Pick a winner in this week’s world-famous-news-haiku-competition™ in today’s poll below and enjoy our new “What to Stream This Very Weekend” feature, courtesy of my talented Cheddar colleague, Lauren Babbage! ⬇️

But first? News!

Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

Table of Contents

• Mortgage Rates Surge to 7.28%, Largest Gain in Yea …

• How an Actress Built a Cactus Water Company

• Mattel Chief Named CEO of Combined Paramount/WB

• The 2026 Gadgets You’ll Want in 2027

• What To Stream This Very Weekend

• Poll of the Day: It’s World-Famous-575™ Time

• Poll of the Day: Use A Roth Instead

What’s the Stock Market Up To, Eh?

$SPX ( ▲ 0.19% )  $DJI ( ▲ 0.04% )  $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies Mentioned in Today’s Newsletter

$FMCC ( ▲ 0.26% )  $WMT ( ▲ 0.33% )  $MAT ( ▲ 18.8% )  $PSKY ( ▼ 9.58% )  $WBD ( 0.0% )  $ORCL ( ▲ 0.56% )  $META ( ▲ 0.1% )  $UAL ( ▲ 0.75% )  $AAPL ( ▼ 0.81% )  

Mortgage Rates Surge to 7.28%, Largest Gain in Years

According to Freddie Mac $FMCC ( ▲ 0.26% ) , the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage just took a dizzying leap to 7.28% from 7.03% — marking the largest single weekly jump in four years. If you hear crickets, it’s the sound of the housing market coming to a halt.

Behind the rate rises are a historic global bond sell-off that has sent 10-year U.S. Treasury yields surging to 5.34%, their highest level since 2002. Driven by sticky inflation, mounting government debt, energy price shocks from the Iran war pushing Brent crude past $101 a barrel, and heavy corporate borrowing for AI infrastructure, global debt markets are trapped in a vicious selling loop. As Guy Miller, chief market strategist at Zurich, told the FT about cascading international yields, “As [yields] move up, they are pulling each other up.” Rob Subbaraman of Nomura added that traders have been left “dazzled” by the sheer scale of the rout.

Back on home turf, real estate agents are watching open houses transform into ghost towns. As Greenville, S.C. agent Don Wessel told The Wall Street Journal, “Showings have stopped basically.… I’ve got good listings in downtown Greenville, which is one of the hottest areas, and nobody’s looking at them.” Unless you happen to be swimming in high-end cash reserves, entry-level buyers looking at around half a million dollars and below have completely ghosted. Denver agent Anthony Rael said that while wealthy buyers remain “flush with cash, bringing 20%, 30% down payments into the mix,” the broader lower market gets “lots of showings and no activity, no offers.”

Sellers are equally stranded in real estate limbo. Georgia homeowner Adam Wharton accepted a full-ask offer within four days of listing his house, but once interest rates spiked, the buyers backed out. “Since that, it’s been nothing, no scheduled showings, no offers, no nothing from people who have looked at it before,” Wharton told the Journal. Luckily, holding a cozy 3.35% rate on his former home allows him to wait out the freeze, though he summed up the core delusion gripping the market: “Everybody has in their minds these two and three and four percent mortgages.”

In your dreamz!

Quote of the Day

How an Actress Built a Cactus Water Company

What do you do when you are terrible at drinking plain water, constantly fainting from dehydration, and hit with a sudden flash of inspiration while sipping a prickly pear margarita on a New Mexico road trip? If you’re actress Vanessa Hudgens, you launch a cactus water company!

Along with co-founder Oliver Trevena, Hudgens created Cali Water to rescue hydration seekers from sugary coconut water and terrible-tasting health crazes. “I just, I hate bland drinks. So I wanted something that’s actually delicious,” she told us. Meanwhile, Trevena was tired of pretending to enjoy trendy health concoctions. As he confessed, “If you put me on a lie detector machine and it asked, do I like the taste of kombucha? And I said, yes? It would bleep.”

Cactus water isn't just about avoiding vinegar-flavored beverages; prickly pear is a sustainable super-fruit that uses 80% less water to harvest than traditional crops while boasting half the calories and sugar of coconut water. And despite the heavy star power involved, backed by famous friends like Demi Lovato and Glenn Powell, the founders insisted on building a drink of substance. As Trevena emphasized, “We don't want this to be a celebrity gimmick, like we don't want this just to be another brand that kind of has the bells and whistles, but the product doesn't... last.”

The strategy is clearly working, with Cali Water now capturing 85% of the cactus water market and expanding into major nationwide retailers like Walmart $WMT ( ▲ 0.33% ) . The drink is even winning over culinary royalty, with Trevena revealing that “Gordon Ramsay apparently had eight recently.” 

I bet he did.

Mattel Chief Named CEO of Combined Paramount/WB

David Ellison has tapped Mattel $MAT ( ▲ 18.8% ) Chief Executive Ynon Kreiz to serve as co-CEO of the newly combined $111 billion mega-studio that is about to become Paramount-Skydance-Warner-Bros.-Discovery $PSKY ( ▼ 9.58% )  $WBD ( 0.0% ) .

Perhaps a good first task for the executive who turned Barbie into a box-office juggernaut is coming up with a better new name for the whole thing?

Under their operational agreement, Kreiz will handle day-to-day corporate machinery while Ellison retains oversight of creative strategy, films, and technology. Plus, of course, he has to figure out how to keep spending his father Larry’s Oracle money $ORCL ( ▲ 0.56% ) !

As Ellison told The New York Times, “When you look at Ynon’s background and mine, and what we have accomplished, I think we’re really well positioned to win together.”

Kreiz brings formidable toy-to-cinema credentials after driving 2023's $1.45 billion Barbie hit. Reflecting on that blockbuster success, Kreiz noted, “Barbie was never about making a movie.… It was about creating a cultural phenomenon.”

Although, Mattel’s stock price has suffered ever since. And Mattel's recent Masters of the Universe film pulled in a modest $114 million. Still, Kreiz maintains that the governing principles remain identical: “safeguard core brands, preserve reputation, and amplify them for maximum effect.”

Buddy, if you can’t make a billion bucks out of the He-Man franchise, I think you deserve a demotion. Meanwhile, Condé Nast Chief Roger Lynch is stepping in to run Mattel. And: Best of luck to him.

Song of the Day: Larissa Lambert, ‘Yearning’

Larissa Lambert's debut, “Yearning,” is all about possessive love, so it’s just like this newsletter. Stream it on Apple Music here.

The 2026 Gadgets You’ll Want in 2027

Tom’s Guide Global Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer sat down to reveal the “award-winning tech” shaping our immediate future. How does he pick the award winners? As Spoonauer explained, “there's an internal debate within the staff in terms of what we think is actually award worthy,” with a focus on value, innovation, and design.

Leading the pack is the MacBook Neo from Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 0.81% ) , a $699 budget laptop powered by an A18 Pro chip that Spoonauer credits with forcing competitors back to the drawing board, noting that previously, “Windows laptops in the same price range were basically trash.” For mobile multitaskers, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 won top design honors over Apple’s upcoming Duo. Weighing just 201 grams with a "flex titanium" hinge that minimizes screen crease, Spoonauer raved, “it's basically like having a phone and tablet in one.”

Meanwhile, Shark Ninja snatched Company of the Year thanks to viral gadgets like the Chill Pill (a transformer misting fan), a touchscreen water filtration system, and the Ninja Creami frozen drink maker — proving, as Spoonauer noted, that “they improve on things that we use every day, but they also make them fun to use.”

Wrist-wear options got a reality check with the $99 Fitbit Air (a screen-free tracker competing against Whoop and Garmin Circa), because “lots of people out there... just don't want another screen on their wrists.” Up in the clouds, United Airlines' Starlink Wi-Fi $UAL ( ▲ 0.75% ) is rolling out 250 Mbps speeds, meaning “streaming video, gaming, all of that is now on the table.” Finally, Meta’s camera-free glasses hit the market to address growing AI privacy concerns $META ( ▲ 0.1% ) .

But will any of it make you happy? I mean… maybe? 🤷 Why not buy them all, give ‘em a try, and find out?

Free Yourself From Advertising Forever!

What To Stream This Very Weekend

My Cheddar colleague Lauren Babbage is all about the streaming recs. So instead of keeping them in our Slack channel, we figured, hey, why not let the Cheddfriends in on the deal? Here are her recs for this week! Take it away, Lauren!

Furious: This is such a fresh new show for crime-drama lovers. And plot twist — the main "villain" is a female serial killer. Or is she a villain? Maybe a vigilante? I don't know! It's a twisted story about how traumatic pasts can manifest into completely different paths of life. It's dark, seedy, and entertaining. I will admit, I loved this show... my husband watched the first few episodes with me and then bowed out. Might be more of a solo watch with a glass of wine.

Lioness Season 3: If this is your first time hearing about this show, wow, I'm jealous that you get to binge 3 full seasons. It's a Taylor Sheridan show, which means drama, suspense, some fast talking, and legendary actors. Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman head up a secret "Lioness" government agency that seems to be the last line of defense in the war on terror. It brings in some current events, but not in an in-your-face type of way. Lots of action scenes and complicated corrupt government-type storylines. One tip: Don't scroll while watching this show. You really do need to pay attention to every scene. 

The Hawk: Switching it up from drama and crime to comedy and golf. See how well-rounded I am! Will Ferrell stars as a washed-up PGA golfer, just trying to win back a little dignity on the course (and maybe a little money. OK, a lot of money. He's greedy). In typical Will Ferrell fashion, it's funny, kind of outlandish, has a great cast of supporting characters, and will give you some great one-liners. It's not winning any awards, but a very fun show to throw on when you need something light in the background. 

Shows I'm about to start watching that I will report back on:

-Last Seen (Apple TV)
-Not a show...but the Theranos documentary, You Can See Everything. I will be in a theater on October 16^th  no matter what!

Thanks, Lauren! And if you’ve got a streaming rec for us, readers, we’re all ears!

Should You Check Your 401(k) Today?

👎️ 

Still No. No. No. No!

Poll of the Day: It’s World-Famous-575™ Time

Poll of the Day: Use A Roth Instead

We asked: Do you think the new Trump Accounts for kids are a good idea?

You answered:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No. Parents can already save for their kids using 529 plans and Roths. This is just spin. (356)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes. I like that the administration is encouraging parents to save for their children's future. (127)

483 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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