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Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• Wait…even Hillary Clinton likes the Iran deal?!

• Allbirds stock finally rises as it turns into an A …

• Inside Kevin Warsh’s first Fed decision

• Apple will raise prices over memory crunch

• State Farm cuts agent salaries 40% in AI push

• Poll of the day: It’s World-Famous-575™ time

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▲ 1.08% )  $DJI ( ▲ 0.14% )  $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$BIRD ( ▲ 8.94% )  $AAPL ( ▲ 0.7% )  $PGR ( ▲ 0.22% )  

Wait…even Hillary Clinton likes the Iran deal?!

Welcome to 2026, where the political simulation is completely broken. President Trump just delivered an agreement to end the war with Iran, and sure, the “historic" agreement sidesteps the reasons Trump supposedly started the war in the first place. It makes no demands on Tehran regarding its massive stockpile of missiles, its drones, or its network of proxy militias, for example. And that’s quoting the Wall Street Journal.

Even Senate Republicans are concerned about the concessions in the pact. Senator Ted Cruz summed up their most serious concerns by telling The Hill, "History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea.”

But the wildest plot twist? Hillary Clinton is out here in the Financial Times telling people to support a Trump peace plan. Okay, technically her recent op-ed was defending his 20-point Gaza framework rather than the Iran pact, but her words are just too perfect: "If even I, an implacable opponent of the president, can accept this as the best option, then surely others can too?"

When Ted Cruz is aggressively bashing a Trump agreement and Hillary Clinton is telling the world to give his diplomatic frameworks a chance, should we maybe try to reboot the universe?

Quote of the Day

Allbirds stock finally rises as it turns into an AI company

Remember Allbirds $BIRD ( ▲ 8.94% ) , those cozy wool shoes your tech-bro cousin wouldn't stop raving about? Well, forget the shoes, because the company certainly has! Allbirds has officially transformed from a footwear retailer into an AI infrastructure play.

In 2026 the secret to saving your stock price isn't making better sneakers; it is just pivoting to AI and changing your corporate name to "Smartbird," which the company did yesterday. The market ate it up, with Smartbird shares surging nearly 13% to hit $6.19 in premarket trading. Although let’s put that in context, shall we, and look at the company’s stock price since it first went public?

Ooof. The company will, of course, dump all of its footwear assets, now.

It’s also out with the old shoe boss Joe Vernachio, and in with new CEO Nadia Carlsten to lead this brave, shoeless new world. So, if your retail business is struggling, take notes from Smartbird: Just sell your core product, slap "AI" on your business model, and pray.

Inside Kevin Warsh’s first Fed decision

All eyes were on the Federal Reserve this week as newly minted Chair Kevin Warsh presided over his first policy meeting. He declined to cut rates and markets fell by about a percent in response, recovering those losses the next day.

While Warsh amused reporters by bantering like a politician and throwing around corporate jargon about "task forces" and "alternative frameworks," the real story was in the brevity of the official policy statement. Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, told us that the primary takeaway was "a big change in tone," pointing out that the new policy statement had "less than half as many words as the prior statement."

According to Adams, Warsh is clearly "following through on his ambitions to commit the Fed less to forward guidance and instead give the Fed more latitude to respond to events." This allows the committee "more flexibility to change their approach as the data in hand and the outlook facing the economy change in real time,” he said.

Despite the new chairman's evasive press conference demeanor, the immediate rate outlook remains "largely as expected," with Adams noting that "the dominant voice right now is supporting steady rates." Crucially, Adams views Warsh's succinct approach as a firm defense of the central bank's autonomy. "I see the statement as a strong indication of a commitment to the Fed's independence," Adams said, highlighting the uncompromising final pledge that "the committee will deliver price stability.”

Song of the Day: Spacey Jane, ‘East Village’

“East Village” by Spacey Jane is a beautifully slow-moving, emotionally heavy highlight from their new EP, Exit Wounds. It’s all about a breakup. Lovely.

Apple will raise prices over memory crunch

The tech giant $AAPL ( ▲ 0.7% ) is officially preparing to make its already eye-watering prices even higher, and we have the AI boom to thank for it. Apparently, hungry AI servers are gobbling up all the world's memory and storage chips, leaving poor, multitrillion-dollar Apple struggling to secure its supply.

CEO Tim Cook dropped the bad news in an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal, declaring that price hikes on Apple products are officially "unavoidable." Cook claimed the company tried to be the good guy, saying, "We’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”

This all means buying the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro might just require a second mortgage. The memory market is in absolute chaos right now. Cook went as far as calling the sudden price swing a "hundred-year flood," adding, "I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”

So what is Apple going to do about it? Build its own chip factories? Not a chance. "We can’t do everything," Cook admitted, adding, "We know what we’re good at."

Blowing a hole in people’s wallets, Tim? You’re pretty good at that, my man. Pretttttty good.

State Farm cuts agent salaries 40% in AI push

Apparently the new way for corporations to say "we value our employees" is to fly thousands of them to Las Vegas for a Pink concert and a Jimmy Fallon singalong, only to immediately rip up their contracts. That’s what State Farm CEO Jon Farney did when he dropped the bombshell that any sales agent wanting to stick around past 2027 will face a brutal new compensation deal, this past week.

Why the sudden hostility toward the 19,000 agents who built the 104-year-old company? Because rival Progressive $PGR ( ▲ 0.22% ) just stole their crown as the biggest auto insurer by heavily relying on technology. State Farm's solution to the challenge is to slash agent gross income by up to 40%, axe health benefits, and end a valuable deferred compensation program. 

Agents are understandably thrilled, lighting up Reddit and Facebook to call the move a "real slap in the face." Some are now preparing to fire their staff or refinance their homes just to survive the pay cut. But don't worry. If agents want out, State Farm might generously toss them a discretionary exit payment that is merely a fraction of what their agencies are actually worth.

Like a good neighbor, corporate restructuring is always there!

Free yourself from advertising forever!

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👎️ 

Still not quite. Soon, man. Soon!

Poll of the day: It’s World-Famous-575™ time

Poll of the day: Not gonna buy SpaceX, huh?

We asked: What is currently the most questionable financial life choice?

You answered:

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Spending $2,195 on Evan Spiegel's chunky AR "Specs" so you don't have to look down at your phone, despite the hardware division having "no path to value realisation until 2030+" (97)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Buying into SpaceX's IPO at a massive valuation simply to invest in "Elon's brain," while granting him 85% voting control and accepting a completely vague AI strategy (130)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Clinging to your boring corporate W-2 job strictly for the benefits while trying to make $100,000 as a "modern earner" influencer entirely from your smartphone (53)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Relying on the "sugar rush" from a $3,500 tax refund to fund a retail shopping spree while still having to pay $4 a gallon at the gas pump (79)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Remaining fiercely loyal to the Marriott Bonvoy program just to be rewarded with brutal parking fees and a breakfast voucher that doesn't actually cover the cost of your breakfast (45)
404 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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