Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

May 13, 2026

Light the beacons. Lego revealed its long-awaited Minas Tirith set yesterday, and it is quite large. At 8,278 pieces, the model is not only the biggest Lord of the Rings set in Lego’s catalog, but it’s one of the biggest sets, period.

Consider your nerd card revoked if the thought of assembling Gondor’s capital doesn’t get you going.

—Molly Liebergall, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Adam Epstein

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

Inflation accelerating
Harvard’s plan to limit A grades
Spotify revealing your entire listening history

MARKETS

Nasdaq

26,088.20

-0.71%

S&P

7,400.96

-0.16%

Dow

49,760.56

+0.11%

10-Year

4.463%

+5.0 bps

Bitcoin

$80,761.50

-1.28%

Hims & Hers

$25.03

-14.10%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Stocks flailed yesterday in response to a hotter-than-expected inflation report (more on that below), before trimming their losses late in the day. Losses went decidedly untrimmed for Hims & Hers, falling more than 14% after the telehealth company reported a surprise Q1 loss.

TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Inflation erases wage gains for first time in 3 years

Niv Bavarsky

The cost of everything feels too damn high, and now you have the numbers to prove it: Surging energy prices drove inflation to a three-year high in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday, marking the first time since 2023 that the cost of living has outpaced average paycheck growth in the US.

Top line: Annual wage growth slowed to 3.6% last month, while year-over-year inflation hit 3.8%—up from 3.3% in March and 2.4% in February (before the US and Israel struck Iran). In April:

More than 40% of inflation’s month-to-month increase came from energy prices, which were up ~18% from the same time last year. Prices at the pump continued to rise, but at a slower rate than in March.
Food inflation also contributed, with the price of fresh produce—often transported via diesel trucks—hitting its highest monthly increase since 2010. Tomato prices alone surged 15% for the second month in a row, in part because of tariffs on Mexico.

Even without those volatile categories, core CPI still hit 2.8% last month, well above the Fed’s 2% goal. This was buoyed by higher airfares, streaming services like Netflix raising prices, and a one-time adjustment in rental costs stemming from the data blackout of last year’s government shutdown.

“Inflation is eating up all wage gains,” a chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union told CNBC. “This is a setback for middle-class and lower-income households and they know it.” In a recent CNN poll:

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said economic conditions are poor right now.
“Uncertainty” and “stress” were the most common words Americans used to describe their financial futures.

Looking ahead…though incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh has generally called for lower interest rates, the latest inflation data made traders more bullish on a rate hike by the end of the year.—ML

WORLD

Tour de headlines

Josh Edelson/Getty Images

Sam Altman testified in the trial over OpenAI’s future. The OpenAI CEO took the stand yesterday to answer questions about the history of the company, its founding mission as a nonprofit, and—juiciest of all—his dealings with Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before leaving in 2017. Altman testified that he was “extremely uncomfortable” with Musk’s “hair-raising” demand to have total control over the company’s for-profit arm and to pass it onto his children when he died. Altman also said Musk’s management style “demotivated” employees and that his departure was a “morale boost” for the company. “I don’t think Mr. Musk understood how to run a good research lab,” Altman said. Musk testified last month in the weekslong trial, accusing Altman of “stealing” OpenAI’s nonprofit division.

Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as a Fed governor, with chair vote to come. In a 51–45 vote mostly along party lines, Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair, was approved by the Senate to sit on the Fed’s board of governors. That means he’s now cleared to receive a vote to become the Fed chair, which is expected today. If Warsh is named chair (which is all but guaranteed), he’ll assume the post this Friday, taking over for Powell. JPow isn’t going anywhere, however: His term as a governor doesn’t end until 2028, and he’s said he intends to stay put on the board until a federal investigation into his handling of the Fed building’s renovation ends.

EBay rejected GameStop’s $56 billion takeover bid. Taking a page out of the Mean Girls burn book, the e-commerce company rejected GameStop’s unsolicited offer, calling it “neither credible nor attractive.” Last week, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen announced he made the longshot bid, arguing he could make eBay operate “a lot more efficiently.” But Cohen struggled to explain to CNBC how GameStop—which only has about $9 billion in cash on hand—would pay for the acquisition.—AE

HOW ABOUT THEM A’S?

Harvard deciding whether to give fewer A’s

Brooks Kraft LLC/Getty Images

A type of inflation unrelated to the price of a Dunkin’ coffee is on the ballot at that one school “in Boston.” A Harvard faculty committee began a weeklong vote yesterday on whether to cap the number of A’s allowed per course in a bid to combat grade inflation.

The measure would limit professors to giving A grades to just a fifth of the class, plus four extra students. A rule that would tie honors to class rank instead of GPA is also on the ballot.

Make A’s great again

The proposed changes come as some faculty and external critics—including the Trump administration—say that A’s becoming more common than nepo babies on Ivy League campuses eroded the grade’s value as a marker of excellence.

A’s accounted for 60% of grades awarded to Harvard undergrads last year, compared with 25% in 2005.
Last year, 55 Harvard students tied for the school’s top GPA award, an honor that used to be clinched by one or two students per year.

Proponents of A austerity say it’ll motivate students to work harder, while making it easier for employers and grad schools to gauge their performance. But many undergrads and some faculty oppose mandated A scarcity, claiming it’ll pit classmates against each other and hurt Harvard students’ competitiveness.

Big picture: Supporters hope a grading overhaul at Harvard will spur other top schools to curb grade inflation.—SK

READER POLL

What are your thoughts about grade inflation?

It’s fine, give them all A’s, who cares?
It’s bad, A’s should be harder to get.
Just don’t make me think about school again.

Cocktail trivia

Here’s a question about cocktails on World Cocktail Day. In its original form, the syrup grenadine was made using which fruit that gave it its signature red color and sweetness?

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ANSWER

Pomegranate

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: austerity, meaning “the condition of living without unnecessary things and without comfort.” Thanks to Chance from Dalton, GA, for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

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☕ Too hot to handle