July 24, 2026

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Happy Friday. Taco Bell is offering $1 lettuce-free Enchiritos today to win back customers after health officials linked the infamous diarrhea parasite to lettuce sold at some of its locations.

A mix between an enchilada and a burrito, the beef- and bean-filled Enchirito is smothered in sauce and melted cheese. A combination that has never given anyone diarrhea.

—Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Molly Liebergall, Dave Lozo, Adam Epstein, Holly Van Leuven

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

Oil topping $100 as the Middle East conflict escalates
Trump Media selling faster access to the president’s posts
Amazon adding video games to Prime Video

Markets

Nasdaq

25,137.69

-2.15%

S&P

7,408.3

-1.21%

Dow

51,711.65

-0.97%

10-Year

4.703%

+5.0 bps

Bitcoin

$65,080

-1.23%

Tesla

$319.69

-14.52%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Investors were straight up not having a good time yesterday as stocks plummeted amid increased hostilities in the Middle East (more on that below). Tesla also tanked, but for a different reason—investors were spooked by the amount it’s spending on AI.

LET’S GET THIS STRAIT

Oil soars past $100 as Houthis attack tankers

Ships docked along a pier in the Gulf of Oman

AFP/Getty Images

Yesterday, the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which controls part of Yemen, said it attacked two Saudi oil tankers headed for the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—a critical sea artery that Saudi Arabia uses to ship almost two-thirds of the oil that would typically go through the blockaded Hormuz. The escalation pushed oil prices above $100 per barrel for the first time since May, extending gains from $72 earlier this month.

Now investors are contending with the prospect of a prolonged closure of another key Middle Eastern waterway. Saudi oil could still reach global markets via the Red Sea’s northern exit, aka the Suez Canal, but that would involve longer delivery times for Asian customers and higher costs for vessel operators.

President Trump said yesterday that he will inflict “major military punishment” on the Houthis and Iran for any future attacks.

It’s already being felt stateside

Soaring oil prices are again hitting American wallets and corporate coffers:

US gas prices climbed past $4 per gallon this week from $3.94 a month ago and $2.94 in February, when the conflict began.
This week, American Airlines revised down its yearly earnings estimate for the second time in three months, citing an additional $1.6 billion in expected fuel costs for the rest of the year.

Pricier oil has also pushed up bond yields in recent days, amid increased odds of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates elevated or hiking them further to fight inflation.

Meanwhile…the US emergency oil reserve recently dropped to its lowest level since 1983, as the government pumps millions of barrels into the market in a bid to stabilize prices.

Looking ahead: If the conflict continues to choke off oil shipments from Iran and other Gulf states, it could push oil prices even higher, analysts say. As could any potential Iranian or Houthi attacks on energy production infrastructure in the region.—SK

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The floor is open for questions

Sponsor: Anthropic, the team behind Claude

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World

Tour de headlines

🌎 New double-digit tariffs go into effect on 60 US trading partners. Just after midnight today, the US enacted new tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on 99% of US imports, invoking Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The government applied the levies on the basis that the affected countries have inadequately enforced bans on products made with forced labor from entering their economies. The new tariffs replace a stopgap 10% worldwide tariff that Trump issued using Section 122 of the same law after the Supreme Court struck down many of his “Liberation Day” tariffs in February. The 10% stopgap tariff expired just as these new tariffs, which are considered more legally durable, went into effect.—HVL

💉FDA advisory panel narrowly recommends loosening restrictions on peptides. The FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted yesterday to allow four peptides—BPC-157, KPV, TB-500, and MOTS-c—to be produced by compounding pharmacies, meaning that doctors would be able to prescribe them. Across multiple votes, the peptides were recommended by a tally of 8–6, with one abstention. At the all-day hearings, the biggest objection voiced by the FDA’s career scientists was that there is no standard chemical formula for the peptides, making evaluation of them nearly impossible. Three more peptides will be voted on today. The FDA does not need to act on the advisory panel’s recommendations, but generally does.—HVL

📺 Peacock turned a profit for the first time. A hot new earnings win has entered the villa. Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, reported an EBITDA of $189 million in Q2, far ahead of analysts’ expectations and the first time it’s made a quarterly profit since launching in 2020. The historic quarter was driven by the NBA playoffs, the World Cup, and everyone in your office talking about Corbin’s behavior at Casa Amor on Love Island USA. Peacock added 2 million subscribers in the quarter, bringing its total to 48 million—still well behind rivals like Netflix and HBO Max.—AE

FAST PASS

Truth Social is selling faster access to Trump’s posts

Closeup of Trump speaking into a microphone at a podium

AFP/Getty Images

Truth Social is selling posts at a premium, and Wall Street is buying. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, announced last week that it was rolling out a paid “Truth API” feed with real-time posts from 10 of the biggest political accounts on the platform, including President Trump. The feed gives traders early access to the president’s market-moving posts, giving them a leg up on markets.

Five high-frequency trading firms—investors that depend on making lightning-fast moves—have already signed onto the service, which launches Aug. 1:

It costs $100,000 a month, or $60,000 if a firm makes a three-year commitment, according to Reuters.
Investors already rely heavily on Trump’s posts for trades.
Last month, in the first minute after two of his posts about Iran, more than 2 million shares related to energy and industrial markets were traded.

Not so fast: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are questioning the move, with one asking the SEC to investigate. Critics warn that giving Wall Street access to these highly influential posts even nanoseconds before the public provides wealthy firms with a huge edge and creates a clear risk for market integrity. President Trump controls about 41% of TMTG’s outstanding stock through a revocable trust.—MM

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READY STREAMER ONE

Prime Video just became a gaming platform

Amazon

Amazon wants your idle hands. The company fused its cloud gaming platform, Luna, with its streaming TV service yesterday, enabling Prime subscribers in the US and UK to play Hogwarts Legacy, EA Sports FC 26, and other video games for free, straight through the Prime Video app on Fire TVs.

You might have already had access to these titles. Luna’s standard library comes free with Prime, but “nobody” knew this, Amazon Games GM Jeff Gattis recently told Polygon. By adding a Games tab to the Prime Video app…

Amazon solves Luna’s discoverability issue.
Prime Video gets one step closer to becoming an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink entertainment app. Rivals Netflix and Peacock have also been adding games in pursuit of that goal.
Amazon opens a new marketing avenue. One of its games, Courtroom Chaos, stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is also in an upcoming Amazon MGM holiday movie.

“We’re not trying to compete with PlayStation or Xbox or Steam,” Gattis said. Instead, Amazon is eyeing the hundreds of millions of casual phone gamers who don’t own consoles. This comes after the company spent years failing to break into gaming by developing its own titles.

Meanwhile…more changes are on the way. Jeff Bezos is urging an AI overhaul of Prime Video, Reuters reported yesterday.—ML

reader poll

Did you know that you had access to Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service through your Prime subscription?

Yes, and I’ve played games on Luna.
Yes, but I’ve never used Luna.
No, I had no idea.

Dave’s sports desk

The Mets are bad, even by Mets standards

Stylized illustration of Mr. Met, the Mets mascot, holding out his fists, which are gripping wads of burning cash.

Nick Iluzada

On Fridays, the Brew’s Dave Lozo looks at a sports business story that says a lot more than just the final score of a game.

It’s easy to make jokes about the Mets being terrible, but the Wall Street Journal was able to quantify just how terrible.

Entering Wednesday’s games, the team with the MLB’s most expensive payroll of $355 million was on pace to win only 68 games. That’s an average of $5.2 million per victory, the highest price any team has paid per win since at least 2000, even when adjusted for inflation.

This shouldn’t be surprising: The team that spent the second-most money per win ($4.8 million) during that time period was…also the Mets, in 2023.

Big swings, big misses: Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen bought the franchise in 2020 for $2.4 billion. He hasn’t been shy about spending on the roster, but those signings haven’t translated into success.

Next up: The Mets are likely to become more cost-effective when they become sellers at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.—DL

Quiz

Friday news quiz

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to your most-used app getting a redesign that you actually like.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

News

What else is brewing

House Democrats were joined by four Republicans in voting to end the Iran war in a largely symbolic vote.
President Trump said that the US’ new nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia hinges on the Arab kingdom normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel.
Vance Boelter, the man who pleaded guilty to killing Minnesota Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, was sentenced to life in prison.
Google disclosed yesterday that it owns $94.1 billion in SpaceX shares, or about 6% of the now-public company.
Instagram banned videos shot on Meta glasses showing the harassment of strangers in public, in a huge blow to guys whose profile photos are selfies taken with sunglasses on in their cars.
The Dink, the first mainstream American movie about pickleball, is out today on Apple TV.

recs

The nine best river cruises for every type of traveler.
Tips on how to bike to work safely and stylishly.
What to expect from Comic-Con this weekend.
A simple, comfortable cotton tee for any setting.**

For founders, investors, and startup obsessives: Founder Brew covers the decisions and lessons that define builders.

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

Play

Jigsaw: This week’s news picture puzzle takes you inside a new movie costume exhibit. Play Jigsaw here.

Friday puzzle

Break up the word “temporary” into nine separate letters and place them on the dashes to spell a seven-letter word, a five-letter word, and a three-letter word. You can use each letter only once.

TEMPORARY

_ N _ M _ R _

_ O _ O _

_ I _

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Answer

Anymore, motor, rip

(Source)

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: coffers, meaning “the available funds or financial reserves of a government or business.” Thanks to Oliver from Ann Arbor, MI, for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

Written by Adam Epstein, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Molly Liebergall, Dave Lozo, and Holly Van Leuven

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