• Markets: You win some, you lose some: Stocks slipped yesterday, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both managed to clinch winning weeks (the Dow, not so much). On the plus side, investors upvoted Reddit after learning it will join the S&P 500 on Aug. 18.

SHOPPING STALL

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Adobe Stock

If consumers are the lifeblood of the US economy, their type right now is B negative. US retail sales fell far short of expectations last month, sliding 0.6%—their first drop in nine months and the biggest since May 2025.

The Commerce Department’s retail sales report isn’t adjusted for inflation, so when gas prices fall (as they did last month), so do overall sales numbers. But that’s not enough to explain away the dip, because even with that taken into account, sales still decreased in July.

Amazon may be to blame

The online shopping giant moved its massive Prime Day sales event from July to June this year. Walmart+ and Target Circle also held membership deal events in June. So, per the Wall Street Journal:

• Sales at nonstore retailers (mostly online stores) jumped 7.7% in June.
• In July, that number decreased by 2.2%.

Basically, consumers shopped ’til they dropped in June, then stayed on the floor in July, especially once all of the World Cup festivities ended.

It’s still an economic warning sign

And there are others: Consumer sentiment slid about 8% this month, according to preliminary results of the University of Michigan’s monthly consumer survey. The survey results, released yesterday, show consumers are worried that high inflation could continue to eat into their purchasing power.

Plus, the US unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs last month and, outside of the pandemic, the labor participation rate is at its lowest level in 50 years. Plus, while inflation declined last month, the annual rate was still hovering around 3.4%—well above the Fed’s 2% target.

Warsh is watching: If the economic data continues to look like this in the coming weeks, Kevin Warsh and the rest of the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates steady at their next meeting in September.—BC

      

World

Tour de headlines

Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images

⚖️ Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal charges in insurance exec’s murder. Mangione pleaded guilty yesterday to federal stalking charges in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York sidewalk. With Thompson’s family in the courtroom, Mangione told the court, “I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died.” He also said he understood that he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Mangione is scheduled to be sentenced on these federal charges in December. He is also still facing state-level murder charges, but his lawyers are now trying to have those tossed as double jeopardy.

⚽ Jeff Bezos becomes part-owner of Liverpool FC. The Amazon founder’ll never walk alone now that he’s part of a consortium buying a minority stake in the storied soccer football team from its owner Fenway Sports Group. According to the Wall Street Journal, the group is acquiring a ~33% stake in the Premier League team in a deal that values it at $7+ billion. This will be Bezos’s first time as a sports team owner, and the investor group is led by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of an Indian steel tycoon, and includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and others.

🖼️ Stolen art worth $10+ million recovered months after heist. Italian police said yesterday that they’d found three artworks by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse that were stolen in a brazen nighttime heist at the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, a private art museum outside Parma. Authorities said they detained five people in connection with the theft. The artworks are: Cézanne’s “Still Life With Cherries,” a pencil and watercolor worth $7 million, Renoir’s “Les Poissons,” an oil painting worth $3.5 million, and Matisse’s “Odalisque Sur La Terrasse,” an etching worth $23,000. In more good news for fans of Fauvism and true crime: Brazilian police said they discovered eight stolen pieces by Matisse this week.—AR

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what a headache

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Investors are suing Selena Gomez and the co-founders of her failed mental health startup, Wondermind. The lawsuit alleges the trio never delivered on promises to deliver an app, rapid growth, and access to Gomez’s massive social media audience of 500 million followers—all while concealing the company’s problems from investors.

ICYMI: Gomez, her mother, Mandy Teefey, and entrepreneur Daniella Pierson founded Wondermind in November 2021. The company planned to build a virtual suite of mental health resources. In 2022, with a valuation of $95 million, it secured $5 million from investors, including Serena Williams’s investment firm.

Sounds like the beginning of a love song, but…last August, Forbes published an article accusing Pierson of overpromising as an exec at a previous company. Then, The Cut reported in September that Wondermind was falling apart, claiming leadership was dysfunctional, employees weren’t being paid on time, and that Gomez was barely involved.

The lawsuit similarly asserts that “Gomez purported to sign a contract obligating her to perform and then ignored it”—and alleges investors were kept in the dark until the media reports came out.

Pierson, who reportedly left the company just a year after it started because of an “openly tense” relationship with Teefey, denies the suit’s allegations against her. Gomez, Teefey, and Wondermind have not publicly commented.—MM

      

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ICYMI

Have you heard…

Here’s everything that didn’t make it into this week’s newsletters but we immediately sent to the group chat.

➡️ The FAA hired 2,000+ gamers to help plug the air traffic controller shortage, citing their tendency to have good problem-solving and multitasking skills, and perhaps overlooking their tendency to scream obscenities into headsets.

➡️ An 8-year-old boy unexpectedly reeled in a piranha while fishing at a lake near Philadelphia, indicating to local officials that someone may have owned it as a pet and illegally released it. To save you a Google search: Tiger King’s Joe Exotic is still in prison, we checked.

➡️ An amateur golfer withdrew his country club membership after admitting that he faked a hole-in-one at a members-only tournament. Typically, the only hole country club members are allowed to fake is in Form W-2, Box 1: taxable wages.

➡️ Bumble said men can now make the first move on matches after the dating app nixed its signature rule that only let women message first. So, that’s why your male roommate has been rubbing his hands together and stroking his beard all week.

➡️ Someone in Illinois won the $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot, which was the lottery’s eighth-largest pot ever. Elsewhere in America, our friend rounded up a couple dollars to pay us back for drinks last night.—ML

News

What else is brewing

• President Trump asked the Supreme Court to allow construction of a White House ballroom to continue while a legal challenge to building it proceeds. An appeals court recently ruled that construction should halt.
• A woman was arrested yesterday for allegedly vandalizing the WWII Memorial in DC.
• JPMorgan stopped letting Polymarket bank there last year due to regulatory concerns, the Financial Times reported.
• World Liberty, the crypto company backed by members of President Trump’s family, received preliminary approval from regulators to start a bank.
• Berkshire Hathaway increased its stakes in Alphabet and Delta as it looks to spend the cash pile Warren Buffett amassed before retiring.
• Jason Arday, a professor who recently resigned from Cambridge University amid a plagiarism scandal, was found dead yesterday.

Saturday shopping sponsored by Vuori

What’s your Saturday sport of choice? (Get geared up!):

Golf (18 holes, minimal cardio)
Tennis or pickleball
Running or lifting
Watching other people play sports on TV

Community

Crowd work

Last week, we asked, “What’s the wildest thing you’ve heard a child say?” Here are some of our favorite responses:

• “My son, about 4 years old at the time, was jumping on the couch, and then from the couch to the chair in the living room. His dad walked in, not happy with the situation, and yelled, ‘What are you thinking?’ My son said, ‘I’m thinking this is pretty fun!’”—Victoria from North Carolina
• “We were at an antique shop, and one of the vendors had his cat in the booth with him, and my son (6 or 7 years old) asked, ‘Is that an antique cat?’”—Noland from Simpsonville, SC
• “When a group of children was asked to share examples of what different animals do (e.g., ‘the lion roars,’ ‘the duck quacks’), my friend’s second-grade sister replied ‘The giraffe buckles at the knees.’”—Don Miguel from Chicago
• “My 4-year-old daughter was visiting her great-grandparents one summer. Her great-grandmother asked her if she’d like to just stay with them instead of going home. With a shrug of her shoulders, she replied, ‘You couldn’t handle me.’”—Kendra from Nashville, TN
• “While visiting our family in CA, there was a giant billboard for a swap meet. My young son says, in the most grotesque way, ‘WHY would anyone want to swap their meats?’”—Kathy Stivaletti from NY

This week’s question

What’s your favorite building near where you live?

Sam’s answer to get the juices flowing: “A majestic red and green Japanese-style mansion built in 1903 is tucked away behind a sakura tree a few blocks away from me in Brooklyn. There’s an urban legend that it was built for the Japanese ambassador and brought piece-by-piece from Japan—but in actuality, the design choice was a marketing ploy by the developer.”

Submit your response here.

recs

• What not to pack in your suitcase to avoid hefty TSA fines.
• The books NYT readers think the paper left off its best thrillers of the 21st century list.
• Why the lights that are on at night can be an important economic indicator.
• A trunk organizer for groceries, sports equipment, and other back-of-the-car items.**

^{*A message from our sponsor. **This is a product recommendation from our writers. When you buy through this link, Morning Brew may earn a commission.}

Play

Brew Crossword: Pay…Xtra close attention. There’s something crafty going on in our big puzzle of the week. Play the Crossword here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that is itching to do a proper Roadhouse remake in the Keys. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Today’s home is in Summerland Key, FL, which is in lower Key West right on the Atlantic Ocean. The property is mere minutes from the town’s private airstrip. Amenities include:

• 2 beds, 3 baths
• Covered lanai
• Outdoor tiki bar + tiki bathroom

How much for the island getaway?

Answer

$3.1 million

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: amassed, meaning “accumulated.” Thanks to Tracey from Fort Worth, TX, for a suggestion worth collecting. Submit another Word of the Day here.