July 22, 2026

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Hear ye, hear ye! Big Boy’s comin’. The biggest operating steam locomotive in the world, nicknamed Big Boy, is currently on a coast-to-coast US tour, thrilling onlookers with its hugeness. Weighing 1.2 million pounds, the absolute unit is reportedly making grown men cry at every stop.

A Train hasn’t made people this emotional since “Drops of Jupiter.”

—Sam Klebanov, Dave Lozo, Matty Merritt, Adam Epstein

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

Miami becoming more expensive than NYC
ESPN laying off prominent on-air personalities
Magic: The Gathering popping off

Markets

Nasdaq

25,837.21

+1.29%

S&P

7,509.2

+0.89%

Dow

52,224.64

+0.74%

10-Year

4.628%

+3.0 bps

Bitcoin

$66,356.47

+1.57%

$79.52

+4.91%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:30pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: John F. Kennedy once said a rising tide lifts all boats, and in this case, the rising tide is “chip stocks” and the boats are “markets.” A rebound for chipmakers pushed all three major indexes back into the green, putting investors in a cheery mood as they await another round of tech earnings starting this week. Elsewhere, GM climbed after beating Wall Street’s earnings projections.

THE HEAT IS ON

Miami is now more expensive than NYC

Adobe Stock

Trading the Big Apple for Miami has become as financially prudent as packing a Kobe beef lunch at home instead of getting a burrito bowl at work. The Miami metropolitan area has become pricier to live in than greater New York for the first time ever, according to Bloomberg’s analysis this week of government data from 2024.

Costs have climbed further since then, squeezing longtime locals and the scores of recent transplants lured not just by warmer weather, but also by the promise of cheaper living and no state income tax. Consumer prices have risen 36% for Miamians since 2019, which is more than in any other US metro area except Tampa, Florida.

No more cheap condos

The recent influx of sunshine chasers—made up of folks earning an average of $122k per year—has contributed to Miami’s home prices rising 79% since the pandemic, per the S&P Case-Shiller index.

While Miami’s per-square-foot home prices are still lower than New York’s, the average total cost of housing is now 5% higher than in the tri-state area, which includes parts of Connecticut and New Jersey:

Greater Miami’s property taxes have skyrocketed 62% since 2019, per real estate data firm Attom.
Many residents in older apartments now have to pay for costly safety upgrades that have become more frequent after the deadly Surfside condo collapse in 2021—on top of the steepest homeowners’ insurance rates in the country.

Outside the home, there aren’t many dollar slices. An average restaurant check in Miami was $94 last year, compared with $79 in New York, according to OpenTable.

To add insult to injury: Miami workers are earning $1,000 less per year than the median American. Bloomberg noted that Miami’s white-collar wages are also lower than New York’s.

Not struggling to afford Miami…are the billionaires who continue to relocate there in a trend vocally championed by Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who bought a $107 million estate in the city this year. Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have also recently become Miami-area residents.—SK

reader poll

Would you rather live in Miami or New York City?

I don't live in either, but I'd rather move to Miami.
I don't live in either, but I'd rather move to New York.
I already live in Miami.
I already live in New York.

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World

Tour de headlines

Stack of GLP-1s from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk

Michael Siluk/Getty Images

🤥 Novo Nordisk sued Eli Lilly for allegedly deceptive GLP-1 ads. The Ozempic and Wegovy maker accused its rival, the company behind Mounjaro and Zepbound, of using “outdated” clinical trial data to make its weight-loss drugs appear superior to Novo’s. Novo says that the ads leave out more recent data that shows that a high-dose version of Wegovy can help patients lose the same amount of weight as Lilly’s products. Novo is asking a court to force Lilly to stop running the ads and issue corrections. In a statement to CNBC, Lilly said it stands “firmly behind our advertising” and would “defend against this lawsuit vigorously.” As of last year, Lilly has overtaken Novo as the top GLP-1 company by revenue and market share.

📱 Apple is partnering with Klarna to let you lease iPhones. According to Bloomberg, Apple will soon announce Apple Upgrade, a subscription program that will allow users to lease iPhones, Macs, iPads, and Apple Watches with backing from buy now, pay later company Klarna. Similar to car leases, users will reportedly be able to pay off their devices early, upgrade or keep them at the end of the term, or return them. The company plans to market the initiative as a way to make payments lower than existing financing options, Bloomberg reported. Apple Upgrade is set to roll out in the US on July 28.

🐭 Disney and Kraft Heinz ink “strategic alliance.” If Thor is guzzling a large bowl of Kraft Mac & Cheese in the next Avengers movie, don’t be shocked. The Mouse House made a wide-ranging media deal with Kraft Heinz to help boost both companies’ brands. As part of the deal, Disney will use Kraft Heinz products at its parks and cruises in North America (and potentially incorporate them into TV shows and movies), while Kraft Heinz will get to use Disney characters in its marketing. “For generations families have grown up with both of our companies and our brands,” Kraft Heinz CMO Todd Kaplan said, adding that the deal builds on the “memory structure” that consumers have of each brand.—AE

PARDON THE JOB INTERRUPTION

ESPN cuts big names in merger with NFL Network

Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Ryan Clark, Karl Ravech, and Cam Newton were among the on-air personalities let go by ESPN this week, as the Worldwide Leader and NFL Network consolidate their media talent before football season begins.

Yesterday’s layoffs are the result of the $3 billion deal the NFL and ESPN completed last February that gave the league a 10% equity stake in ESPN, while ESPN acquired NFL Network and NFL Red Zone. Most of the cuts affected behind-the-scenes employees, but the firing of Clark, an ESPN mainstay since 2015, was as public as they come:

Clark was informed of his impending departure Monday while on NFL Live, the day before ESPN had planned to let everyone affected know, and he left mid-show, per The Athletic.
The layoff follows a tense on-air incident on Get Up in September that rankled ESPN executives, according to The Athletic, in which Clark disagreed with NFL reporter Peter Schrager by saying, “That’s the non-player in you.”

Beyond the ESPN layoffs…parent company Disney cut hundreds of jobs in other divisions yesterday, with most of the firings happening at Pixar Studios and National Geographic. In April, Disney cut ~1,000 marketing positions across various platforms, citing lower streaming profits.—DL

Complete the song

OK, pay attention to these instructions. We’ll give you the title of a non-No. 1 song with one word missing. That word is the title of a song by a different artist that went No. 1.

Example: “___ Romance” (Lady Gaga) = “Bad” by Michael Jackson.

“____ Around” (House of Pain)
“___ Not ___” (Demi Lovato)
“break up with your ____, i’m bored” (Ariana Grande)
“Sweet but ____” (Ava Max)

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Answer

“Jump” by Van Halen
“Sorry” by Justin Bieber
“Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne
“Psycho” by Post Malone ft. Ty Dolla Sign

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: guzzling, meaning “drinking or eating quickly and in large amounts.” Thanks to Erin from Harrisonburg, VA, for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✳︎ A Note From Cytonics

This is a paid advertisement for Cytonics’ Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.cytonics.com/.

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. There is no guarantee of performance. Past performance does not predict future results. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal.

Written by Adam Epstein, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, and Dave Lozo

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