
Walmart can take it…for now & another rebrand faux pas
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Ann Berry
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Neil Freyman
Good Morning Brew Daily Show. I'm Neal Freyman.
Ann Berry
And I'm Ann Berry.
Neil Freyman
Today all eyes are on Jackson Hole, where a besieged drone pal will deliver the most consequential speech of the year.
Ann Berry
And has Google made green text cool?
Neil Freyman
It's Friday. Heck yeah. August 22nd. Let's ride. Everyone agrees that in big cities, eating at the most popular restaurants has gotten way out of hand. And by that I mean sometimes you have to wait in hours long lines to get into them. And there's truly nothing more embarrassing than waiting in line to eat at any restaurant, no matter how world famous it is. But not all lines are equally embarrassing. And thankfully the infatuation created a list of the most embarrassing restaurant lines in America. Here are a few. In New York City, the most embarrassing line to wait in is for Apollo bagels and breakfast by Saltskyer. In Austin, it's Franklin's Barbecue. Agree with that. In Chicago, Kusama, a Filipino breakfast place. And in LA it's the Erewhon, Beverly Hills and community goods. And what is the longest you'd wait in line for a restaurant?
Ann Berry
Okay, 30 minutes. I'm heading down the block with one exception. If they're going to bring me a cocktail to sip on while I stand in line, maybe I would suffer for 45.
Neil Freyman
There's it's truly shameful experience. I waited in line at this place called Four Horsemen in Williamsburg, which is a pretty renowned wine bar and small plates place. And you know, it was, it was a half hour. But the entire time I was looking over my shoulder and looking at people walking around along the street who were looking at me. And I was, I was just thinking to myself, this is the most embarrassing thing in the world.
Ann Berry
But why were you embarrassed?
Neil Freyman
Because there are an infinite amount of places to eat in this particular square block. And the fact that I'm waiting in line for a particular place because they have some wines that I can't even appreciate was a shameful experience to me. But I got in and it was amazing. So if you can handle that and you just enter the restaurant, it's perfectly fine experience.
Ann Berry
Great. So this question is really is it worth it?
Neil Freyman
Right.
Ann Berry
Perfect. Well, now a word from our sponsor, LinkedIn Ads. Neil, I have a question for you. I recently got an advertisement for an aluminum Jaguar which makes no sense. Who would need such a thing?
Neil Freyman
That is wild. But it's almost worth the wasted ad spend to hear you say aluminum and Jaguar. Sounds like those marketers aren't utilizing LinkedIn ads. They can help you stop wasting resources like money, time and effort. Like 71% of B2B ads, they can link you with the right audience for your brand.
Ann Berry
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Neil Freyman
So check out LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. So you can try it for yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com/MBD. That's LinkedIn.com/MBD. Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn AD. Wyoming may have just two escalators, but today it's at the center of the economic universe, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivers his most important speech of the year in Jackson Hole. In a room adorned with elk antler chandeliers. Powell will give the keynote address at the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in the resort town. And it's going to be a lot more stressful than the best man speech you're preparing. The Fed is facing a double whammy of challenges. One economic, one political, both intense. On the economic side, Powell is in a pickle. His job has two components, keep inflation stable and foster maximum employment. But right now, each of those trends are going in the wrong direction. On the one hand, inflation is still above the Fed's 2% target and appears to be heating up due to tariffs. On the other, the labor market seems to be slowing down in a big way. And here's the problem. If you're Powell, you can try to fix one, but you'll likely end up making the other worse. For instance, the Fed has been facing calls to lower interest rates, which would give a boost to the job market. But that may also cause inflation to go higher. And that brings me to the next pressure point. Politics. The Trump administration has tried to exert unprecedented control over the Fed, sparking concerns that political considerations will bulldoze the central bank's long held independence. Powell's term ends in May and the search is already on for a successor that's loyal to President Trump. So here's Powell in the middle of the storm, stepping up to the mic at 10am Eastern time. And what are you going to be looking for?
Ann Berry
All right, let's start with talking about some of the political things because that's a little spicier. And then I'll come back to the economic things I'll be looking for. So as you said, Federal Chair, Reserve J. Pal has been under enormous political pressure. Calls to resign, questions about his integrity. So this Jackson Hole symposium, it's the last one of his tenure. Right. And so I think he's going to take this opportunity to do two things when everyone's watching him and by the way, everyone in the markets watching him. We talk about that in my show, Blue Markets. First of all, I think he's going to double down on the message the Fed should stay independent. I think that's a huge thing he wants the world to hear. The second thing I think he'll do, I think he's going to give us a laundry list of all of his successes to preserve his legacy. I think he wants articles coming out of this thing. Okay. He did stuff, right?
Neil Freyman
And he is that would be maybe a surprise or a zigzag from what he usually does because typically the Fed chair uses this speech in Jackson Hole to wax poetic about certain esoteric economic issues that maybe those of us who aren't so clued in to nitty gritty economics like necessarily won't, won't understand. At the same time, he's also used it to tee up certain policy changes. Like last year he got up to the mic and said that we are about to cut rates. He didn't say it exactly like that. He said it like a Fed chair would say it. And then they went ahead and cut rates by 50 basis points and further going to the end of 2024. So you think we're going to see maybe a little bit more combative or opinionated Jerome Powell this time around?
Ann Berry
I don't think Jerome Powell's ever combative. So I don't think we'll see that in sort of style or substance. But I do think he's going to be very pointed. Right. I think it's been really clear in some of the messaging he wants to get across. And then to your exact point, Neil, on the economic side of it, if we take a step back, everyone is waiting, hoping Praying, expecting that we have a rate cut next month, probably 50 basis points is what the market's been betting on. And I think Jay Powell today has got a tough situation because to go back to your point when you introduce this, the data has been really noisy, right? And his, his big statement has been the Fed is data driven. And a lot of the pressure on him has been. But the data doesn't seem particularly insightful right now. Like all these big revisions data comes out and then subsequently people say, I wasn't quite right, we'll change it. If you look at the core inflation measures recently, one measure looked like things were getting under control. That was a cpi. Another said things are running too hot. You look at the retailers saying we're going to start having to pass price on from tariffs. So I do think that from the economic perspective, this is where I start nerding out. I think he's going to end up having to say quite vague things actually around the economy is sort of to create some optionality, right.
Neil Freyman
And if there's anything that he's good at, it's saying vague things. And what I do know is that after this speech, which is the seventh and final speech of his tenure at Jackson Hole, he's going to knock back a few whiskeys at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar when it's all over. Moving on. When the going gets tough, Walmart gets going. Sales are growing quickly at the country's largest retailer, showing how it can play offense when everyone else is on their heels. Walmart said that same store sales grew nearly 5% last quarter, then jacked up its guidance for the rest of the year. The company is gaining market share with all income groups who are spending more on everything from pantry staples to fancier clothing. Compare Walmart's sales growth 4.6% to other retailers that reported recently. Home Depot had comparable sales growth of around 1%. Lows about the same at target. Meanwhile, sales fell 1.9%. Walmart is uniquely positioned to succeed in the jittery economic environment we're in right now. With its massive grocery business and lower prices, Walmart is attracting new customers who are focused on value and necessities. And when it comes to tariffs, Walmart is also more insulated than most. Walmart only sources 33% of its goods from abroad, compared to 50% at target. Plus, it's got such immense scale that it can bully suppliers into eating more of the tariff costs, something a smaller retailer doesn't have the leverage to do. But and something strange happened despite all of this. Ostensibly Good news, Walmart shares fell 4.5% on the day. What had investors worried.
Ann Berry
I love talking about Wal Mart. I'm so glad we get a chance to chat about this one. So I think this is indicative of something that's been going on more broadly in the markets which is right now because valuations are so high. We're in a world that unless these companies issue blowout reports where they just completely crush expectations, they end up seeing their share price go down. And I think the bigger you are and the more visible you are and the more important you are, the more that pressure is to really outperform what everyone thought you were going to do. So Wal Mart, as you said, the earnings had a little bit of noise. We nerd out on this later. They had some one time costs and the market takes a minute to figure out how big were they. Are they really not recurring? You know, let's give them the benefit of the doubt. That process is still happening. Right, right, right.
Neil Freyman
Those one time costs that you mentioned, perhaps they could be a little stickier but they Walmart execs talked about liability and workers comp expenses. They cut some people out of their technology team and there are costs associated with that. So those are the few sort of one time costs that Walmart was talking about and that dented their profitability. They had one of their first earnings misses in years and that's why investors sent the stock down. Despite, you know, growing sales and, and Walmart certainly is gaining market share, you know, going on offense where a lot of its competitors like Target, like, you know, the smaller competitors are, are kind of on their heels.
Ann Berry
Exactly. And this is, I think again it's reminds a bit of a video, right? Nvidia issues earnings that for any other company would say this is a massive victory. This is amazing. Wal Mart just issued a set of results. If you were target, everyone be going, oh my gosh, things are turning around. So Wal Mart doesn't get quite the same level of benefit of the doubt. I think there's a couple of other things that I would just say around Wal Mart. It's, it's in the middle of this war with Amazon, right. And there wasn't that much that was said about it explicitly in this earnings call. So I wonder if at the back of people's minds people are thinking as investors Walmart has gotten quite expensive. When you look at the stock and you look at its valuation, there's yes, the share price goes up, it goes down, but what investors are really looking for is how does it trade relative to its level of profitability. And over the last five years it's become like all time high expensive, some in some metrics looking almost like a tech stock. So I think again that pressure is on for Wal Mart to show it something more.
Neil Freyman
And Wal Mart, as I talked about, is very insulated from tariffs because of its scale, because of how few goods it does source from abroad. But there's this one quote from Doug McMillan who is the CEO that I think also spooked a little investors. He said that so far the impact of tariffs has been gradual. And then he said, but as we replenish inventory at post tariff price levels, we've continued to see our costs increase each week, which we expect will continue into the third and fourth quarters. And if Walmart is seeing its costs increase due to tariffs going into the end of the year, then investors are probably looking at that and saying, well, a bunch of other companies are going to have to do the same. It's Friday, so it's time for my favorite segment, Stock of the Week Dog of the Week, where Ann and I pick one stock that's as reliable as a Virgo and another that took Leo season a bit too far. And you won the pre show who has the more authentic British accent contest? So you get to go first.
Ann Berry
Thank you. Well, my stock of the week is Google's parent Alphabet, and that's because it showed it was miles ahead of Apple in building a phone that actually has useful AI features. So on Wednesday, Google unveiled its latest smartphone, the Pixel 10, along with a bunch of gadgets. And the hardware didn't impress, by the way. That's not unusual for Google, but the software powering the phone did get everyone to sit up and take notice because it highlighted for the first time how generative AI could actually make your phone experience a whole lot better. There's something called Magic Cue, which gives you timely information from your text calendar and your inbox without you having to ask. So let's take an example. If someone texts you, hey, what was the restaurant you told me you were obsessed with last year and Neil that you were standing in line for? Well, instead of you scrolling back through your Message history for 10 minutes wading through to find it, Google's AI will go find it for you instead, unprompted. Then there's also Camera Coach, which gives you detailed instructions on how to take the kind of photo you want. And the last thing, which I love is a live language translator so you can have a phone call with someone who doesn't speak Your language and the AI will almost instantaneously turn your voice into that language speaking instead, which is sort of amazing. Well, all these features are far beyond what Apple currently offers with Apple Intelligence. And CEO at Apple, Tim Cook largely shied away from making any big AI promises at its developer conference in June. But Neil, the most exciting thing, Green texts. Are they cool?
Neil Freyman
No, they. I think Google here is trying to make green text cool. I still think they are not. But Google could be on the way to achieving something even more important, which is getting billions of people hooked on Gemini, which is its AI model. So we do know that Google makes a phone that's this hardware component, which is the Pixel. I was a Pixel owner before it was cool. It still isn't cool because it has 3% market share in the United States compared to the iPhone, which has 49% market share. But Google doesn't just make hardware, it doesn't just make the Pixel. It makes Android, the operating software that runs on 3 billion devices all over the world. 80% of all smartphones run on Android. So when it whips out all of these whiz bang features for AI, it's not just for the Pixel, it is for Samsung's phones, it's for all the Chinese makers that use Android phones. So it's kind of the showcase to say, hey, you're a device maker. When you run on Android, you could adopt these features too. And that way it can get a ton of people using Gemini in a way that people can't use Apple Intelligence or OpenAI chip or Anthropics. Claude. So this is their really kind of under the radar distribution strategy to get Gemini in front of billions of people, that's really incredible.
Ann Berry
And the idea that you can have this global shift just by virtue of one company making a big statement like this is extraordinary. I have to ask you, did you hang on to your Google phone?
Neil Freyman
I don't have my Google phone, no, I've switched to. I've switched to Apple like the, like most of the rest of my friends and you know, our group chats are much happier because of it because I'm not like throttling them. Speaking of Google, trying to be cool, one thing that a lot of people remarked upon with its big showcase, this made by Google event where they release these AI features, where they released the new Pixel, the Pixel 10 was how many celebrities they brought in to pitch it. I mean they had Jimmy Fallon host this thing. And remember, this is like a product event. Usually you get awkward execs coming up there talking about the different features, but Jimmy Fallon hosted it. They had Alex Cooper there, they had Steph Curry, the Jonas Brothers. People said it was a bit cringe, but they were paying these influencers, these really celebrities, tons of money to promote their products. I think they're trying to go on offense here.
Ann Berry
Yeah, but you know which celebrity they didn't have, they didn't have Neil Freyman. So you know, that was a big mess. Not sure it's going to get them the success as a result they want.
Neil Freyman
All right, we have to take a quick break, but up up next is Cracker Barrel in self destruct mode. Hey guys, it's Ceedee Lamb, wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. I'm partnering with Abercrombie this season to tell you all about their viral denim. All you need to know is denim should fit like this. My jeans need to check a lot of boxes fit first, trend second. They need to go with whatever I'm feeling and Abercrombie Denim has it down whether I'm throwing on a tee or putting a whole fit together. Shop Abercrombie Denim in the app, online and in store. Just like you have regular visits at the doctor, your company's supply chain needs checkups too. Thankfully, it takes less than a minute to do it with Supply Chain Health Vitals Checkup from SPS Commerce It's a free, non intimidating way to understand your current position and access practical steps for improvement. SPS Commerce created this checkup to give you a way to benchmark your supply chain against industry standards and identity, identify your biggest opportunities for growth. You don't even have to carve out a full minute to get a fast, efficient assessment of your supply chain's current health and receive a personalized guide with practical recommendations for improvement. From there, SPS Commerce can work alongside you and your suppliers to ensure everyone is equipped to meet shared goals. Head to SBS commerce.com Morning Brew to get your supply chain checkup. That's SBS commerce.com MorningBrew okay, my dog of the Week is Palantir. Yes, a rare dog designation for a company that was the S&P 500 best performer in the first half of the year. But recently the high flying stock fell back to earth. Palantir shares are down 13% this week, posting a six day losing streak at one point. One reason for the sell off could be a critical report published by a short seller on Monday. Andrew Left of Citron Research claimed that Palantir's valuation, which is nearly $400 billion, was quote, detached from fundamentals and analysis left compared Palantir to another giant, OpenAI, to argue that if Palantir shared the same price to revenue multiple as OpenAI, then its shares should be worth 40 bucks. They're at $156 now. So he just thinks Palantir is extremely overvalued. A second driver of Palantir stockslide could be a broader pivot away from big tech stocks. This week, a number of AI focused companies not named Palantir also fell, like Nvidia, AMD and Oracle, suggesting that investors are taking some money out of riskier AI and putting it into so called defensive sectors like utilities, real estate and materials. Even Sam Altman, the Open Air CEO, acknowledged that an AI bubble could be forming. When asked, are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? He replied, my opinion is yes.
Ann Berry
Okay, so Palantir, I got to tell you, Neil, I went down the rabbit hole on this one. I went to go find that Citron research report that you mentioned and it was actually pretty thoughtful in laying out reasons why Palantir share price, which I have to confess, I did buy actually, when it got really, really expensive, I still thought, you know what, I'm going to sort of take this as a lottery ticket and still see if there's more upside here. It was a pretty thoughtful report. The other one was the Economist, I think had a headline saying, is Palantir the most overvalued stock of all time? So, you know, I look at this one and I'd love to know what you think, Neil. I, I think that Palantir is almost becoming the symbol of fear that there's an AI bubble. I know. What do you think about that?
Neil Freyman
Well, Palantir did have some remarkable earnings earlier this month. I mean, the CEO Alex Karp got up there and said, hey, we just posted our first billion dollar sales quarter. He told the haters to, quote, read them and weep. So it was an impressive quarter. And this stock has, this company is growing like a weed. I think just from a stock valuation perspective, it was just so beyond the pale. People are like, I've never seen a stock that is this richly expensive ever before in the history of the ST market. And in the Citron research report, he basically said, look, Carp is doing a great job. I have nothing, no problems with this company at all. It's just way too expensive of a stock. And a 13% dip compared to how much Palantir has grown over the past couple of years is really a blip on the radar. I mean, it was up 118% in the first half of the year until it started dipping. So, you know, I am interested more broadly in this pivot away from AI. This week we saw that Metta has paused hiring and famed AI superintelligence lab. Yet Sam Altman come out and say maybe this thing is a bubble. There are some other, you know, overall the stock market does seem to have a little bit of a rotation from the big tech names to more defensive sectors that are more cyclical with the economy, like materials and utilities and housing and health care and things like that. I just don't know whether obviously I don't know anything about what's going to happen the stock market tomorrow, but you don't know whether this is sort of a short term rotation or it's a bigger drawdown in these stocks that have gotten so expensive.
Ann Berry
Yeah, and I think that adds to the pressure just to go back to the, the where we started. Tech stocks typically do better in a low interest rate environment or when expectations are that interest rates are going to be low. That's sort of what happens when you're maybe not so focused on cash flow as a sector. And I actually think a little bit of the tech sell off we saw partly is it a bubble? I actually think Sam Altman statement was a huge one. Can you imagine, you know, CEO of OpenAI saying, yeah, I think there's risk that things are overvalued. I also think that tech coming off was a bit of a sign. Again, I don't think the market's as confident as it was that we're going to see that rate cut in September. So I think all of these things sort of hitting the news today again. I think Palantir has almost become like the lightning rod, the expression of all these different fears, whether it's about rates in the macro or about AI or kicking in at the same time.
Neil Freyman
Let's sprint to the finish before the weekend with some final headlines. Cracker Barrel updated its logo and people hated it so much that the stock plunged more than 7%. On Tuesday, the restaurant chain released a new logo for the first time in nearly 50 years. It removes the grandpa looking guy in overalls and the barrel he was leaning on, opting instead for a simplified text of Cracker Barrel overlaid on that familiar yellow background. Leading MAGA figures, including Donald Trump Jr. Were particularly apoplectic, calling the rebrand woke and Pro D. It's not every day you see a logo change lead to a stock wipeout, but it seems to be the CULMINATION of lots of negativity building up against Cracker Barrel over the past few months. Last year exactly unveiled a $700 million transformation plan to renovate stores stores and update its menu to bring in newer, younger customers. It's since updated dozens of stores. But those redesigns, which include removing the antiques from the walls, have been bashed by longtime customers who say the brand is losing that nostalgic feel that had them coming in in the first place. And is Cracker Barrel in self destruct mode or are the critics of vocal minority?
Ann Berry
Oh, that is such a tough either or question. So I just want to, as I sort of collect my thoughts, I'm just going to start by saying Neil the grandpa looking guy is clearly a technical term. So I love that description of the logo. To me, look, I, I think this is a bigger story about what happens when you're a public company and your stock is at the mercy of investors who sometimes have a reaction to what's going on in more of an emotional way than perhaps what the, the business itself might require. Like, people clearly did not like this logo change that you and I were struggling right beforehand to think of. When did a logo change in the stock go up because people really loved it. I couldn't think of one. Could you? No. I mean, it's really difficult to sort of anticipate when this is going to happen. So for me, when I looked at this as someone who spends a lot of time in the markets, Cracker Barrel, before this logo change, if you look back several years, it clearly needed to do something to get its growth back. It really needed to get its groove back. And as you said, Execs unveiled a $700 million transformation plan. That's a lot of money for a restaurant business to renovate stores. It wants younger customers, so they're trying. And by the way, public companies don't often try. They don't often make dramatic moves because often they live in fear of responses like this. So you're kind of damned if you do down if you don't. If Cracker Barrel did nothing right, if they didn't make any changes and they continued to sort of straggle along, what would your reaction be?
Neil Freyman
Right. I mean, it is a tough decision for any exec to make. And they, the CEO has got done multiple interviews as this backlash has built and said, look, we are seeing sales increase at these locations that we've updated. Especially our employees are so happy with us. Because when you don't have to dust off all of those antiques or you can't see any dust or dirt on these darkened walls. It's a lot easier to clean. So I think, like, a good chunk of this reading between the lines a little bit is for their employees who they're making their lives a lot easier. But she just went on, the CEO just went on ABC News a couple of days ago and said that the feedback has been, quote, overwhelmingly positive and that people like what we're doing. I don't know how accurate that is, but if as long as they're seeing more traffic and sale and more sales at these stores that they're remodeling, then I think they can chalk up this backlash to noise, perhaps until yesterday when the stock plummeted and they actually saw $200 million, you know, evaporate from their market value. All right, moving on. Delta and United Airlines are being sued in a proposed class action by passengers who say they paid extra for a window seat but instead flew next to a blank wall. The lawsuits filed in San Francisco for United and Delta in Brooklyn are seeking millions of dollars of damages for more than the 1 million people at each airline who've been subjected to this. The plaintiffs claim that they paid extra for window seats, which at Delta can run more than $70 compared to a basic economy ticket. But when the passengers got on the flight, they ended up sitting next to a wall. That's because on certain planes, like the Boeing 737, Boeing 757 and Airbus A321, at least one seat that would typically contain windows doesn't have them because machinery is placed there instead, like air conditioning ducts. The lawsuits claim that while airlines like Alaska and American do flag that these seats don't have windows, Delta and United fail to mention it. They're seeking, quote, a refund of the extra fees for all passengers who paid for window seats but never got to look out at the great expanse below and window.
Ann Berry
Or I'll say a window person. This is totally happened to me. So whoever it is filing these lawsuits, go get them because I want my check when this comes.
Neil Freyman
You're, you must. You could be a part of this class action.
Ann Berry
Yeah. You know, you usually get a little, a little thing in the mail when this happens, saying, we've gone back and looked at your data, and I never fill those out because you're meant to send it back to get your share of.
Neil Freyman
Now I want. I wonder what the airline's defense would be. Now, they didn't respond to comment to after this lawsuit, but if I were them, I would say that the term window seat is generally understood to be the outermost seat next to the edge of the plane, not necessarily a window seat, as in there is a window. I think that is a winning defense.
Ann Berry
Well, I think lawyer Fryman needs to come and, you know, be part of this class action seat because he's got stuff he wants to say in the legal form. I think that's clever. You could say it's proximity to window as opposed to unobstructed view.
Neil Freyman
Correct. I'm like the wind. If you look at when you're walking down the aisle of the plane and you see aisle, middle, window, I don't necessarily think of that as the aisle next to the aisle or the middle in the middle or the window as directly related to a particularly gas panel that I can look out below. Yeah, I just think of it as the leftmost seat, the middle most seat, and the right most seat.
Ann Berry
I hope they're not listening because that's a really good defense. Like, I want my money out of this. Don't listen to me.
Neil Freyman
It makes sense in my mind. It probably would not hold up in a court of law. Okay, that is all the time we have. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us. Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend, everyone. Go listen to and on Brew markets later this afternoon. Appreciate you joining us yesterday and today and doing these two days.
Ann Berry
Thanks for having me on, Neil. It's been a pleasure.
Neil Freyman
Okay, if you have any thoughts or feedback on today's show, send a note to Morning Brew daily at Morning Broadcom. And now the final password clue. Which is the password begins with the name of a playing card. Once again, the password begins with the name of a playing card. Think you got the answer? Head to our show notes where you'll find the form to submit. We'll announce the winner on Monday. And on that note, we finally heard back from last week's winner. Blessed Blake Ryan from Florida. Congrats, Blake. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milagron is our executive producer. Raymond Lu is our producer. Have an amazing vacation next week, Ray. You deserve it. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Hair and makeup is waiting in a really long line for a restaurant and is very embarrassed about it. Devin Emery is our president and our show is a production of Morning Brew.
Ann Berry
Great show today, Neil. Have a great weekend. We made it.
Episode: Walmart Winces at Tariffs & Cracker Barrel’s Stock Sinks From Logo Fiasco
Date: August 22, 2025
Hosts: Neil Freyman & Ann Berry
Today's Morning Brew Daily dives into the latest business stories with a blend of wit and insight. Neil Freyman and guest co-host Ann Berry analyze the economic pressures on the Fed at Jackson Hole, Walmart's surprising stock dip despite strong sales, Google's ambitious new AI features, a Palantir stock reversal, and Cracker Barrel's rebranding drama. The episode wraps with a discussion on airline "window seats" and their legal challenges.
The episode succinctly captures the mood on Wall Street and beyond: investors grow skittish in the face of uncertainty, legacy brands struggle with reinvention, and the tech sector tests the boundaries between hype and value. Anchored by lively banter, Ann and Neil dodge through business news with the perfect mix of skepticism, humor, and synthetized insight.
Need More?
Send feedback to Morning Brew Daily at morningbroaddotcom and look out for more from Ann on Brew Markets later today!