Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

March 21, 2026

Happy World Poetry Day, the day you’re most likely to hear someone say they minored in English. But you don’t have to be well-versed to celebrate, anything can be a poem:

music
trees blowing in the wind
a group of children’s laughter when you drop your groceries, and all the cherry tomatoes spill out over the sidewalk and you try to pick them up, but they’ve rolled into the mud…and it would be nice if the group of children could stop laughing and just grab the La Croix cans that are rolling across the street
a flower blooming

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

MARKETS

Nasdaq

21,647.61

-2.01%

S&P

6,506.48

-1.51%

Dow

45,577.47

-0.97%

10-Year

4.391%

+11.0 bps

Bitcoin

$69,949.16

-0.82%

Gold

$4,505.80

-2.17%

Data is provided by

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

Markets: With oil prices driven up by the Iran war (more on that below), stocks finished off their fourth consecutive week in the red. The small-cap Russell 2000 became the first major index to enter correction territory, and at their low points yesterday, both the Nasdaq and the Dow dipped into correction territory as well, though they ended the day above it.
Not-so-safe haven: Gold had its worst week since 2011, as investors worried about the war’s impact (though it was in such good shape that it’s still up from the beginning of the year).

TROUBLE AHEAD

Fears of oil shortages are starting to spread

David Talukdar/Getty Images

As the war in the Middle East stretches into its fourth week, energy supply chains around the world are starting to buckle under the pressure. Iran is reportedly not interested in discussing reopening the Strait of Hormuz, one of the globe’s most important passageways for oil and liquefied natural gas, and world leaders are running out of options to shield consumers from skyrocketing energy prices.

On land

For now, countries in Southeast Asia are taking the brunt of looming potential shortages. The region imports almost 80% of its crude oil from the Persian Gulf, and roughly 25% of the region’s liquefied natural gas must pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand are particularly sensitive to supply chain disruptions because of their low-to-nonexistent reserves. The region is starting to feel the impact:

Around 40% of gas stations in Laos and about a third in Cambodia have closed because of fuel shortages.
The Philippines has instituted four-day workweeks to reduce energy use. Sri Lanka also rolled out a four-day workweek for state institutions and schools.
Pakistan has closed schools for two weeks to conserve energy.

In the skies

Airplane juice is expensive and difficult to store, so jet fuel stockpiles are usually much lower than those for other fuels like gasoline or diesel. Drastic prices for jet fuel, which have jumped as high as $200 per barrel compared to their prewar price of $85–$90, are often the first sign that oil supply is in trouble.

Airlines have canceled flights and warned of price increases to offset the costs. American Airlines said earlier this week that it expects its expenses this quarter to surge by $400 million due to fuel prices.

And what about the US? Economists have waved away fears of a recession, saying that the US economy is pretty much immune to oil price shocks. Unfortunately, US consumers aren’t as protected: US gas prices, one of the most politically charged markers for the economy, have increased by a dollar on average to almost $4 per gallon since the war began.—MM

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Bari Weiss begins CBS News overhaul with dozens of layoffs. The editor-in-chief, along with president Tom Cibrowski, announced that the company was eliminating its entire CBS News Radio division as part of an overall culling of ~6% of the staff, representing between 60 and 70 employees. The executives said in a memo that ending CBS News Radio’s 99-year run was a “necessary” decision as the network attempts to attract a younger, digitally savvy audience. It’s the second round of layoffs at CBS News since David Ellison’s Skydance took over its parent company, Paramount, last summer. Paramount, meanwhile, is currently seeking regulatory approval to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the owners of CNN.—DL

Legendary action hero Chuck Norris dies at 86. The star of Walker, Texas Ranger who gave the decisive thumbs-up in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Norris was a karate champion who caught his big movie break in Bruce Lee’s The Way of the Dragon in 1972. He developed his own style of karate called Chun Kuk Do, or the Chuck Norris System. Later in life, he became meme fodder with “facts” about his toughness (e.g., the flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year). Norris was hospitalized in Hawaii earlier in the week, and his family released a statement saying they wished to keep the circumstances of his death private.—DL

🛒 Unilever is in talks to sell food business to McCormick. Unilever’s food business—which includes Hellmann’s mayo among its brands and is worth ~$33 billion, per Bloomberg Intelligence—could get a lot spicier if the takeover deal goes through. Spinning off the food business would be a major change for the nearly 100-year-old Unilever, putting its focus entirely on household and personal care products. McCormick, whose market value stands at around $14.8 billion, is a much smaller entity (Unilever is worth about $140 billion), but if a deal is struck and finalized, it would become a Big Food player.—AR

THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

AI-chip-smuggling charges crash Super Micro stock

Getty Images

Turns out, there’s a worse kind of chip-smuggling than sneaking your own snacks into the movie theater. This week, the US charged Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, the co-founder of servermaker Super Micro, with illegally routing servers containing Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China. The US restricts chip exports to the country to give American AI labs an edge.

Liaw, who resigned from the California-based Super Micro’s board yesterday, was named as a defendant alongside a general manager and a contractor. Though Super Micro wasn’t charged in the case, its stock plummeted 33% yesterday.

Sticky trickery

The three defendants allegedly orchestrated purchases of the servers by a company in Southeast Asia, which then repackaged them for shipment to China:

Prosecutors say Super Micro made $2.5 billion in server sales to this company since 2024.
Last spring, $510 million worth of those servers with restricted chips were sent to China.

The scheme allegedly involved tricking Super Micro auditors and a US government inspector into believing the company had bought the hardware for itself. Prosecutors say that at one point, a hair dryer was used to transfer serial-number stickers from the real servers to “dummy” servers shown to inspectors.

Despite the chip-smuggling crackdown…the Trump administration recently loosened export restrictions on some of Nvidia’s advanced chips involved in the case.—SK

Together With Green Coffee Company

An IPO is brewing in the $100b US coffee industry. In the world of high-growth commodities, there are moments that signal a shift from “regional producer” to “global powerhouse.” Green Coffee Company (GCC) just hit that moment. They acquired exclusive North American distribution rights to the legendary Juan Valdez® brand. You have just days left to become a pre-IPO investor in Green Coffee Company.

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.

A Reuters investigation allegedly uncovered Banksy’s true identity after the street artist managed to maintain anonymity for three decades. Maybe next they can figure out who keeps stealing our lunch from the fridge at work.

Hulu canceled a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar after she had already filmed the pilot episode with director Chloé Zhao. The streaming platform probably needed to make room for whatever unspeakable horror Ryan Murphy will spin into a docudrama next.

Restaurant workers at a California hot pot spot struggled to hold back a robot that wouldn’t stop dancing after it performed its routine too close to a dining table, sending food and dishes flying. Say what you will, but the kid’s got moxy.

With Guinness sales booming, the company’s US head of beer quality is busy teaching bartenders around the country how to pour the perfect pint. The goal is to get as much foam as possible until a guy you don’t know at the bar starts screaming.

Airport staff in Tasmania had to remove a live possum that was found nestled among plush toys on a gift shop shelf. Our hearts go out to the parents who had to spend a whole flight convincing their sobbing children that the marsupial wouldn’t have gotten along with the family dog anyway.—ML

NEWS

What else is brewing

President Trump said yesterday on social media that he is considering “winding down” the war in Iran after telling reporters earlier in the day that he did not want “to do a ceasefire.” Also yesterday, NBC reported that Trump was weighing options to potentially send thousands of US troops into Iran.
A federal judge ruled that new Pentagon restrictions on reporting, which led to reporters from most major news outlets losing their credentials, violated the First Amendment.
The US sued Harvard, claiming the university failed to protect students from antisemitism in the latest battle between the Ivy League school and the Trump administration.
Elon Musk was found liable by a jury for deliberately driving down Twitter’s stock price with two tweets he sent before he purchased the company, but was absolved of some fraud allegations.
Nexstar acquired fellow broadcast station group owner Tegna after securing regulatory approval for the deal despite antitrust concerns.
Kalshi has been temporarily banned in Nevada as part of a legal case brought by state regulators.
The White House released a framework for national AI regulation aimed at preempting state-level enforcement.
Hachette pulled the horror novel Shy Girl from publication over claims that parts of it were written by AI.

Together With Needed

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COMMUNITY

Crowd work

Last week, we asked, “What’s the best class that you’ve ever taken?” Here are some of our favorite responses:

“The Gothic Tradition, a high school English class. We read everything from Dracula to The Silence of the Lambs, and visited an old cemetery for writing inspiration. It was like celebrating Halloween all year long.”—Bo from Jersey City, NJ
“My freshman year at Washington State University, I took a class called The History of Organized Crime in America. I don’t remember much of the content of the class, but I do remember that my professor was previously in a biker gang and had tried to purchase a working tank at one point. He had incredibly interesting stories every lecture.”—Austin from Seattle, WA
“I took a class on native plants at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. Now I know what a Mayapple plant looks like, and that its fruit is poisonous unless it’s perfectly ripe, as well as all sorts of other fun trivia about our local flora.”—Phillip from the Bronx
“Confection Science! I majored in food science at the University of Wisconsin and one of my courses went over a different candy every week. On Mondays, we’d eat the candies and learn about them, and on Wednesdays, we’d make them in the lab. I ended up working as a chocolatier for a year when I was a senior!”—Lauren from Denver, CO
“I took a manners and etiquette class from a Jesuit priest in college. My favorite thing I learned was that if you are stuck in a conversation at a party, it’s entirely OK to pretend someone is waving at you to excuse yourself, as long as you are not facing a wall.”—Lizzie

This week’s question

What’s the most memorable lodging you’ve ever stayed in?

Sam’s answer to get the juices flowing: “I once crashed with a friend who lived in a disused municipal library building in London. It was convenient because when I struggled to find my way home for the night, I’d just ask neighborhood locals for directions to the old library.”

Submit your response here.

RECS

Sleep: Get your beauty rest with a silk sleep mask that feels smooth on your face.**

Talk: Key phrases to use so discussions with your boss go well.

Watch: Which viral cake mix hacks are worth your time (and which aren’t).

Work out: A 14-minute exercise routine that can help your heart.

Clutch connectivity: Transform your vehicle into a streaming HQ with the Free 4-Day Unlimited AT&T Connected Car™ Test Drive. Hit the road without missing a final score. Get started.*

^{*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: Here’s a sample clue from our biggest puzzle of the week: “He once said in an ad, ‘The only thing bolder than Fuze Iced Tea is ME!’” Sate your curiosity. Play the Crossword here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that benefits from natural light. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Zillow

Today’s home is in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. You could say that we cherry-pick these listings, but you’ll be the one doing the picking if you buy this place. Amenities include:

3 beds, 3 baths, and 2.69 acres
An orchard with cherry, peach, pear, plum, and fig trees
Private water access

How much for this fruitful paradise in the Gem State?

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ANSWER

$2.59 million

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: sate, meaning “to fully appease.” Thanks to Larry from League City, TX, and half a dozen others for the satisfying suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✢ A Note From AT&T Connected Car

Disclaimer: Requires eligible car and wireless service plan. Additional restrictions apply.

✳︎ A Note From Green Coffee Company

This is a paid advertisement for Green Coffee Company’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.greencoffeecompany.com/. Timelines are subject to change. Listing on the Nasdaq is contingent upon necessary approvals, and reserving a ticker symbol does not guarantee a company’s public listing.

✤ A Note From AT&T Connected Car

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