October 10, 2026

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Greetings. It’s the Saturday of a three-day weekend, a liminal day of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. A day as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. A wondrous day whose boundaries are those of imagination. Fear not, we will be with you all weekend, and on Monday.

—Molly Liebergall, Matty Merritt, Brendan Cosgrove, Sam Klebanov, Holly Van Leuven

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

Delta’s earnings potentially foreshadowing industry struggles
President Trump appointing a committee to investigate Fed Chair Lisa Cook
Walmart’s progress on warehouse automation

Markets

Nasdaq

27,366.17

+0.64%

S&P

7,811.54

+0.59%

Dow

51,654.95

+0.83%

10-Year

5.244%

+1.0 bps

Bitcoin

$82,371.03

+0.65%

Delta Air Lines

$82.17

+0.04%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:30pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: The three major indexes imitated the Halloween Ghost Dots and finished all green, despite volatility throughout the week. Delta Air Lines stock was pretty much unchanged despite the air carrier reporting an earnings miss (more on that below).

NO GAS, ALL BRAKES

The most profitable US airline can’t shake oil shocks

Delta airplanes parked at an airport with one taking off

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Nathan Posner/Getty Images

Like the smartest kid in class getting a “B” on the test, Delta’s latest earnings might be an omen for the rest of the industry. Yesterday, the airline cut its full-year outlook and reported lower-than-expected third-quarter results as surging fuel prices continue to strain its otherwise booming business.

According to Delta:

The carrier slashed its full-year earnings outlook from $6.50–$7.50 per share to $5.10–$5.60, and shaved its free cash flow forecast from $3 billion–$4 billion to $2.5 billion.
Adjusted revenue landed at $17.58 billion, up 15.7% year-over-year but below analysts’ estimates of $17.76 billion, per Bloomberg. Profits of $1.13 billion also missed expectations.

“All of it’s fuel,” CFO Erik Snell said when reporters asked why Delta cut its full-year guidance. The carrier said it ended up paying $500 million more in fuel costs in Q3 than it projected in July, bringing its quarterly gas bill to $4.1 billion. That’s a 62% increase from the same time last year, back when there wasn’t a war in Iran throttling the global oil market.

These oil impingements turned Delta’s earnings lackluster, even in the face of strong travel demand that’s expected to continue through the holidays, and industrywide ticket prices that are up 23.4% year-over-year as of August.

What are airlines to do?

In addition to raising overall airfares, many major carriers are grappling with higher fuel prices by honing in on their wealthiest customers:

Several airlines have added more lucrative long-haul flights while cutting cheaper, less-profitable routes.
Many carriers are racing to expand first-class and other premium seating options.

This strategy helped Delta offset some fuel costs, as revenue from premium seating rose 18% in the third quarter. Investors will get a better idea of how these tactics worked out for the broader industry when United, Southwest, American, Alaska, and JetBlue report earnings later this month.

But…Delta—the most profitable airline in the US—has something its competitors don’t: It’s the only major US carrier that owns its own oil refinery.—ML

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automation update

Robots can’t do all of Walmart’s heavy lifting yet

Walmart

In Walmart’s perfect world, workers wouldn’t have to touch a product until it arrived at the store, perfectly organized on the pallet and ready to be placed directly on the shelf. But in the real world, the robots they’ve hired can’t lift the big bags of dog food.

A new report from the Wall Street Journal shows the retailer has spent billions over the last decade attempting to fully automate its 200 US supply-chain buildings that feed 5,200 stores. Walmart is trying to catch up with Amazon, which dethroned the retailer as the biggest company globally by 2025 sales. Even with the progress it’s made retrofitting a supply chain made in the 1980s, there have been growing pains:

In Walmart’s automated grocery facilities, electric bills can balloon to over $800,000 per month, compared to $250,000 per month for powering a manual warehouse.
The robots used to move products around warehouses also break a lot. About 5% of bots are being fixed at any given time, down from 10% last year, according to the retailer’s robotics partner Symbotic.

It might be a minute. Execs said the company missed automation targets it set for January this year, but by August (only eight months later), it was getting close. Over 65% of stores were getting some automated freight, and over half of e-commerce goods were being shuffled around by automated systems.—MM

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.

➡️ On Wednesday, cybersecurity consultant Jonathan Spalletta was found guilty of stealing nearly $55 million in cryptocurrency and using some of it to buy rare Pokémon cards. Unfortunately for Spalletta, many investigators also live by the code “Gotta catch ’em all.”

➡️ In an effort to sweeten collective bargaining negotiations with players, Major League Baseball proposed on Thursday that the season be shortened from 162 games to 154. It’s an interesting pitch, but the Houston Astros reportedly won’t be able to make sense of it until someone starts banging on a trash can.

➡️ According to a new study published in the journal PLOS One, if your dog cuddles up next to you in bed, it won’t disrupt your nightly rest any more than if they sleep in another room. When reached for comment, the world’s dogs announced plans to fund more research, like “Vacuums: scary and unnecessary” and “Do counters really need to be so high?”

➡️ The Wall Street Journal reported this week that some elite financial firms are offering 10-week summer internship programs that pay up to $50,000, which is a lot more than the “real-world experience” and “networking opportunities” that interns used to get paid.

➡️ Instagram told CNN it’s investigating why its app keeps recommending “Higher” by Creed to be the soundtrack for user posts so often. Meanwhile, we’re investigating why our other apps aren’t suggesting it more.—BC

This week’s question

What’s your proudest nonprofessional competitive accomplishment?

Sam’s answer to get the juices flowing: “I recently won a prize for asking the most interesting question at a Q&A with a contemporary artist at my local bookstore, selected by the speaker himself. (I asked why so many people think contemporary art is a scam.) The prize was a book about art history that I now proudly display in my home.”

Submit your response here.

recs

What a $400,000 home looks like across the US.
These are the 16 states where you can use an Apple iPhone for your ID.
A handy guide from Project Healthy Minds on finding resources to improve your mental health on this World Mental Health Day.
A chunky cardigan perfect for whatever fall activities you have planned this weekend.**

Zero-caffeine focus. Seriously—you won’t need that second cup of coffee. Ultra Pouches are designed with nootropics and adaptogens so you can feel sharp + energized without the crash. Take 15% off your first purchase with code MBD.*

Putting the “real” in real estate. Farmland LP joins The Playbook to explore how they’re bringing the US’ most valuable asset—farmland—to life.*

^{*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 edition of our biggest puzzle of the week is called “The Rat Race,” and you’ll be asked to puzzle out the job descriptions of several critters. Play the Crossword here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that needs a home sitting atop a cliff. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Zillow

Today’s home is in Reno, NV, and is known as one of “The Mansions on the Bluff.” It’s a 7,722-square-foot English Tudor Revival estate built in 1941 on 0.79 acres. The property has views overlooking the Truckee River and downtown Reno, so you’ll be able to spy on anyone trying to have a good time. Amenities include:

5 beds, 6 baths
Secret Garden-esque landscaping
Fanciest treehouse you can imagine

How much for the estate?

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Answer

$3.85 million

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: impingements, meaning “instances of painful pinching.” Thanks to Alice from Derby, KS, for a frictionless suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

Written by Matty Merritt, Molly Liebergall, Brendan Cosgrove, Sam Klebanov, and Holly Van Leuven

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