hours after market close on Thursday, including one that would have taken Panera Brands public, according to Bloomberg. You can understand their hesitancy—an index that tracks companies that went public via SPAC has plunged 67%. For the year to date, 30 proposed SPAC deals have been nixed.
Buy now, pain later. Klarna, the Swedish fintech company that wants to help you pay for your Abercrombie haul in four easy installments, is nearing a fundraising deal that would value it at just $6.5 billion, per the WSJ. We say "just" because it was worth $45.6 billion in June 2021. Fintech and e-commerce, the two sectors Klarna straddles, have taken some of the worst licks from the recent market downturn. Another crypto company presses "pause." Crypto brokerage Voyager Digital said it's temporarily suspending all trades, deposits, and withdrawals on its platform due to current market conditions. In other words, crypto is hurting bad, and Voyager can't maintain liquidity if its customers drain their accounts or fail to pay back loans. Voyager is the latest in a string of crypto asset-holding companies struggling to stay alive, which includes BlockFi, Celsius, and Three Arrows Capital. | | Mourning the victims in San Antonio. Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images Smuggling migrants into the US has evolved in recent years from small, independent operators to the much bigger business of cartel-led convoys—with fatal consequences. This week, 53 migrants were found dead of heatstroke, dehydration, and suffocation in an 18-wheeler in San Antonio, Texas. What led to this? Drug cartels have taken over control of smuggling operations and increased their cut of the profits, squeezing smugglers' take to a third of what migrants pay them. What doesn't go to the cartel in charge of the smuggling is often doled out to local crime bosses and used to pay bribes to Mexican security forces. To keep profits up, Honduran smugglers say they charge more than triple what they used to per migrant ($13,500, up from $4,000), according to the WSJ. Still, what's left over to pay for actual travel costs isn't much, and conditions for migrants have deteriorated. While the San Antonio incident is the deadliest on record, it's far from the only one: At least 650 people died crossing the Mexico–US border last year, the most the International Organization for Migration has ever reported since it started tracking deaths in 2014. Zoom out: Last year, the Biden administration launched an operation to target smuggling organizations, and last month the Department of Homeland Security announced it had arrested 2,000 suspected smugglers during the previous two months.—JW | | Tim Clayton - Corbis/Getty Images The White House announced President Biden's first list of Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees, and it's more stacked than this year's Pitchfork. Seventeen people will receive the country's highest civilian honor next Thursday. Among them: - Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011 and became a gun control advocate, and actor Denzel Washington will receive honors.
- Athletes Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe will each get another medal they can add to their already extensive trophy cases. They join the exclusive club of only four other women athletes and coaches to receive the award.
A few other awardees: - Posthumous medals will be given to former Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, Republican Senator John McCain, and union leader Richard Trumka.
- Civil rights leaders Fred Gray Sr., the attorney who filed the petition to challenge Alabama's bus segregation, and Diane Nash, one of the most important student civil rights organizers of the 20th century.
- Sandra Lindsay, the NYC Covid nurse who was the first person in the US to get the Covid vaccine outside of clinical trials.
The more you know: The Presidential Medal of Freedom award was established by JFK in 1963, but was first presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson after Kennedy's assassination.—MM | | TOGETHER WITH MARKETWATCH | | George De Sota/Getty Images Here are a few news stories from around the world that might convert you into a simulation theorist.  Vancouver, Canada: The radio station Kiss Radio 104.9 FM played the song "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine on repeat for 30 straight hours beginning Wednesday morning. Listeners speculated that it was a protest after two popular DJs were laid off—but instead it turned out to be a form of "stunting," which is how a radio station communicates it's changing its programming.
 North Korea: In case anyone was wondering, Kim Jong Un has definitely seen the new season of Stranger Things. In a statement, the government blamed the country's initial Covid outbreak in April on "alien things" sent in balloons from South Korea.
 The Netherlands: Remember the uproar when officials in Rotterdam said they would temporarily dismantle a historic bridge to clear a path for Jeff Bezos's superyacht? Well, those plans have been scrapped following heavy criticism from local residents. For a contingency plan, Bezos is tapping Blue Origin to beam the ship over to St. Barts.
 New York: If you've been thinking about booking a cruise to avoid airport headaches, make sure to renew your vows first. After a person was allegedly caught in an extramarital threesome on the Carnival Magic cruise ship outside New York, an estimated 60 passengers brawled for an hour, causing the Coast Guard to play marriage counselor and escort the ship to shore.
| | David Ryder/Getty Images Stat: Jeff Bezos finally beat his archnemesis Elon Musk at something—losing money. The Amazon founder's net worth crashed by $63 billion in the first half of 2022, while Musk's fell by $62 billion. All told, the 500 richest people in the world lost $1.4 trillion so far this year due to sinking asset prices, according to Bloomberg. It's the biggest six-month drop ever for the private jet class. Quote: "Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn't be here." Mark Zuckerberg thinks he has more employees than he needs to copy whatever TikTok does next, and in a Q&A session that leaked to Reuters, he told Meta workers that the company would be "turning up the heat" on performance oversight in order to uncover the workers who just watch Netflix all day. "If I had to bet, I'd say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we've seen in recent history," he said. Watch: I ate at every Rainforest Cafe in the country. (Eddy Burback) | | - TikTok told US lawmakers in a letter that it's ramping up efforts to protect US user data. It also confirmed a report that its Chinese employees can access American user data.
- At least 21 people were killed by a Russian airstrike on a residential area near the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
- A second visitor in three days was gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park. Stay at least 75 feet away from these animals, folks!
- Netflix briefly crashed after dropping the final two episodes of Stranger Things 4.
| | Good thread: People are introducing themselves with the wildest feedback they've received. Weekend conversation starters: | | Brew Crossword: Alright y'all—Mary went full-send on the Independence Day theme for this week's crossword. Play it here. Open house Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section bringing rundown businesses to you. We'll give you facts about two listings and you try to guess which one is more expensive.  LoopNet/ZillowBoth properties are iconic relics of American culture. The first one is a strip mall in Yorkville, Illinois. It was built in 2005 and its 15,000 square feet are perfect for a Maurice's takeover. The second listing is a former Domino's in Philadelphia that is actually listed on Zillow as a townhouse, which, sure! Seems fine! This 2,200-square-foot nightmare of a building is only a 20-minute drive from the center of West Philly. Which one is more expensive? | | As economists and politicians debate the prospect of a recession, many Americans are gearing up for the worst-case scenario: losing their job. We break it down in Make it Make Sense: Watch now. Don't miss out on more from the Brew: Morning Brew Shop is holding our first-ever major sale ahead of the Fourth of July. 30% off select styles, for a limited time only. Shop now.  ICYMI, we surveyed readers about salary transparency, and received some really eye-opening answers. Check out the results here.
| | | The strip mall is listed for $1.9 million, while the former Domino's is listed for just under $1 million. | | | Written by Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, and Jamie Wilde Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → Tips for smarter living → - Money Scoop: your personal finance upgrade
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