Hollywood Actors Set To Strike & Good Inflation News Sends Markets Soaring

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1:04on how Shopify's effort to end pointless meetings forever is going. Neil, it's Thursday, July 13th. Let's ride.

1:15Neil, there have been plenty of Neil and not Toby shows so far this year, but tomorrow you're leaving me for the first time in MBD history. Yes, I'm going to Portland for the weekend for a bachelor party for my dear friend, and I cannot... Portland, Maine. Portland, Maine. Thank you. Yes, I forgot that there's two. The original Portland, Maine. The OG Portland. So I'm going to be missing the show. I'm super excited to hear you and Not Toby. I don't know if he's going to switch his name to Not Neil. Oh, my gosh. I didn't even think about that. Or is it just going to be Not Toby? But you lived in Portland, Maine for a year.

1:49Yeah. Which is kind of random. It is random. My review of the city is it's almost exactly what you'd expect. It has fantastic lobster rolls, a very underrated dining scene. and is pretty much just like a hidden gem that it's in a city on the come up. So that's what I tell people. Like, it is an absolutely delightful place, beautiful in the summer, horrible in the winter, everything you'd expect. So I hope you have a really good time. I'm excited and you guys are gonna kill it and I will be listening, maybe. Let's move on to our first story. So more than 170 ,000 Hollywood actors, game show hosts, stunt performers, dancers, DJs, puppeteers, and other entertainment professionals will go on strike this morning after contract talks failed to reach an agreement with studios by last night's midnight deadline.

2:33And in Hollywood, two strikes and you're out. With this being the first time that both actors and writers are striking simultaneously since 1960 when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Basically, all movie and TV production will be shut down. Hollywood is going to be a ghost town besides the picketing. Like the writers who've been striking for almost three months now, the actors want bigger royalties from streaming and they want to be protected from studios using their likeness to create ai replicas without their consent also like the writers the actors frame this contract negotiation as this existential moment in their profession with streaming and technology upending business models yeah this this is obviously not good for hollywood but from what i heard uh the uh the studios were kind of taken aback by how chonky the actors demands were.

3:26It was a 48 page report, which was, or their demands totaled 48 pages, which was nearly triple the size of their last negotiations in 2020. So they came with a lot because you're right. A lot of things have changed recently. AI introduced a whole new thing. And what I thought was funny too, is that self-taping auditions were on the docket too, because that was a COVID era trend where you couldn't audition in person. So you would film yourself auditioning for a role and then send it into a studio that has continued even though COVID has receded a little bit and actors hate it because an in-person audition is a way more compelling you can show your stuff much more and so that's a big sticking point in the docket that I wouldn't think was the sticking point until I read up on it this is going to be kind of a circus I mean yeah you have I mean we're this is Hollywood actors we're talking about so you have everyone from Matt Damon Jennifer Lawrence Meryl Streep, who are going to be on the picket line joining the writers who are probably super jazzed that the actors are going to lend their star power and publicity to their cause.

4:32And the fact that they're joining up now, it's probably causing the studios to sweat. Because like you said, I think actors' negotiations are pretty not tense usually. Like they usually come to an agreement. And the writers are always a little more contentious. but now that the actors are joining the writers and the actors are you know like there's going to be so many photographers there in LA and everywhere else it's going to be you're going to see this all over the internet with like Matt Damon right next to you know some other stunt performer or you know maybe someone who doesn't get paid as much as him it is a bunch of very wealthy theater kids teaming up with writers who make the best picket signs ever because they're they're writers for tv shows so this is like the ultimate apex of picketing in my opinion but this union does have a lot more people than just the a-list actors there's the game show host there's just like everyone else who makes hollywood hollywood uh tick including donald trump was in this union the actors union yeah oh my god when he was hosting the apprentice oh yeah i guess he and they kicked him out after uh he incited an insurrection fair enough there's also just to zoom out a little bit there's kind of this resurgent labor movement going on especially in california hotel workers school bus drivers teachers and cafeterias cafeteria staff have all gone on strike for some period of time during the last few months so it definitely is and it kind of dovetails nicely with our next story but there is this resurgence of like workers and unions having more power so this is obviously we're talking about it because it's a-list hollywood actors But also, this is just something that's going on across the country right now.

6:12Yeah, but this is going to affect, I know it's A-list actors, but 170 ,000 people not working is going to have ripple effects across the economy. During the writers' strike, we know that California, the previous writers' strike over a decade ago, we know that California lost a couple billion dollars because of all of the ripple effects of set workers not being able to produce anything. When there's no production, there's no catering services. There's none of these people going to lunch at these various places since they're not going to work. So it's going to be pretty devastating. Also, just to tie a bow on this, the Emmy nominations came out yesterday amid all of the writer's strike and the actor's strike.

6:48HBO dominated. Succession led with 27 Emmy noms, followed by The Last of Us and then White Lotus. So HBO just racking it up. But the actors are not allowed to do any promotional events as part of this strike. So the Emmys are probably going to get pushed to next year. They're slated for the fall, but none of this is going to happen until next year. I should probably watch that succession show, shouldn't I? All right, Neil, for this next story, I want you to slow down, ease into the right lane and slap on your blinker. That's because we might have reached a turning point in the fight against inflation.

7:25Inflation has cooled off significantly in the past few months, and yesterday's report brought some good vibes. Inflation is now sitting at just 3%, which is good for a two-year low. And core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose only 0.2 % on a monthly basis, which is also the slowest pace in two years. Now it's tempting to just keep that blinker on, Neil, and go for a victory lap. Yes, I'm extending this metaphor. Yeah, I love it. But it's probably a little too early for that. one good CPI report is not going to hold much sway with the Fed. Plus, inflation is still hovering above the Fed's 2 % target.

8:00So we still have a little ways to go. But all things considered, a pretty solid inflation report with a couple of idiosyncrasies here and there. Take us under the hood, the CPI hood, Neil. Any specific sectors or numbers that stood out to you? Well, you said hood, so I think I have to start here. Motor vehicle repair prices are up 20 % year over year. And this is a thing that I was looking into getting your car repaired right now is expensive. Absolutely brutal. Not only is it super expensive because of labor shortages and part shortages, but wait times are so long as well. And we kind of brag about how we don't have cars on this show because we live in New York, but it sounds like it's not a fun situation.

8:41And it's because cars on the road are so old. They're oldest than they've ever been. They're 12.5 years on the road, which is, yeah, a record, a record age. And so people need a lot more repairs and it's just causing bottlenecks. So that stood out to me. Men's pants and shorts up 8.3 percent also stood out to me as someone who buys men's pairs and shorts. I'm going to blame Lululemon on this for sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Under the stats, we are both wearing men's pants and shorts. So I would hope so. It is close. I don't know about you, but I am. And then the biggest one is obviously rents are still going up.

9:18The rent of primary residence was up 8.3%. That is boosting the entire inflation report because rents make up such a big part of it. You know, private sector reports like from Zillow and apartment list and all these other companies are showing that rents are actually deflating. The government data doesn't show that yet, but it is expected to in the coming months to show that rents are actually finally coming down. So this might be a bit of a lagging indicator. but yes rents are still going up and they're causing the broader cpi to rise and then a few things that are kind of pushing it down is gas prices are down 27 which again it's a little bit of a miss uh misdirection because it's being compared to last year's data which is right when the ukraine war uh broke out which sent fuel prices skyrocketing because no one knew how the supply chain would work out now that russia was involved in this war so gas is down 27 77%.

10:14TV prices decreased 10%, which is nice. TVs are cheap. Yeah, they are cheap. You can get a really good TV for not a lot of money at all. And then also airline fares dropped 19%, which thank goodness, because I'm entering wedding season. It's becoming wedding season for a lot of people. And that's a full-time side job, honestly, wedding season and flying to all of them. And then I also do want to zoom in on some of the places where inflation maybe isn't cooling off uh so market watch did a breakdown of which areas of the country still have high rates of inflation and wouldn't you know it but the tampa bay area my hometown is where inflation is still the highest in the country so thest pete tampa clearwater area is currently sitting at 7.3 inflation because the rays are so good and everyone's going to the games and buying up and pushing up ticket prices yeah okay and then the second place is also shout out sam who's from the Miami area, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach area is sitting at 6.9%.

11:14Again, it's driven by super high housing costs. A lot of people are moving to Florida. It's Florida and then the whole West Coast basically. So you got Colorado, Phoenix, Seattle, but Florida is just absolutely ripping in terms of inflation still. Yeah. I mean, when I was in St. Pete, everyone was moving there. Everyone was complaining that the airport was too small in Tampa. Tampa's a good airport. One of the quickest in the world. Right. You've mentioned it before. You said it's great. But overall, yes, this is a good inflation report. It probably won't stop the Fed from hiking rates later this month.

11:46But analysts say that could be the last in this entire huge rate hiking campaign that brought down inflation because we we have two percent in our sites. Right. But I think put some respect on Jerome Powell's name. Like he kind of got us there at the end of the day. So, yeah. Not there yet. Not there yet. Respect coming after we get to that 2%. All right, Neil, let's move on. You thought I was done with the driving metaphor to introduce stories. Wrong. Get back in your car for me, okay? And pretend you are leading growth for Domino's Pizza. Now, I want you to make a giant U-turn on your long-held stance against working with food delivery companies.

12:25I'm so confused. Hope your seatbelt was on when you did all that. But yes, Neil, the world's largest pizza chain signed a deal with Uber yesterday to list its menus on the Eats and Postmates food delivery apps in 28 different markets. This is a big switch up because Domino's has long been vocally opposed to working with companies like Uber Eats because they didn't want to relinquish control over their deliveries or do any sort of profit sharing with them. but now as growth has stalled a little bit dominoes is looking to squeeze a little more garlic from its bread this is doing this is definitely a bit of a deal with the devil but given same store deliveries have been declining for dominoes they had to look for growth opportunities somewhere yeah gotta be your customer where they are and first of all that was an 11 out of 10 intro i have to say but yes as you said dominoes delivery sales are declining uh in the first three months of the year they were down two percent meanwhile the Apps, Uber, DoorDash, other third-party marketplaces, their market share for pizza has grown so much over the course of the pandemic.

13:31Before the pandemic, it was just 4 % of pizza sales these apps accounted for. Now it's 14%. So if you're a Domino's executive, you're looking at, okay, our app is declining, and all of those other apps are booming in terms of pizza sales. like i don't know i know we've been opposed to this for so long but we don't have a choice here it's very much like netflix uh doing the u-turn on its ad right right here no you're totally right i do think it's a bit of a bummer for domino's brands because domino goes hard on their delivery app there's so many different ways that they can deliver you a pizza and also like they have the pizza tracker you can still use this is the most important thing we should have led with this you can still use pizza track you can still use pizza tracker but it is a bummer because yeah that they they were very protective over their delivery experience and now you're not going to get that with uber uber eats i mean technically uber eats has its own form of delivery tracker but it doesn't have the character and i'm pretty sure domino's has trademarked their pizza tracker so and yeah just a few uh years ago they were running ads offering free food to customers who use their ordering system as kind of like this big we are against these apps yeah so it's a bit of a bummer But yeah, growth has stalled.

14:45It's also just like a TAM play. Like they're increasing their target audience. And apparently they chose Uber because Uber Eats customers are younger and wealthier. So it's a new audience. It's a new customer base to tap. It makes sense. I understand why they didn't do it for a while, but it's time Domino's. Yeah, and I'm a big Domino's guy. I think people sleep on Domino's, good quality. It's the largest pizza chain in the world. I don't know if anyone sleeps on it. Fair enough. All right, Neil, So before we jump into the next story, we're going to take a quick break.

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16:00Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Lemo, is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Savings vary. Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts. All right, let's go into Neil's numbers. Three stats from the week's news that will shock you, delight you, and make you lose your appetite by the time we're done. That I can guarantee. Up first, so the phrase of the summer, and it might end up being Merriam-Webster's word of the year, is Barbenheimer, which describes the activity of seeing Barbie and Oppenheimer back to back when they come out next Friday.

16:41Well, unlike quiet quitting, this buzzword seems to actually be happening in real life. AMC, the world's largest movie chain, said this week that more than 20 ,000 of its AMC Stubs members have booked Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day as a double bill. Then UK theater chain View said that 19 % of people who booked tickets to Oppenheimer also bought tickets to Barbie as a palate cleanser. This could be a monumental day in the history of cinema, maybe up there with the release of Citizen Kane. It is crazy that, I mean, we joked about it, but having actual hard data to go along with it, really, I love this for people because 20 ,000 of just AMC stub members means that's just a snapshot of a certain sampling.

17:25That means more people are doing it. So I say we go for it. And Alamo Drafthouse, which is the U.S. theater chain, said that a bunch of private parties are booked the double bill. So for, you know, corporations doing a little happy hour thing, corporate retreat to go see Barbenheimer, birthday party. Oh, my God. So that's been interesting. But I have a question for you. If you were a theater chain putting on a double bill, like back to back movies, which two would you do and which order would you put it in? OK, so I actually have a couple listed because I was thinking about this before the show.

17:58I would do Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, and Elf. They both involve epic journeys. One through Mordor, one through the Candy Cane Forest. Both have really hot elves, Legolas and Will Ferrell as Elf. Perfect double feature. I would also do School of Rock and Whiplash, which is about two. That one is a good answer. Two talented musicians giving everything to achieve their dreams, no matter what the cost. And then finally, I would do Groundhog Day, and then Groundhog Day, and then Groundhog Day, and then Groundhog Day and then 50 First Days and then Groundhog Day and then Groundhog...

18:31He's leaving the set. He's getting out of there. But those are my double and triple features. They should do this. Capitalize on Barbenheimer and take Toby's idea. Those were excellent answers. Let's move on to our second number. The oldest craft brewery in America is liquidating. I'm sorry. Anyway, Anchor Brewing is shutting down after 127 years in operation. The San Francisco-based companies cited challenging economic factors and declining sales since 2016 for halting operations. This is a disappointing ending for what was America's first craft brewery when it opened its doors in 1896, but neglect by parent company Sapporo, along with broader challenges facing the craft beer market, tank the business.

19:15Production of Anchor's beer has fallen every single year since Sapporo bought the company, except for 2021. Sad to see a proud American brand bite the dust like this. I know. And I'm actually sad too, because I like Sapporo a lot too. It's a, it's a Japanese beer, which is pretty solid too. Yeah. Craft beer has just come up against it recently. Like the seltzer market has kind of eaten into it. And yeah, it's just like a tough time. I was reading up and the craft beer people are super pissed at the certain tax breaks or things that the government has done to boost liquor sales. And meanwhile, They think they're handicapping craft beer market, which has really ballooned, I would say, in like the early 2010s, late 2000s, where it was like fro-yo.

19:57I mean, there was a craft, there was a brewery on every street corner, and it was seen by some cities as a way to revitalize their urban cores. Speaking of, Portland, I mean, is the biggest example of this. And I think they've kept the craft brewery vibes alive. There are so many there. I think we're going to do a tour to Allagash. Main Beer Co. Main Beer Co. You'll have to tell me. But anyway, yes, craft beer is just having a rough go. I think sales are down 4 % year-to-date and volume is down more than 7%. So it's not just Bud Light. It's these super hoppy beers that everyone pretended that they liked, but they don't actually like.

20:38That's the thing. All right, let's move on to the final Neal's number. We've been using the word cheeseburger all wrong. It's not a burger that you top with cheese. It's where the cheese is the burger. It's just a bun and cheese. Burger King is making this case with what it's calling the Real Cheeseburger, a limited edition menu item in Thailand. This sandwich, and it is real, you can order it, is simply just 20 slices of American cheese stacked on one another in between two buns. That's it. Not melted cheese, just cold American cheese stacked on top of one. It is so foul. Like, I can't even begin to describe how gross 20 pieces.

21:19And I'm not an American cheese hater because it's great melting ability. It's good on burgers. But 20 pieces stacked on top of each other, I'm out. Sorry, Thailand. Sorry, Burger King. It looks okay when you see it just the bun, you know, fully with the cheese. And then when they do a cross section, you just see how tall it is. And you're like, I can't fit that in my mouth. Don't normalize this. It even was melted. but apparently there's this trend in Thailand where you put cheese on everything. I am a big American cheese guy. I would eat, like, what's the maximum amount of American cheese slices you would eat on this?

21:52There's nothing more than one. I'm serious. Nothing more than one. They put two on a bacon, egg, and cheese. I know. When it's on a burger, it's fine, but just American cheese alone, too plasticky. You should go. Everyone should go look this up because it is wild. Yeah. There's no way it's good. All right, we have to move on. Yesterday, if you remember, we were debating whether we are living in the Anthropocene, a new era or epoch, I should say, defined by humans impact on the world. And I am ready to call it. We are here this year. We've already built the sphere in Las Vegas, the world's largest spherical structure.

22:24And next year, we're going to release the icon of the seas, the world's biggest cruise ship. Photos of Royal Caribbean's newest ship sent the internet into a frenzy this week. I'm not sure there was any news relating to this ship at at all any updates but it seems that people just saw the pictures for the first time of the icon of the seas and were absolutely flabbergasted because this thing is gigantic it is five times larger and heavier than the titanic it's got 20 decks more than 20 restaurants and bars and seven pools and it can carry up to almost 8 000 people more than 5 600 guests and a crew of 2 350 it sounds i'm a i'm a cruise truther it sounds super fun and people want this thing when royal caribbean put tickets on sale for the Icon of the Seas, which start at$1 ,500.

23:12It had its largest booking day ever in its entire history. So people were absolutely fiending for it. And then also the cruise industry is just so back. So after the 15 month pandemic shutdown, it's come back bigger and better than ever. Next year's 36 million people are expected to go on vacation on cruises. That's up from 29.7 million in 2019, which is pre pandemic. So we're, we're back and better than ever. And then also Royal Caribbean is one of the best performing stocks of the year. It's up 103 % year to date, only outdone by Carnival Cruises, which is up 128 % year to date. Because investors are looking at that and they're just like, that is a money-making machine.

23:528 ,000 people to fit on that thing, just having the time of their lives, maybe half of them are saying, get me off this thing are you i'm not a cruise guy but still i can appreciate the humanity's genius by making this thing you have to take a look at what did you chenna in the control room say it was like a bratz doll cruise ship that they would actually sell you made into real life we're getting a barbie heimer cruise ship sometime in the next 10 years and i'm going to be here for this is like yeah has that like bubble gum color and it's all like put together walkable urbanism so all of the city planners can get behind it.

24:27No cars needed. This thing is beautiful. It may pollute a lot, you know, but we're just going to not think about that right now. Anthropocene, baby. All right, Neil, on to our last story. And I want you to get back in your car. I'm kidding. We're done with that one. Okay. Our last story centers on the popular maxim we've all heard. Time is money. So the e-commerce company Shopify is taking that literally and rolling out a calendar feature that assigns a dollar value to every meeting. It uses approximate salaries to figure out just how much money that Monday morning check-in is costing the company.

25:03All of this is part of its broader effort to cut down on unnecessary meetings at the company to hopefully increase productivity. Earlier this year, it eliminated all recurring meetings with more than two people and says it's on pace to cut out 322 ,000 hours of meetings this year. Neil, what do you think about this move to shame employees? I'm cynical about this. This is a ploy by executives to not have any of the underlings put meetings on their calendar. Someone should calculate the money it took for someone to actually make this tool. They did it during a company hackathon, and it was the COO who came up with it, which is an exec.

25:42And execs love banning meetings because, yeah, they think— They don't want to be there. They want to have meetings on their own terms. And if someone puts a meeting on their calendar, they're like, you know, they get all angry. So doing this is definitely going to dissuade younger people who might actually need something from them. Right. So I don't know. I'm skeptical. I think Shopify is like riding this PR train right now with media companies absolutely loving their anti-meeting agenda. To me, the biggest problem is that Shopify is a remote company. A lot of people are remote first. And if you ban meetings, you lose pretty much most human interaction on a daily basis.

26:23And so even though meetings might not be the best thing for the bottom line productivity, the fact that just talking to someone, that helps. It helps increase company morale. So I think it's a little short-sighted and a little too bottom line. I think we – I can't believe we're coming out in favor of meetings. We might be the only two people in the world. But it can definitely get out of hand, so I completely understand this. But you're right for remote people. I mean, my team is semi remote and I hold a meeting every week. And we just I don't have like a major agenda, but the whole point is to talk to each other, get some face time.

26:55So that's what I do every Thursday at 11. And I'm like, all right, we have a few things to talk about. But mostly, let's just meet and catch up because in a remote world, that's really important. Or remote workers might feel like I'm logging on and I'm just kind of staring at my computer and then I log off. I'm not feeling so much connection. Yeah. All right. that is our show Toby I'm excited for you to take the reins tomorrow don't forget fast week slow week don't forget to make a hair and makeup joke true okay send me all these notes yeah if you want to send us a note our email address is morningbrewdaily at morningbrew.com let's roll these credits for our amazing crew Emily Milliron is the editor and producer Samantha Veles and Raymond Liu are the associate producers Yuchenawa Ogu is our technical director Billy Menino is on audio hair and makeup is coming with me to Portland So this YouTube video could look pretty rough tomorrow.

27:44Devin Emery is our chief content officer and our show is a production of Morning Brew. Great show today, Neil. Let's run it back on Monday when you're back. And I'll see you.