A supermarket beef, a quantum leap, and Christmas trees for cheap

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0:11This is the Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darian Woods. I'm Waylon Wong. And here to spread holiday cheer is Planet Money's very own star at the top of their Christmas tree, one Nick Fountain. Oh, Indicators of the Week. Oh, Indicators of the Week.

0:30It is Indicators of the Week. Now, we have got some Christmas tree-related indicators from you, Nick. We're also looking at grocery store wars. and I'm going to be diving into some subatomic computing. That's what I put at the top of my tree. Computer engineers, rejoice. That's all after the break.

0:58This message comes from NPR sponsor Zendesk, introducing the next generation of AI agents built to deliver resolutions for everyone. With an easy setup that can be completed in minutes, not months, Zendesk AI agents resolve 30 % of interactions instantly, quickly giving your customers what they need. Loved by over 10 ,000 companies, Zendesk AI makes service teams more efficient, businesses run better, and your customers happier. That's the Zendesk AI effect. Find out more at zendesk.com. Okay, it's the indicators of the week. Waylon, let's start with you. My indicator is$600 million. That is the amount of money that the grocery chain Albertsons wants to collect from fellow grocery chain Kroger as a breakup fee because their proposed merger just went kaput.

1:49This merger was in the works for so long. And as we all know, it was one of the targets of the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust crackdown under chair Lina Khan, who's presumably going to be leaving very soon. Now, these companies first announced their deal in October of 2022. Can you believe it's been that long? And this week, there were a few developments that doomed the merger. A federal judge ruled in favor of the FTC, which had sued to block the deal. And then a state judge in Washington also blocked it. On Wednesday, Albertsons announced it was calling off the merger, but it was not done yet.

2:25It also said it was suing Kroger. Yeah, it escalated quickly from wanting to be together to, I don't know, wanting to fight. Albertsons is basically accusing Kroger of not doing enough work to get approval from regulators. They're like, you get an F for effort. This is a soap opera. Oh, love it. I know. Yes. And, you know, Albertsons wants that$600 million break-up fee. They're not stopping there. The company is also seeking billions of dollars in damages. Kroger, for its part, says Albertson's claims are baseless and it is not entitled to that fee. All right, so that's the high finance drama.

3:03But what does this mean for everyday shoppers and workers? Well, you know, during the trial, Albertson's CEO had said on the stand that if the deal didn't go through, the company might have to consider closing stores or laying off workers. Not the Vons two blocks away from my house. I really need that to stay open. Yes, Nick, this could affect you if, in fact, these kind of dire pronouncements he was making on the witness stand do come true. But you know who is out of a job is Lena Kahn. Just this week, President-elect Trump announced her replacement, a current FTC commissioner named Andrew Ferguson.

3:36And, I don't know, just to take a step back, the failure of this merger is a little bit of a valedictory for her, you could argue. She's in her final weeks on the job, and she got to see a conclusion to this rather thrilling story before leaving office. A little Christmas come early for Lena Khan. All right, Darian, what do you got for me? What's in my stocking? You're going to need a bigger stocking because my indicator is 10 septillion years. Whoa. I don't even know what a septillion is. Yeah, yeah. Quadrillion, quintillion. Then it goes up to septillion. It's the seventh one. Oh! The more you learn.

4:15The more you learn. It is one followed by 25 zeros. Is this the biggest indicator we've ever had on this show? I would love that rise. Anyway, I'm saying this because this week Google announced a new quantum computing chip. And Google says this chip can make incredibly fast calculations. Like 10 septillion miles an hour? Close, but not quite. So take the world's fastest supercomputers right now, a calculation that would take them 10 septillion years to make. This quantum computer chip would take less than five minutes. What? I'll just give a little primer on what quantum computing is. It's using subatomic physics to build really fast computers, as in the spooky ways that things smaller than atoms behave.

5:02Did you say spooky? We're getting spooky in here? We're getting spooky, but let's just start here with the real concrete world we begin with. So a traditional computer, as you know, uses ones and zeros. That's kind of a metaphor to represent something either switching on or off. And the next part is pretty mind-blowing, though. You've got quantum computers using subatomic particles to communicate information. Like they may take, let's say, an electron. Maybe if it's spinning clockwise, that could be analogous to a one. And maybe if it's going anti-clockwise, that could be a zero. But the really strange thing about quantum computing is that this particle could exist in multiple states at the same time.

5:43And by doing that, you can make really, really fast calculations. Multiple states at the same time? Yeah, they call it superposition. Whoa. So examples of quantum computers have been around for a while. But the huge problem has been that while they're really fast, they give a ton of errors. Google claims to have basically solved the error problem. Oh, could they help my middle schooler with her math homework? Because that's giving us a lot of trouble right now. That would be useful. I mean, or more darkly. I can imagine hackers trying every combination of my password in a nanosecond. Oh, okay.

6:23Well, now we're back to being spooky. Okay. But beyond math homework, there could be other opportunities. Think of pharmaceutical drug discovery, better AI movies. I don't know. The list is as long as your imagination. Can't wait for this grim future or exciting future. Last but not least, Nick, I believe you are in the festive spirit today. I am. Producer Angel, cue the sly bells because I get very excited this time of year. I used to play them in high school band. I get very, I love them too. This morning, the Santa Claus of the Indicator editor, Kate Kincannon, asked me to get a feel for the Christmas tree market this year.

7:04This has become your beat. You're somewhat of an expert on this subject. For those who don't know, I used to sell Christmas trees at farmer's markets. After that, for a Planet Money show, I bought a truckload of them at auction in Pennsylvania and sold them on the streets of Brooklyn. So, yeah, I've been under the mistletoe one or two times. Keep it safe for work, Nick. Okay, so what's the update? What's the economic update, please? I thought you'd never been kissed, Nick. Now I'm starting to reevaluate. Oh, God. Well, I just got off the phone with Ben Courtney, who is the operations manager at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction.

7:43That's where I bought those Christmas trees back in the day. They hold the country's biggest Christmas tree auction every year. How'd the auction go this year?

7:54Prices drop pretty hard. Really? Mm-hmm. That's right. My indicator of the week, maybe my indicator of the holiday season, comes from Ben, who says wholesale prices for Christmas trees dropped a lot. 30 to 40 percent. 30 to 40 percent. Yeah. Bad news for the Federal Reserve, though. I do not think that Christmas trees are in any of the inflation counting bundles that the BLS uses. As a consumer, I'm happy. It's pretty exciting to see prices go down. It rarely happens. So what's the reason? Yeah, Ben says this is kind of a return to normal, he thinks. Prices went pretty wild in the last few years.

8:36And part of that was just increased demand. But part of it has to do with actually the Great Recession. We go into this in detail in the Plenty of Money episode. But basically, because trees take so long to grow and farmers weren't planting them during the Great Recession, a decade later, the market got really tight. Now, the market is less tight, especially, Ben says, for smaller trees. Those are where the deals really are this year. Aaron, you are still in the market. I'm in the market for some Norway spruce. You know, I got a noble fir at Lowe's for 60 bucks. I thought that was an amazing deal.

9:08Seven-footer. Have you trimmed your tree yet, Nick? Did you decorate it yet? We had a little party last weekend, and little kids got paint everywhere and made their own ornament. Oh, that sounds really cute. Wait, Nick, you're floating. Where are you going? Jolly old St. Nicholas. He's away. Coming right down Santa Claus Lane. He's got work to do. Off to make more deliveries. The world's most famous postman. Before we wrap up, we want to say a quick thanks if you donate to your local NPR station or have joined NPR+. That support lets us come to you every weekday with episodes like Indicators of the Week.

9:44If you don't know about NPR +, it's a great way to hear this and more than 25 other NPR podcasts sponsor free. There are other perks too, like bonus episodes and discounts at the NPR shop. You get all that for a small recurring donation and know you're supporting NPR's mission of creating a more informed public. To sign up, just go to plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org. This episode was produced by Angel Correras with engineering by Neil Rauch. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kicking Cannon is our editor and the Indicator is a production of NPR. Gimme cookies. And milk.

10:27Thank you.