Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 💵 How rate hikes affect your wallet
• 🤖 New OpenAI safety incidents
• 🎓 The world’s most educated person?

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.94-minute read (1,047 words).

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“Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.”

–Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)

This week, the Federal Reserve unanimously voted to raise baseline US interest rates for the first time in over three years, with the quarter-point increase bringing the Fed’s benchmark target range to 3.75%–4%, raising the cost of short-term borrowing throughout the economy.

Here’s the plan: With inflation remaining stubborn in recent months, rising 3.4% year-over-year in August and 0.4% from July, the Fed is hoping higher rates will help bring it back down by discouraging consumers and businesses from spending as freely.

The tradeoff is that less spending can also slow economic growth and weaken the labor market, putting the Fed in the tricky position of cooling prices without putting the rest of the economy on ice.

How does that affect your wallet?

Higher baseline interest rates typically have a cascading effect across the US economy:

For borrowers, the most immediate impact will likely show up on credit cards, since their variable interest rates generally move alongside the Fed’s hikes. Auto loans could get more expensive too, although their rates are influenced more by longer-term market conditions.

• A quarter-point hike would likely add about $1.38/month in interest for someone carrying the average $6,600 credit-card balance.
• If lenders passed the full increase along to car buyers, Cox Automotive estimates it would add about $6/month to a new-car payment and $4/month to a used-car payment.

Mortgage rates tend to move with longer-term government bond yields, particularly the 10-year Treasury, so Wednesday’s quarter-point hike won’t translate directly into an equivalent increase for homebuyers.

• However, rates could still climb if Treasury yields continue rising as investors adjust their expectations for inflation and future Fed moves.
• The average 30-year mortgage rate currently sits at 6.76%, its highest level in more than 14 months.

High-yield savings accounts could see better returns following a rate hike, as banks raise the interest rates they offer customers. Anyone shopping for a new CD could also find higher rates, while existing fixed-rate CDs won’t change.

Zoom out: The Fed is hiking interest rates into a US labor market that’s been relatively stable and resilient in recent months. Employers added 162,000 jobs in August, the strongest monthly gain since March, while unemployment remained at a historically low 4.1%. Workers’ average hourly earnings also increased 3.1% over the past year, while labor force participation ticked up to 61.6%.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, what should be the Federal Reserve’s next move after raising baseline US interest rates?

• Raise rates again to keep fighting inflation
• Keep rates where they are for now
• Cut rates to support the economy
• Unsure/other

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

📖 Just over 16% of Americans read for fun on the average day last year, down from 27% in 2005, per new government data. By comparison, the average American spent 2.6 hours watching TV each day.

🏈 Girls' flag football is now the fastest-growing high school sport in America; more than 102,000 girls played last school year, up from less than 16,000 in 2021-22 (+551%), per the National Federation of State High School Associations.

😎 CEO economic confidence is the highest since 2022, climbing 3 points in the Business Roundtable's CEO Economic Outlook Index for Q3. It’s the index’s fifth straight quarterly increase, with its current level of 94 well above the historical average of 83.

🏟️ The 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics is projected to generate between $20.5 billion and $40.6 billion in economic activity and create up to 224,000 jobs during the years of preparation ahead of the event through its conclusion, per new LA28-commissioned study.

🎾 American men haven’t won a Grand Slam in tennis for 23 years, a streak that will extend into a 24th year after American Ben Shelton fell in the US Open final to world #1 Alexander Zverev.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏢 SEC issues new regulatory exemption allowing tokenized shares to trade on blockchain-based venues, opening the door for crypto-style trading of US stocks.
• 🤖 OpenAI discloses six new incidents in which its AI models hid mistakes, made up data, or accessed the internet without permission.
• 💥 General Motors is supplying Patriot missile parts to Lockheed Martin under a new deal, the military contractor announced.

SPORTS, MEDIA, & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 North Carolina DC Steve Belichick resigns following an internal investigation into the UNC football program's culture under his father, head coach Bill Belichick.
• 🏆 Dolly Parton accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association posthumously, with a video speech recorded earlier in the summer.
• 🙏 Peter Max, the psychedelic pop art icon whose work defined the 1960s, died at 88.

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SCIENCE, SPACE, & EMERGING TECH

• 🦖 Tyrannosaurus rex had an average body temperature similar to humans at around 97°F, per new study published in Science Advances.
• 🏥 Fiji declares a national crisis over HIV prevalence, which has nearly tripled in the country over the past five years; about 1 in 60 adults in Fiji now carry HIV.
• 🐋 Humpback whale observed showing signs of apparent grief over stillborn calf, in first-of-its-kind footage.

US, WORLD, & POLITICS

• 🏛️ White House withdraws nomination of Lance Schroyer to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after it fails to advance in the Senate.
• ✈️🤖 FAA to launch new AI-powered air-traffic tool, called Smart, in the Washington, D.C., area as early as Monday ahead of a nationwide rollout.
• 🏗️ Photo of Trump appears to show him with a poster that references the Kennedy Center being demolished, hours after he warned the building “will end up being ripped down” if Trump isn’t recognized for his renovation efforts; in response, federal judge orders 30-day notice of any potential changes to the venue.

☝️ For the first time in 100 years, researchers have identified a new species of wild cat never before documented by science. The Leopardus tilcayo, which is smaller than a housecat, lives in the Bolivian Yungas, the cloud forest where the Andes mountains meet the Amazon basin.

🤔 Did you know? While scientists aren’t sure just how many giant squid exist in the world, they estimate sperm whales consume between 4.3 million and 131 million giant squid every single year, based on the number of giant squid beaks found in their stomachs.

📰 Worth a read: The tiny logos behind a global power shift.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Every US state’s favorite boardgame
• The rise of witchcraft retreats
• He might end up the world’s most educated person

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How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

1. A movie theater has 180 seats. If 75% of the seats are filled, how many seats are empty?
2. A two-digit number has digits that add up to 11. The tens digit is 3 greater than the ones digit. What is the number?
3. You buy 4 sandwiches for $8.50 each and 3 drinks for $2.75 each. You pay with a $50 bill. How much change should you receive?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

🎂 September 14 is a special day for the Harlow family: five consecutive generations were all born on that date, earning them a world record for the most consecutive generations to share the same birthday. 

1. 45 seats
2. 74
3. $7.75

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