Good morning, and a warm welcome to all our new subscribers. In today’s edition:

• 🐔 America’s chicken glut
• 🏛️ White House Press Secretary resigns
• 🥋 CarJitsu: As dumb as it sounds?

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.01-minute read (1,067 words).

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“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

–J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Hollywood has rediscovered one of its favorite summer traditions: making a boatload of money.

The domestic summer box office has officially crossed the $4 billion mark, fueled by hits including Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Toy Story 5, The Odyssey, Obsession, and Backrooms.

Summer typically accounts for ~40% of annual domestic ticket sales, and Hollywood is now on pace for its highest-grossing summer since 2019.

Roll the numbers

Spider-Man: Brand New Day currently wears the box-office crown with $655 million domestically, followed by Toy Story 5 ($470 million) and The Odyssey ($461 million).

But established franchises weren’t the only movies putting butts in seats. Low-budget horror films Obsession and Backrooms—both directed by social media stars—scared up $263.3 million and $197.4 million, respectively.

Back to the future?

While encouraging, Hollywood’s milestone still comes with some perspective. The domestic summer box office topped $4 billion in 11 of the 12 summers immediately before the pandemic, missing the mark only in 2017.

Then came 2020, when summer ticket sales fell below $100 million as theaters nationwide shut down. The industry has spent the years since trying to regain its pre-pandemic footing.

Looking ahead…Hollywood now has a shot at reaching $10 billion in annual domestic ticket sales for the first time since the pandemic. Getting there will depend on major holiday releases like The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (Nov. 20), Avengers: Doomsday, and Dune: Part Three (both Dec. 18) keeping audiences headed to theaters through Christmas.

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America’s poultry producers may have put too many eggs in one basket.

For the past year, producers have been ramping up supply as they bet high beef prices would push Americans toward cheaper chicken. But Americans kept buying beef, leaving suppliers with billions of birds and not enough mouths to eat them.

Too many chickens in the kitchen

Chicken supplies increased ~4.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, as producers raised larger flocks and favorable weather helped more birds survive to maturity.

• Through the first half of the year, US companies slaughtered 4.9+ billion chickens, up 3% from last year.
• Additionally, a new generation of chickens that grows faster while consuming less feed has also resulted in more meat per bird on average.

The oversupply is pushing prices down. Wholesale prices for boneless, skinless chicken breasts have fallen by ~37% over the past year, squeezing producers’ margins. Pilgrim’s Pride, the country’s second-largest poultry processor, saw its Q2 profit plunge by 96% year-over-year to $13.4 million.

Zoom out: What’s bad news for Big Chicken could be good news for your grocery bill. Retail chicken-breast prices fell 0.7% in July and are down 2.7% year-over-year, while some grocers are running additional poultry promotions aimed at getting more shoppers into their stores.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 Consumer Price Index, America’s most widely used measure of inflation, increases by 3.4% annual rate in July, down slightly from 3.5% in June and in line with economists’ expectations; core inflation (excluding food and energy) rises at 2.5% annual pace in July, also down 0.1 percentage points from June.
• 🚀 SpaceX shares have rebounded by 40%+ since its August 3 low, rising another ~11% yesterday to reach ~$148/share, or ~10% above its $135 IPO price; short interest fell to 11% of publicly traded SpaceX shares, down from a peak of 34% last week.
• 🚢 Black Sea emerges as another major pressure point for global trade, as Russian and Ukrainian attacks disrupt key trade routes; Chicago wheat futures recently topped $7/bushel for the first time since 2023 amid global supply pressures.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 Los Angeles Lakers sold to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Josh Kushner at NBA-record $12.5 billion valuation, per reports; sale by LA Dodgers owner Mark Walton, who bought the Lakers in 2025 at a then-record $10 billion valuation, comes amid a federal investigation into his insurance companies. | Russell Westbrook, the former NBA MVP and all-time triple-doubles leader, retires from the NBA after 18 seasons.
• 🙏 Julie Andrews announces retirement from on-screen roles, following confirmation of her absence from The Princess Diaries 3.
• 🏆 78th Emmy Awards’ juried categories winners announced, including The Masked Singer and The Traitors for Outstanding Costumes.

Apple secretly added Starlink satellite support to iPhones through iOS 18.3.

One of the biggest potential winners? Mode Mobile.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🧠 Adult brains may be better at repairing themselves than previously thought, new mice study shows; results could open new paths to treat brain injuries.
• 🩸 Cholesterol-lowering blood treatment may also remove “forever chemicals” from the bloodstream, reducing some PFAS levels by ~76%; the treatment may also filter some microplastics, though more research is needed.
• 🔋 New “rust-powered” battery can continuously run for ~100 hours by converting iron into rust and back again using water and air; it could help utilities power through multiday emergencies like winter storms and summer blackouts.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🗳️ Primary election results in major races from Tuesday are now finalized; they include David Crowley narrowly defeating progressive Francesca Hong in Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya winning Minnesota’s GOP Senate primary, and Rep. John Larson (D-CT) losing his bid for a 15th term to former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
• 🏛️ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to leave her role at the end of this month to spend more time with her family, President Trump announces.
• 💰 US budget deficit hit $432 billion in July, its highest monthly level since 2021 and up ~48% since last July; increase is driven largely by higher Medicare spending and mounting interest costs on national debt; annual deficit now stands at ~$1.8 trillion through the first 10 months of the 2025-26 fiscal year.

☝️A total solar eclipse appeared yesterday in Spain, a small part of Portugal, Greenland, Iceland and northern Russia, marking the first time since 1999 that mainland Europe was treated to the lunar spectacle.

🤔 Did you know? It would take an estimated 19-21 minutes to fall to the center of the Earth from the planet’s surface, assuming you had no wind or air resistance slowing you down. By the time you reached the middle, you would be traveling at roughly 18,000 - 25,000 miles per hour (~32x the speed of sound).

📰 Worth a read: Europe has a new passport system—and it’s driving travelers crazy.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• CarJitsu is precisely as dumb as it sounds
• Scientists genetically engineer high-protein lettuce
• The polar bear obsessed with traffic cones

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Yesterday we covered how incoming freshmen at the University of Michigan’s College of LSA will receive “pass” or “no credit” marks on their transcripts during their first semester, with their usual letter grades hidden, joining a growing trend of “grade covering” at major universities due to mental health reasons.

❓ Our question to you: Do you support or oppose the University of Michigan’s move to mask official letter grades for incoming freshmen in their first semester?

• Support: 32%
• Oppose: 49%
• Unsure/other: 19%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 529 votes and 55 longform responses.

What major American bay of water does the San Mateo-Hayward bridge cross?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

🍷 An 82-year-old Minnesota grandmother successfully pushed for a new law allowing nursing homes and assisted living facilities to serve residents alcohol without obtaining an extra liquor license. Anita LeBrun’s “Grandparents Happy Hour” bill means seniors across the state can now raise a glass without excessive red tape getting in the way.

The San Francisco Bay

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*Disclaimer: Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com. This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile’s Regulation A+ Offering.

Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.

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