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Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• How AI solved an 80-year math problem

• 60 Minutes’ hostile staff meeting with new boss

• Bed, Bath & Beyond's CEO on their comeback

• Markets are still jittery about Iran

• What's next for the Fed?

• Poll of the day: A share of the spoils

• Poll of the day: Failure to launch?

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.62% ) $DJI ( ▼ 0.84% ) $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$OPENAI ( ▲ 0.49% )  $CBS ( ▲ 1.17% )  $BBBY ( ▼ 5.95% )  $TCS ( ▼ 29.75% )  $COST ( ▲ 0.81% )  $AMZN ( ▼ 3.13% )

How AI solved an 80-year math problem

If you are a mathematician, you might want to grab a stiff drink. For 80 years, the brilliant human mind was utterly stumped by Paul Erdős's unit distance problem. But don't worry, an OpenAI $OPENAI ( ▲ 0.49% ) model just swooped in and cracked it for a measly $1,000 in computing costs and 32 hours of its "time.”

Why did the machine succeed where generations of highly caffeinated geniuses have failed? Mainly because humans have lives and easily lose focus. As OpenAI statistician Mark Sellke summarized our flawed human nature, talking to the Wall Street Journal: “It’s the kind of idea that you try for a bit, it doesn’t work, and you think maybe you were just too hopeful. So you give up and move on.” The AI, blissfully devoid of the need to sleep, eat, or watch the Knicks, just stubbornly kept plugging away. It eventually churned out a mind-numbing disproof that ran 75,000 words long — roughly the length of the first Harry Potter book. Which I still, proudly, have not read.

The math world is rightfully terrified. Even Timothy Gowers, a Fields Medal-winning math titan, has conceded defeat, telling the Journal, “It will become very difficult for humans to compete with AI at solving mathematical problems.” Congratulations to the machines! I guess the rest of us will just stick to using our calculators to figure out a 20% restaurant tip and be grateful we don’t need our math skills to earn a living.

Quote of the Day

60 Minutes’ hostile staff meeting with new boss

If you thought your office Mondays were rough, be glad you don't work at 60 Minutes $CBS ( ▲ 1.17% ) . When Nick Bilton stepped in as the new executive producer, the seasoned journalists naturally rolled out the welcome wagon. Just kidding! They immediately greeted him with open hostility, the Wall Street Journal reports. During his very first meeting, Bilton had barely started his introductory remarks before star correspondent Scott Pelley launched an attack on his qualifications. After all, Bilton has merely written New York Times bestsellers and produced documentaries. How dare he try to run a weekly TV news show!

But Pelley wasn't done. He also set his sights on CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, who smartly skipped the bloodbath. Pelley dramatically accused Weiss of "murdering" the iconic show, earning applause from the disgruntled crowd. Tensions are clearly boiling over after the network recently parted ways with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, who had claimed leadership was injecting "political bias" into segments, including an axed report on an El Salvador prison.

Bilton recently said he's excited to bring "largely an unutilized news brand" into the "modern age." But based on this chaotic welcome, modernizing 60 Minutes might require surviving a medieval jousting tournament first.

Bed, Bath & Beyond's CEO on their comeback

Remember when we all thought Bed Bath & Beyond $BBBY ( ▼ 5.95% ) was dead and buried under a mountain of unused 20% off coupons? Surprise! The retail zombie has risen from the ashes of bankruptcy, and this time, it's teaming up with The Container Store $TCS ( ▼ 29.75% ) to reinvent home shopping.

According to Amy Sullivan, the brand's CEO, they’ve finally realized that massive, cluttered aisles aren't exactly a winning strategy. The new co-branded locations will be "about half the size of what a legacy Bed Bath and Beyond would have been," featuring a much more curated inventory. To bulk up their offerings, they are bringing in home decor from Kirkland's (AKA Costco! $COST ( ▲ 0.81% ) ) and rolling out custom Elfa closets from The Container Store.

Why push all these in-person services? To make themselves "Internet proof." Sullivan notes that unlike Amazon $AMZN ( ▼ 3.13% ) , physical stores can actually offer home measurement and design services, boasting, "You can't have any other sort of direct to consumer brand or website come to your home.”

I think you can, actually, Amy. But sure. You run with that. And don't panic — the legendary blue coupons survived the apocalypse. Sullivan promises they are back in a big way, literally "hanging from the ceiling.” Will this Frankenstein's monster of home goods survive the retail wars? I hope so!

Song of the Day: Nia Smith, ‘High’

Widely praised as a dreamy, emotionally rich alt-soul track that showcases her profound vocal vulnerability and growth, Nia’s “High” is the third single from her highly anticipated sophomore EP, “Payback Is A Dog.”

Markets are still jittery about Iran

Summer is fast approaching, which means it's almost time for American families to pack up the car, hit the open road, and empty their wallets at the gas pump! Why? Because the Middle East is currently engaged in a "will they, won't they?" ceasefire tango.

In the latest episode of this ongoing drama, Iran's state media casually announced they are halting negotiations with the U.S. and vowing to block the Strait of Hormuz again. Meanwhile, President Trump took to Truth Social to assure the world that Iran actually really wants to make a deal. I'm so glad we cleared that up!

Naturally, markets are jittering a tad, in response. The Dow dropped about 240 points in an afternoon last week, while oil prices spiked nearly 8% in a single morning. Gasoline is already hovering around $4.30 a gallon, a painful jump from just $3 a year ago. Of course we’re also in a huge boom on the S&P500 $SPX ( ▼ 0.62% ) . So, it’s a bit confusing.

Despite the looming threat to our summer vacation budgets, some analysts remain oddly optimistic. As Rob Schroeder, Washington Bureau Chief at MarketWatch, noted, "The stock market looks to the future and it does see a sort of resolution coming." Or maybe Wall Street just assumes we will all start carpooling.

What's next for the Fed?

If you were hoping for a summer discount on, well, anything, I have some terrible news. Inflation is officially creeping back up, with the latest headline numbers hitting a painful 3.8%. Between Middle East conflicts spiking oil prices, massive AI buildouts, and good old-fashioned tariffs, the cost of living remains stubbornly sticky.

So, what is the Federal Reserve planning to do at their upcoming June 16-17 meeting to save our shrinking wallets? Absolutely nothing.

Despite the rise in inflation, the Fed is widely expected to sit on their hands and hold rates steady. They are seemingly crossing their fingers that this oil spike is just a short-term headache rather than a long-term nightmare. However, the blissful dream of imminent rate cuts is officially dead. As Megan Leonhardt, senior economics writer at Barron's, points out, the Fed will likely ditch its recent "easing bias.” She notes that we might even see new messaging that states, "if we're not comfortable about where the trajectory is going, then we may need to raise rates."

To add to the drama, Kevin Warsh is stepping in to replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chair at this very meeting. Warsh reportedly prefers looking at "mean" PCE inflation, which supposedly smooths out the wild price swings by ignoring the highest and lowest outliers. Let's hope his fancy new metrics magically make dining out affordable again.

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Poll of the day: A share of the spoils

Poll of the day: Failure to launch?

We asked: Are you excited about the big IPOs for SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic this year? You answered:

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Oh, absolutely thrilled. I love watching two AI companies desperately race to go public before Elon Musk and SpaceX suck every last drop of capital out of the room. (103)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I am eager to throw my life savings at OpenAI despite its steady drumbeat of dysfunction, or maybe Anthropic, since their chatbot is so great at automatically writing computer code. (17)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 It will be hilarious watching OpenAI and Anthropic recreate the Uber and Lyft IPO disaster. Whoever limps into the market second gets to enjoy the scraps left behind by SpaceX. (165)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes, actually. Don't be a vibe kill, dude! (46)
331 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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