🍋 Egg-nomics 101: Mooning Egg Prices

Egg prices are starting to crack a little bit as demand for the breakfast staple starts to falter - more and more Americans say the breakfast staple is out of their budget. But despite all of the memes and public outrage, egg prices are still up nearly 60% from a year ago.

January 24, 2023

Together With

"If you don't know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out."— George Goodman

Good morning! Spotify joined the tech layoff party and announced it will be letting go 6% of its total workforce. A new court filing in the Elizabeth Holmes fraud case alleges the former Theranos founder tried making a run for the border. Holmes booked a one-way ticket to Mexico in Jan 2022, but her plans to make a quick escape were thwarted by her conviction. 

More tough news for SBF, as prosecutors have swooped in and seized nearly $700 million worth of assets tied to the troubled founder of FTX. Turns out nobody believed him when he told us he only had 100k in his bank account.

It seems that even with a bustling job market, the unemployed are finding it harder to get back in the game. According to the Department of Labor, 826,000 job seekers have been sitting on the sidelines for 3½ to 6 months, an increase of 36% since April of 2022. 

If you haven't already, please fill out our 2023 compensation survey. We'll be sending out the results as soon as we have enough data points.

Not feeling like yourself lately? Today's sponsor, Talkspace is making getting help easy and convenient. With live chat, video, and audio sessions - starting at $69/week, it's affordable for everyone to fit therapy into their lifestyle, with or without insurance. 

1. Story of the Day: Egg-nomics 101: Mooning Egg Prices

Egg prices are starting to crack a little bit as demand for the breakfast staple starts to falter - more and more Americans say the breakfast staple is out of their budget. But despite all of the memes and public outrage, egg prices are still up nearly 60% from a year ago.

Large, Grade A eggs cost $4.25 a dozen in December, a 138% increase from $1.79 a year earlier.

The primary reason for the increase in prices is largely attributed to a historic outbreak of avian influenza which has resulted in the death of tens of millions of egg-laying hens.

The bird flu began in February 2022 and caused quite the feather ruffle in the egg industry and our wallets. 60 million birds were killed in its wake, causing egg prices to soar to record highs. And while egg farms are starting to recover, there's a 6% drop in the number of hens laying eggs from last year.

The egg shortage ultimately got so bad that prices shot up 120% over the course of 2022. And some grocery stores began limiting the number of cartons customers could buy. Hawaii took the throne for the most expensive eggs, with a dozen reaching nearly $10.

Takeaway: Eggs have always been a cheap staple in Americans’ diet, but it seems like the prices have cracked the budget. With a shortage in supply and a scramble for demand, we’ll all have to shell out a little more to make a decent omelette. But don't worry, experts predict that the prices will soon be back to normal, so you can enjoy your breakfast without breaking the bank.

2. Markets Rundown

If you want access to Wall Street insider interviews, industry deep-dives, premium research/resources and weekly Knowledge Drop newsletter, check out our Insiders membership.

Stocks rallied as bullish semiconductor data lifted tech stocks.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) Wayfair ($W) +27% because JPMorgan double-upgraded the furniture company's stock.

  • (+) Qualcomm ($QCOM) +7% after Barclays upgraded the stock and issued a bullish outlook on the semiconductor industry.

  • (–) Xylem ($XYL) -7% after the water tech company announced it will aquire Evoqua.

Private Dealmaking

  • Microsoft will invest $10 billion in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT

  • Xylem will buy Evoqua, a water technology company, for $7.5 billion

  • PhonePe, an Indian payments and financial services firm, raised $350 million

  • SetPoint Medical, a biotech company that treats autoimmune diseases, raised $80 million

  • Zift, a provider of partner relationship software, raised $70 million

  • Link, a fintech startup focused on online payments, raised $30 million

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3. Top Reads

  • Blackstone’s record PE secondaries fund sets up another big year (Axios)

  • The big banks want their lucrative lending back (BB)

  • Here are the federal tax brackets for 2023 vs 2022 (YF)

  • The common misconceptions that can prevent you from a perfect credit score (CNBC)

  • What Gen Z wants to be when they grow up (Axios)

  • Charlie Munger reveals the reason why Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on $88 billion of cash (YF)

  • What employees need to know about benefits after a layoff (CNBC)

  • Payments remain the darling of the fintech space (TC)

  • The new tension between governments and central banks (Axios)

4. Book of the Day: The Status Game

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In The Status Game, bestselling author Will Storr radically turns this thinking on its head by arguing that it is our irrepressible craving for status that ultimately defines who we are.

From the era of the hunter-gatherer to today, when we exist as workers in the globalized economy and citizens of online worlds, the need for status has always been wired into us. 

A wealth of research shows that how much of it we possess dramatically affects not only our happiness and wellbeing but also our physical health – and without sufficient status, we become more ill, and live shorter lives. 

It’s an unconscious obsession that drives the best and worst of us: our innovation, arts and civilization as well as our murders, wars and genocides. 

But why is status such an all-consuming prize? What happens if it’s taken away from us? And how can our unquenchable thirst for it explain cults, moral panics, conspiracy theories, the rise of social media and the ‘culture wars’ of today?

On a breathtaking journey through time and culture, The Status Game offers a sweeping rethink of human psychology that will change how you see others – and how you see yourself.

“This inbuilt need to achieve and maintain status gives us a thirst for rank and a fear of its loss that deforms our thinking and denies us the possibility of reliable happiness.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

What Else to Read: Calling All Sports Fans

If you’re into (or even sort of into) sports: The GIST is a must-subscribe newsletter that provides a refreshing female voice and perspective on sports 4x a week.

If ‘do the thing and score the points’ is your baseline understanding of sports, you might enjoy this to uplevel your knowledge!

6. Daily Visual: Rent Prices Wylin'

Average share of monthly household income going to rent in the US

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen

“For many, the goal is to be the deciding vote, the donation that gets a cause over the goal, the person who counts.

And often, we enjoy piling on. Once the cause or fashion or tech is clearly working, it’s easy and fun to say “me too.”

More rare, more vulnerable and more important is to decide to show up in the lonely zone.

When it might not work. When the originator really needs your support.

When speaking up, donating or simply showing up feels like a risk or a waste.”

Source: Seth Godin

8. Job Board

9. Memes of the Day

 

 

 

 

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