Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

May 23, 2026

G’day. If you’re one of the record 45 million people AAA expects to travel this weekend despite high gas prices and questionable weather, we hope wherever you’re waking up today is worth the traffic you had to sit in yesterday. As for our MDW plans, we’ve got a Sunday Special for you tomorrow, but on Monday, we’ll be busy tossing burgers on a grill we haven’t properly cleaned since 2015. We’ll be back in your inbox to start the short week with you on Tuesday.

—Molly Liebergall, Brendan Cosgrove, Dave Lozo, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Abby Rubenstein, Holly Van Leuven

In today’s newsletter, we’ll look at:

Disney’s big bet on a small green Star Wars character
The Fed entering its Warsh era
Waymos driving themselves into floodwaters

MARKETS

Nasdaq

26,343.97

+0.19%

S&P

7,473.47

+0.37%

Dow

50,579.70

+0.59%

10-Year

4.558%

-3.0 bps

Bitcoin

$75,889.85

-2.20%

$141.67

-5.58%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Wall Streeters are likely to spend their long weekend popping bottles after stocks rose yesterday amid hopes for an Iran peace deal. The S&P 500 clinched its longest weekly winning streak since 2023, with eight straight weeks in the green. Not sharing in the celebration is Reddit, which fell after Meta announced its own online forum app.

FAR, FAR ASTRAY

The first Star Wars movie in 7 years might flop

Lucasfilm

Disney has a lot riding on a little alien child. The Mandalorian and Grogu officially hit theaters yesterday, and the entertainment giant desperately needs Baby Yoda to revive the famous franchise’s fading box-office appeal.

But the Force may not be strong with this one. The film is at risk of having the worst opening for any Star Wars movie ever:

The Mandalorian and Grogu is projected to make $80 million to $100 million domestically this weekend. That would be less than Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is the franchise’s only film to lose money (so far).
In revenue from preview viewings, The Mandalorian and Grogu is already behind Solo, which also premiered over Memorial Day weekend (in 2018).

Potential obstacles: The film is a continuation of a Disney+ series that first endeared viewers to Baby Yoda in 2019. Potential audiences might assume the show is a prerequisite for understanding the movie. And some series fans may not be interested in the flick, either—reviews for the show had soured by its third and final season, which aired in 2023.

So, why send Grogu to the big screen? Possibly because his adventures with Pedro Pascal’s Mando are the most family-friendly Star Wars content around, and Memorial Day weekend is prime time for casual movie theater walk-ins. Plus, if the film disappoints at the box office, some analysts say it could still spur a Grogu merch resurgence.

High stakes, these are

Disney could use a win with Star Wars fans who were concerned with the company’s 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm, the franchise’s production company.

The first rebooted Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, smashed the box office in 2015 and became the highest-grossing film domestically in US history, but momentum has since slowed. The 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker—the most recent Star Wars movie—earned mixed reviews and half as much money as The Force Awakens.

Meanwhile…Disney’s superhero movies are also struggling at the box office. Warner Bros.-owned DC’s Superman outgrossed every Marvel release last year, breaking a 17-year winning streak for the MCU.—ML

READER POLL

Are you planning to see the new Star Wars movie?

Yes, and I may even go in costume.
Probably, but not opening weekend.
No, it’s not my thing.
I’ll wait until it’s streaming.

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

Kevin Warsh sworn in as Fed chair. It’s official: Warsh was sworn in as the new head of the central bank in a ceremony at the White House yesterday. “We want to stop inflation,” President Trump—an outspoken advocate for interest rate cuts and a critic of Warsh’s predecessor’s reticence to make them—said at the ceremony, adding “but we don’t want to stop greatness.” Taking over for Jerome Powell as the one tasked with saying as little as possible at press conferences to avoid freaking out the markets, Warsh has his work cut out for him in trying to tame the impact of rising oil prices amid the Iran war. That has the market speculating that far from delivering rate cuts right away, Warsh might be coming into a Fed that’s poised to hike rates instead.—AR

Tulsi Gabbard resigns as the US’ top spy. Gabbard announced yesterday that she will step down as director of national intelligence, saying she was leaving President Trump’s Cabinet to help her husband, who was recently diagnosed with “an extremely rare form of bone cancer.” President Trump said on social media that Gabbard had “done an incredible job.” But the former Democratic lawmaker who broke with her party has had a tense tenure overseeing 18 spy agencies, and she was reportedly left out of major national security decisions, including military actions in Venezuela and Iran.—AR

SpaceX achieves a mostly successful Starship test flight. The rocket took off right as its launch window opened yesterday at 6:30pm ET, a day after its initial attempt was scrubbed due to a ground equipment problem. One of the 33 engines on the Super Heavy-Starship’s booster failed during ascent, but the upper-stage spacecraft made it to space despite one of its six engines malfunctioning, after the flight computer kept the others burning longer than originally planned. Starship V3’s test flight was SpaceX’s first test flight in seven months, and a major event ahead of the company’s anticipated debut on the Nasdaq in June.—HVL

WATER PARKED

Waymo service takes a multicity rain check

11 Alive

Waymo and its self-driving cars are used to making waves, but this isn’t what they had in mind. After several incidents of its robotaxis driving into floodwaters, the company announced on Thursday that it’s temporarily halting its service in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, and Houston due to inclement weather.

So, what happened? During a bout of heavy rain in Atlanta on Wednesday, an empty Waymo car Leeroy Jenkins’d into a flooded street and got stuck. Elsewhere in the city, a different Waymo vehicle with a journalist inside also repeatedly tried its hand at self-boating.

There were precipitating events: Waymo had already halted service in San Antonio last month over a similar incident. And last week, the company issued a recall on thousands of its vehicles to perform a software update aimed at solving the problem. According to Waymo:

The update—meant to be a temporary fix—instructed vehicles not to drive when there’s an elevated risk of flooding.
But that didn’t work in Atlanta, because the flooding started before emergency alerts were sent out.

Waymo said it’s working on additional software changes and will monitor conditions to decide when it can safely lift the service suspensions.

Big picture: Waymo says data proves its vehicles are safer drivers than humans when it comes to avoiding collisions that result in injuries. But its robotaxis are under federal investigation for failing to stop for school buses and for striking a child in California, causing minor injuries, the company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.—BC

This week’s question

What’s an activity you did that gave you a strong sense of community?

Sam’s answer to get the juices flowing: “I’m still very close with my high school rowing teammates. Having spent thousands of grueling hours achieving unified rhythm and balance in race boats together, our lives remain synchronized years later.”

Submit your response here.

RECS

Carry: They finally supersized the Baggu.**

Learn: The history of Memorial Day.

Watch: David Attenborough narrates unbelievable nature moments.

Look it up: Search engines to try if you don’t like Google’s new AI-driven update (or just need to look up disregard).

When creator marketing knocks: Are you ready to tackle the opportunity? Morning Brew Inc. teamed up with Ekimetrics and Tracksuit to outline how marketers can maximize impact and budgets.*

^{*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: This week’s big puzzle is named after a place we are sure you will never find yourself—“Two steps back.” Play the Crossword here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that requires Historical Society approval. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Zillow

Today’s home is in Milwaukee, WI, and is a historic property with a lot of potential. It’s a city-owned tax foreclosure that must be converted into a single-family home—in fact, the term “fixer-upper” is generous. Amenities include:

6 beds, 4 baths
Giant back porch (if you can get to it)
Plenty of scrap wood

How much for the “good” bones?

SHARE THE BREW

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ANSWER

$5,000

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: reticence, meaning “a state of being restrained or reluctant.” Thanks to Leilah G. from Germany for not holding back on the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✢ A Note From Pendulum

*Based on preclinical studies. This product is not intended for weight loss.

Written by Abigail Rubenstein, Molly Liebergall, Brendan Cosgrove, Dave Lozo, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, and Holly Van Leuven

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