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Anne Barry
activist investors, multiple CEOs and underperforming yoga pants. The drama continues at Lululemon. We break down the latest in a new tale of two chips the Fed's rate decision matters meta reversal and as General Mills turning around our spin through the biggest headlines today and sanctions lifted now shipping laws waived, the moves from the White House to get oil prices back down. What war in Iran now means for the shores of America for Wednesday, March 18th is Blue Markets Daley and I'm Ann Berry. More market details to come. But first, President Trump is waiving a more than 100 year old US shipping law in an attempt to stabilize the global oil markets. That's a suspension of the Jones act for 60 days, otherwise known as the Merchant Marine act of 1920. The Jones act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson and it requires that the transport of goods between US US ports be conducted by US vessels, meaning US built at least 75% American owned and crewed by US citizens. Well, the act was designed to bolster national security after World War I, during which German U boats decimated America's merchant fleet. And the act effectively prohibits foreign flagships from doing domestic trade to ensure there are US Ships and trained mariners ready and available in the case of emergencies. So the Jones act is a big deal and its purpose is deemed to be so important that it survived for more than a century, despite the fact it has been pretty heavily criticized for significantly increasing shipping costs and by extent, costs in general in the United States. Now, the law has been waived before, but it isn't done lightly. It was waived in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in the 2011 Libyan crisis to facilitate the shipment of oil from America's Strategic Petroleum reserve. And in 2021 in the wake of a ransom attack on Colonial Pipeline, which is the largest for refined oil products in the US carrying up to 3 million barrels of fuel per day between Texas and New York. So today's White House announcement of the Jones act waiver is not one to take lightly. And the waiver is designed to, quote, allow vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer and coal to flow freely to US Ports. Now this is to alleviate the pressure of commodity prices. Oil is up at over a hundred dollars a barrel, a more than 40% increase since before the war began in Iran. And the waiver will specifically allow foreign ships to carry fuel to refineries on the East Coast. Interestingly, it's not the only exception to long standing positions now being made to take the edge off energy cost pressures. Today the US Also eased sanctions on Venezuela to allow American companies to do business with the country's state owned oil and gas company. And last week, the US Eased sanctions on countries buying Russian oil which has been floating at sea unable to be sold. That's a one month exception that Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says would reduce the broader global economic impact of the US Israel war with Iran. Well, so far these actions have not quite been enough to cool oil markets. Brent crude, which is the global oil price benchmark, surged to nearly $109 a barrel today after reports that Israel struck Iran's largest gas processing facility and the world's largest natural gas reservoir. So lots going on. This is going to continue, so we're going to keep on watching. Coming up, boardroom drama and feuding CEOs. You've got the latest inside Lululemon's yoga pants empire and why Meta is taking another step back from, you guessed it, the Metaverse. But first, a word from our presenting sponsor, CME Group. Weathering the market means managing risk and discovering opportunities in unexpected places. That's where CME Group comes in.
John Curto
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Anne Barry
CME Group provides a wide range of global benchmark products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, energy, agricultural products and metal.
John Curto
Learn more@cmegroup.com podcast that's cmegroup.com podcast Lululemon.
Anne Barry
Let's go there. Embroiled in a corporate power struggle that has destabilized the yoga pants empire and frankly, overshadow shadow today's earnings. We're going to get to those numbers in just a moment. But first, John, let's start out with some context and let's get into the costly succession drama that's going on over there.
John Curto
That's right. Lululemon Athletic Inc. Ticker Lulu on the Nasdaq market cap of $20 billion, shares were up 5% today, but they remain down nearly 50% year over year. And to just recap some of the challenges the company is facing, same source, sales in the Americas haven't grown in two years. The company is expecting another year of declines in 2026 between 1 and 3% now. Sales in China are expected to grow around 20% in the rest of the world by mid teens percentage. But for the quarter and the full year ahead, Lulu's outlook for earnings and revenue are falling below Wall Street's expectations.
Anne Barry
Well, we've talked about how activist investors have been circling this one. It's an iconic name, right? It's the OG of Athleisure. It's screaming for attention anyway, just by virtue of how sort of famous it is. But that consistent underperformance you've described gotten the attention of some of Wall Street's most vocal and saber rattling activists. So that's why we've been sort of excited to get out some popcorn and watch this one unfold. Well, this time, very interestingly, you've got a call for change coming from the outside, the activists, but a really, really loud voice is coming from one particular insider. Q. The tale of two Chips and we're going to start with Chip number one, Chip Wilson, who is the now billionaire who founded the company in 1998. Now, Chip Wilson resigned as chief executive over a decade ago, but he still owns nearly 9% of the company. He's a meaningful shareholder and he's a very loud one at this moment in time. John, right? He's been castigating management. He's been feuding with the board of directors. We really dug out our best verbs to try and describe the passion with which he is engaging on this. And he's basically said Lululemon has lost its cool. He's super clear that what gave Lululemon its mojo and its edge has just been dissipated as the company has, quote, sort of cow towed to the demise of Wall Street. Instead, growth in in in that process, sacrificing what made Lululemon special in the eyes of the founder, Chip Wilson. Now, Lulu's most recent CEO, Calvin McDonald, stepped down at the end of January. And since then the Lululemon just hasn't really figured out how to fill that seat quickly.
John Curto
Yeah, there's a power vacuum in the top seat and three CEOs have departed without a successor named, as you mentioned. Blames the board saying it's quote, not equipped to support visionary leadership. And he is sending out letters. This is my favorite part about it. Yeah, he wants to see a refreshed board before the next CEO is appointed. And in February, he sent a letter to shareholders accusing the board of acting in its own interest. And then just last week, Wilson sent out letters to would be Lulu CEOs those potentially taking the seat, warning that they should be laser focused on the board. He's giving a warning.
Anne Barry
Oh, it's really. He is really pointing at the heart of something that's not talked about explicitly that often. We've touched on it in the show and it's this idea of corporate governance because this idea of what boards do is sort of amorphous often. And what Chip Wilson is saying is, hey guys, the CEO reports to the board, which means you can fire a CEO. Things are going poorly, but ultimately the buck stops first at the CEO, but ultimately at the board of directors level. And if the board hasn't made the decisions or picked the right CEOs, you've got to start looking there as opposed to looking, looking over here at the CEO alone. So he's really getting to the heart of something that again doesn't get as much attention as you might think. Now, the idea that the board needs to do something is where an act, the activist is also finding an angle. So you've got Elliott Investment manage and Management that's taken a big stake in the company and it's pushing for its own candidate to be the next CEO. And their candidate is the former Ralph Lauren executive, Jane Nilsson. So you've got a lot going on around here to start with. Now there has been a change to the board because Lululemon announced it's added Chip number two to this equation. Chip Berg, who is the former president and Levi CEO of Levi Strauss to the board. Now, Chip Berg is not one of Chip Wilson's three nominees. So Chip Wilson does have a view for who he should be there. Chipberg is not one of them. That being said, Chipberg has some success in his 12 year tenure as the CEO of Levi's. Between 2011 and sort of 2024, he was widely regarded as one of the most successful corporate turnaround mavens in modern retail. He made denim cool again. He brought back the storied Levi's brand and the company began pursuing a much more profitable Direct selling strategy, ultimately pushing revenue up by around 30. So this is a real person, John. Like, you know, Chipberg is not to be sneezed at as an operator.
John Curto
I also read at Levi's that he pushed the company away from its male jeans look and into more women's wear. So this could a. A crossover.
Anne Barry
Yeah, very much aligned to value strength. The other thing that's interesting is that the board member, David Mustafa, who is the managing partner and chairman of private equity firm Advent, just to go back in history, Advent, that private equity firm used to own Lululemon and owned it at the time the company was taken public. Well, that representative of the private equity firm is not going to stand for re election. And that's a particular win for the founder, Chip Wilson, who has criticized Mustafa in particular very publicly in terms of his role in not getting the board to do things that Chip Wilson thought were necessary. So there's a lot of finger pointing, there's a lot of explicit tension really getting into the public eye here.
John Curto
And meanwhile, if you're trying to get the company to move in a certain direction, there's co interim CEOs. There are two people, Megan Frank, she's the chief financial officer, and Andre Mastrini, he's the chief Commercial officer. So they're doing those roles at the company and they've both been elevated to interim roles. And I find that interesting. We've a few guests on the show that you've spoken with who have that interim title. And it's an interesting concept to. To think how they might be seen by the people under them and by shareholders. And so to have two co CEO interims seems like a real challenge.
Anne Barry
Well, let's just talk about that actually, because this idea of CO CEOs is sort of disputed anyway. When it works really well, you're getting two for the price of one, right? Two brains for the price of one. We've seen that at Netflix. The argument is that's happening at Spotify. But in this instance, you've got the CFO and the chief commercial officer. So number one, I believe they're being CEOs for the first time. And in addition, they're doing it with a partner where they haven't really worked like this before. I mean, they've obviously been partners as members of the C suite, but it's different when the buck stops at you. And then here's the other little secret. When you're the interim CEO, if you're remotely ambitious, if you ever think you ultimately want the top job, you know, you're auditioning, right? You know, you're auditioning. So here you've got CFO and a chief commercial officer who've had battlefield promotions to all intensive purposes, very public, very difficult situation. It does sort of beg the question if and when a full time CEO is recruited. So neither of these get it. How do they feel? And do they just slot back into their old roles? And I think it's tricky. I think it's going to be tricky even when the dust is settled and even after a CEO has been found.
John Curto
It's not the same as the interim, but it makes me think of Disney, where you're looking at their succession and there was two leaders there, one of films, one of parks, and who was going to get the job. And then when one person doesn't get it, you know, what does that look like?
Anne Barry
And they were ready. They were ready to name it here it was, you know, the CEO left and now the board's starting a search which could take months and months and months. So this doesn't feel like this has been particularly well coordinated.
John Curto
Lululemon just opened a 17,000 square foot flagship location in Soho. And then soon after, competitors Aloyogo and Vorary opened up stores on the same street. So I was looking at Google Maps today within a few hundred feet on Spring Street.
Anne Barry
Yes.
John Curto
There's these. These competitors are saying, we are coming right for you. We are in your neighborhood. So we're gonna have to take a field trip because it's right around the corner in Soho from Uniqlo, which we've talked about, and a Levi's store. So you've got that Levi's connection, the whole thing.
Anne Barry
We can do a field trip. Well, can I. I have a confession because I'm a nerd and I wanted to be prepared for you, John Croteau. I wanted you to feel like, as your partner in this conversation. I actually took a walk along Spring street. So I went to go and check it out. So aloe had been there for a minute, actually. So it's been there at Spring street for a while. And these aren't knockoffs like aloe. Yoga and viori are not the knockoffs. They seen Lululemon and there's raised Lululemon. Right. So I got to tell you, I did walk into the Lululemon store. It was totally cookie cutter. I was not inspired by it. You know, it used to have smaller footprints. This one's big at 17, 000. I've been to others which had a more boutique feel and they had cool Things. Lululemon, I remember, made a real splash in the marketing world by having yoga instructors do yoga poses and do classes through it, like literally in the window of the store. And they started to build a story around community and trying to get f financial, which were ahead of the time. So in terms of the merchandise, in terms of the aesthetic, in terms of the store layout, I thought the Lulu store was very uninspiring. It was very same old. Viori is kind of on the money. It's kind of cool. It's got. It's very nicely laid out. And I, you know, Aloe's been around for a while and has always been a little bit more upscale. So just having done the walking, I got to tell you, I think Lulu, they're going to have to figure out something fresh and new. One person's view. Let's talk about what the street saying. So not one person's view, other people's views. The Jefferies analyst Randy Koenig said in a recent note, quote, we continue to view the CEO gap as the biggest overhang. The board says it is running a robust search process and provided no timing until a credible CEO is in place to reset strategy, org design and accountability, especially in North America. Investors are left under writing hope. I thought that was very cogent. I thought that was very clear. So this is going to be complicated and the street not beating around at all, being super clear here on why it's feeling uninspired.
John Curto
You know how many headlines I saw today that said downward dog? That was the pun that they all wanted to see.
Anne Barry
That's quite good. That's actually for Wall Street. That's very funny. Good for them.
John Curto
Let's move on to Meta.
Anne Barry
Let's move on to Meta. So Horizon Worlds, which is Meta's virtual reality social network, was designed for the Quest virtual reality headset. Right. And the idea behind this, I remember this so clear. Do you remember this?
John Curto
Yeah.
Anne Barry
The idea was VR is going to take over the world and we're all going to do our meetings virtually and we're all going to socialize virtually, the equivalent of having, like silent disco all the time, but one thing that was missing was really good content that was compatible with virtual reality hardware.
John Curto
Yeah.
Anne Barry
And so Meta said, look, not only are we going to go into the hardware space with the headsets, we are going to try to own some of the best content. And this social network in a virtual world was going to be part of driving adoption and getting the Metaverse to accelerate in its rollout. So that being said, Horizon World is going to close on June 15. Meta is throwing in the towel. It will remain available on a mobile app. But this is striking, John, because let me just give you the numbers. Reality Labs, which is the division responsible for Horizon Worlds, has seen parebacks in headcount. We know there have been layoffs. That's been around in Meta headlines for a while. While. But Reality Labs has consistently burned through massive amounts of cash. Let me just quantify this. It's accumulated nearly $80 billion in total operating losses from 2008 to. Sorry, excuse me. From late 2020 to 2025. I cannot believe how much money has just been shredded on this. But Meta, to its credit, I think lots of companies would try to just keep shuffling this food around the plate. At least they're deciding to do something dramatic. But man, what a cost. It's coming.
John Curto
Yeah, you're looking at $15 billion a year for something. I don't know anyone who's used it.
Anne Barry
I don't either.
John Curto
And to again, for all the Mark Zuckerberg haters or people who want to be obnoxious about it, the fact that they changed the name to Meta.
Anne Barry
Yes.
John Curto
And then had this turnaround is striking.
Anne Barry
Well, we've said in the past, I've always, I've always thought like, on the one hand, kudos to public companies actually have the courage to say, this isn't working, we're going to cut our losses. Amazon, famed for doing that. We talked recently about some of the food companies. I think it was Pan Pepsi that was trying to take its prices up and said, actually, it's costing us too much in terms of customer attrition. We're going to reverse course. Reverse reversing course is very hard to do. It's hard to be intellectually honest about a fail. And it's hard to then say to the street, I admit it, I'm wrong and, you know, sorry, cost you so much money. Well, Meta stock down over 1% today. It looks as though admitting defeat on the Metaverse front wasn't a shock, wasn't welcomed by investors, but, you know, cleaning the slate to try and move forward, doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on AI. Well, let's take a break and when we come back, a debrief on today's Brew Markets event. There was one here in New York, it's called Eyes on Her. Plus, we're going to take a spin through the headlines that are moving the markets today. John, can you turn the phrase semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year into an investable index for me
John Curto
right now off the top of my head, no.
Anne Barry
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John Curto
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Anne Barry
earlier today we took part in a Brew Markets event. It was a partnership with the newsletter and the events team here in New York, and it was all about women, wealth and what's next. And so we gathered in a high floor at the Rockefeller center in a beautiful space with great, great views and there was just a lot of great content because we had some great speakers. John moderated, I moderated. I did one particular interview we'll talk about in a moment, and we just thought we'd share some of the highlights for those of you who weren't able to join in person or to stream the event.
John Curto
Yeah, one of my favorite parts was you were on stage with Haley Sachs. Mrs. Dow Jones.
Anne Barry
Mrs. Dow Jones.
John Curto
And it was so cool because we all know she knows her stuff, but also was a great entertain, learned that she has a background in improv comedy and even did a stint at snl. Makes sense.
Anne Barry
Exactly. So look her up on Instagram. She hasn't asked us to plug it, by the way. This literally came up because we thought, look, we're going to have lots of really intense conversations around the technicals of investing and the technicals of fixed income and which sectors in the equity market we should go over. And we thought let's start it off with a little bit of vava vroom. And we thought Mrs. Dow Jones's energy was just the thing and she has real substance. She's a very interesting story. So we'll Try and get close clips of that conversation and try and share that over time. Another piece that came up was a recurring theme, which is a bit of a change in narrative because if you take a look at where the markets have gone up in the United States over the last couple of years, there was something called the Tina trade standing for there is no alternative to the United States. Because we saw that tech was really gathering steam here. It's a different pace of innovation. And we heard from a couple of portfolio managers that perhaps now is the time to diversify into international stocks, whether that's through ETFs or whether that's through, you know, focused stock picking. So John and I walked away thinking we're going to try and find some folks to come onto the show and really unpack whether now is the time again to invest more in international equities and if so, what might be the right mechanisms to go do that.
John Curto
Absolutely. I'm looking forward to that.
Anne Barry
We've got some great speakers in mind, actually, so we'll be following up on that one.
John Curto
And there was a lot of great guests, great community there. And what I was struck by was this conversation of who are we talking to about our investments? Are we talking to friends, are we talking to family and. And how can we build a community of people with whom we speak about these things? And I also like the idea this was brought up by a panelist, is that maybe AI could be riding copilot to help you pull the trigger on a decision or. Or just give you some background on a trade you might want.
Anne Barry
It was. It was a CFO of the public app, the trading app, who, who suggested that that would be an opportunity. We also met some really lovely listeners and members of the brew markets community who took some time out of the day to come and join. And I just wanted to call out fol Theodora, who I met in the elevator as I was leaving Rock center to come to the studio. That's Theodora in New York who just came up and said, look, I listened to the show and I saw there was an opportunity to see you guys in person and came to say hello, which I really appreciated and of course picked her brain for other kinds of things that we should cover. So thank you for that. Well, there it is, the closing bell, 4pm on the east Coast. The market's wrapping up for the day. We don't have a ticker tape, but instead we'll throw it over to our human ticker, our producer, John on that's
John Curto
right, the s and P 500 finished down 1 and 410 of a percent. The NASDAQ was down 1 1/2% and the Dow was down 1 and 610 of a percent for the day. The Federal Reserve had its rate decision announced today and landed on no change, maintaining the existing target range of 3 and a half to 3 and 3 quarters. The central bank's dot plot does suggest, though, that a cut may be in the cards for this year. And the news, or lack of it, comes right as data has been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that one measure of inflation was recently hotter than expected.
Anne Barry
That's right, that was the Producer Price Index, otherwise known as the PPI, which rose 0.7% for February. So it's up over the month from January's 0.5% gain and most importantly, more than double what expectations had been. Those had landed at 0.3%, more than double at 0.7%. It was notable that the Federal Open Market Committee statement that was released today alongside the Fed's rate decision did make a nod to the situation in the Gulf. It wasn't a lot, but the statement did say, quote, uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated. That's in the U.S. by the way. They said it last time. But this time they also added the implications of developments in the Middle east for the United States economy are uncertain. So they acknowledged it was happening, but they didn't express a point of view as to the magnitude of it or what the reaction perhaps ought to be.
John Curto
And some other market headlines we talked about Lululemon, where there's another retailer in the news today. Macy's shares jumped nearly 5% after the Department store beat earnings expectations. Adjusted earnings per share for the holiday quarter came in at $1.84, 30 cents above estimates, while revenue of $7.6 billion was $100 million higher than analysts were expecting.
Anne Barry
Most importantly for Signs of Life, we look, of course, at that magic metric, same store sales, and Those were up 1.8%, which by the way, was a much better, a much better outcome. What had been expected was a decline, small one of 0.1%, but again, same store sales here instead grew 1.8%. Now those same store sales were even better at about 2% for the stores that Macy's and tends to keep on open and has been investing in with new merchandise and with more staff at those, those locations showing that judgment sort of paying off. One nugget in there is the luxury segment showed particular strength because remember, Bloomingdale's is owned by Macy's and Bloomingdale's GRE nearly 10% during the quarter. That's compared to a pop of only two and a half percent that Wall street had been expecting. But let's take a look at some other areas of consumer today that were not so lucky, or at least not so well executed. Shares in General Mills ticker GIS were down around 2% and hit a new 52 week low. That's after the food giant reported weaker than expected earnings with revenue down more than 8% year over year. Now, the General Mills CEO did try to say, look, these weaker results are part of a transitional period.
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Q.
Anne Barry
He's really sort of pleading for some patience on this one. He said that roughly two thirds of the decline had already been anticipated. Some of it was driven by asset sales because the Pillsbury dough maker recently sold its Brazil business and its Canadian yogurt business. And the rest of the decline, however, came from retailer inventory changes and weather related supply chain disruptions that emerged in the latest quarter. I've got to tell you though, John, whenever I see the weather blamed for something, I sort of get chills a little bit. I don't enjoy it in earnings reports.
John Curto
The only time we ever enjoyed it was for Scott.
Anne Barry
Yes, gardening fertilizing, the only exception. And airlines and travel. Sure, sure. For sure.
John Curto
General Mills is saying that those pressures should largely reverse in the next quarter, but it's forecasting net sales to keep dropping for the rest of the year with underlying profit to drop as much as 20%. And this is going to be a long walk. And okay, waking up this morning after a spirited Saint Patty's, investors may be asking if there really a pot of gold at the end of the turnaround rainbow for the Lucky Charms maker.
Anne Barry
All right, I'm exhausted by the walk. We're at the end of it. It was a long one. That's it for today's Brew Markets Daily.
John Curto
Brew Markets Daily is hosted by Anne Barry and produced by John Curto, Dr. Latif Avenue, Lauria and Emily Milian. Technical direction by Uchenawa Ogu Brittany De Taco is our audio engineer and the president of Morning Brew Inc. Is Devin Emery.
Anne Barry
Wake up tomorrow with the Morning Brew newsletter and tune in to Neil and Toby on Morning Brew Daily. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Same time, same place.
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Episode: lululemon Leadership Drama & Trump Waives 100-Year-Old Maritime Law
Date: March 18, 2026
Host: Anne Berry (with John Curto)
This episode dives deep into two headline stories: the unfolding leadership chaos at Lululemon and President Trump's unprecedented move to waive the century-old Jones Act to stabilize oil markets amid global conflict. The hosts also touch on Meta abandoning its VR dreams, the latest Fed rate pause, Macy’s surprise bounce-back, and woes at General Mills. There’s an insider’s look at boardroom drama, activism in US corporate governance, and thoughtful market analysis—with the usual smart, candid, and witty banter.
“The waiver is designed to, quote, ‘allow vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and coal to flow freely to US ports.'… This isn’t done lightly.”
“He’s basically said Lululemon has lost its cool… sacrificing what made Lululemon special.”
"When you’re the interim CEO, if you’re remotely ambitious… you know you’re auditioning, right?… It does sort of beg the question—if and when a full-time CEO is recruited… how do they feel?"
“Ultimately, the buck stops… at the board of directors level… if the board hasn’t made the decisions or picked the right CEOs, you’ve got to start looking there.”
“I did walk into the Lululemon store. It was totally cookie-cutter. I was not inspired by it… I think Lulu, they’re going to have to figure out something fresh and new.”
Cautious sentiment: Analysts flag the CEO gap as company’s “biggest overhang,” call the current search process uninspiring.
"Until a credible CEO is in place… investors are left underwriting hope."
Fun Wall Street moment (15:04):
“I cannot believe how much money has just been shredded on this.”
“…Cleaning the slate to try and move forward, doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on AI.”
“Producer Price Index… up over the month… most importantly, more than double what expectations had been.”
On corporate governance (Anne Berry, 07:59):
"The CEO reports to the board, which means you can fire a CEO if things are going poorly, but ultimately the buck stops... at the board of directors level."
On succession struggles (Anne Berry, 11:11):
“When you’re the interim CEO, if you’re remotely ambitious... you know you’re auditioning, right?”
On ineffective flagship strategy (Anne Berry, 13:14):
“The Lululemon store was totally cookie-cutter. I was not inspired.”
On Meta’s metaverse pullback (Anne Berry, 16:43):
“I cannot believe how much money has just been shredded on this.”
On Wall Street humor (John Curto, 15:04):
"You know how many headlines I saw today that said ‘downward dog’? That was the pun that they all wanted to see."
Clever, insightful, fast-paced, and accessible. The hosts blend rigorous analysis with approachable metaphors, humor, and street-level reporting (literally, in Soho).
This episode distills major market drama, big policy shifts, and the nuanced realities of corporate leadership into tangible takeaways—anchored by real stories, candid opinions, and direct quotes. Whether you’re watching Lululemon’s fate, following oil prices, or considering the broader fate of big tech gambles, this show has you covered.