Good morning. With the halfway point of 2022 coming up later this week, it's a good opportunity to check on your New Year's resolutions. If you want to scrub a "0" off the number of books you planned to read, we won't say anything… —Matty Merritt, Max Knoblauch, Neal Freyman, Rohan Anthony | | | |  | Nasdaq | 11,524.55 | | | | | S&P | 3,900.11 | | | | | Dow | 31,438.26 | | |  | 10-Year | 3.210% | | | | | Bitcoin | $20,931.69 | | | | | Robinhood | $9.12 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 11:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks yesterday were as directionless as a lost dad who refuses to ask for help, dipping slightly lower without much market-moving news. Okay, there was some news: Robinhood shares popped after a Bloomberg report claimed that the crypto exchange FTX is debating whether it might be able to buy the trading app. Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, already owns 7.6% of Robinhood.
| | | | Francis Scialabba While many employees in the battered crypto sector are dreading that 4pm calendar invite on a Friday, the same can probably be said for people working in the mortgage industry. A cooling housing market has everyone from traditional mortgage lenders to hot startups dumping staff faster than you can say "market conditions." - Last week, JPMorgan laid off 1,000 employees from its home-lending division, according to Bloomberg.
- Wells Fargo cut hundreds of employees in April after its mortgage revenue fell 33% from Q1 2021 to 2022, according to Insider.
How we got here: This month, the Fed jacked up interest rates by the greatest amount since 1994, and Chair Jerome Powell signaled there's plenty more tightening on the horizon to help combat 40-year-high inflation. This benchmark interest rate, which adjusts borrowing costs between banks, also influences borrowing costs across the economy, including mortgages. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now hovering right below 6%, compared to just under 3% at the same time last year—and that's starting to seriously spook homebuyers. Boom and bust Record-low interest rates during the pandemic helped fuel a wildly competitive housing market—prompting mortgage lenders to staff up in order to handle the surge in demand for home financing. - From March 2021 to February 2022, the number of mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers jumped 8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- 1.8 million people were working in real estate last month—the greatest number on record.
But like so many tech companies, these firms also realized they may have overhired during their pandemic growth spurt… Better.com, the mortgage startup infamous for firing people en masse over Zoom, hired nearly 7,000 employees during the pandemic. But after three rounds of layoffs in the last six months, the company, which had ~10,000 employees in December, now has less than 5,000. Mortgage loan originator for US Bancorp Joanna Yu told Bloomberg, "In 2021, we basically had no life. …But starting from April, it was totally dead. It's like vacation time." Big picture: The housing market may be seeing less of a crash and more of a return to typical conditions. Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Indeed and former chief economist at Zillow, told Bloomberg, "We're seeing this sort of normalization in a lot of areas. …And I think housing is one of them." For instance, over 40% of home sellers in pandemic faves such as Salt Lake City, Boise, and Denver dropped their prices in May, according to Redfin. Those price cuts haven't spilled across the country yet, though. The median price for an existing US home hit a record high of $407,600 last month.—MM | | | If the last few years (and our weekly Screen Time reports) have taught us anything, it's that it's more important than ever to be truly in the moment and actually connect with others. Yet 3 out of 4 people find it difficult to really feel present, even with (and especially with) those we're closest with.* Starbucks just launched The Starbucks® Coffee Break-away, an uplifting reminder to break away from the noise and tune into what matters most wherever you are, inspired by Starbucks® ready-to-drink beverages. Three pairs of loved ones were brought together in NYC for an unexpected day of reconnection—and a surprise reveal. Pour yourself a glass and watch the heartwarming video here. | | Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images  Abortion-related legal fights begin. Louisiana's and Utah's trigger laws that would ban nearly all abortions were temporarily blocked from going into effect by courts, after the states were sued by reproductive health care groups. Texas, Mississippi, and Idaho have also been sued to prevent their abortion restrictions from going into effect imminently. California lawmakers, meanwhile, are putting an amendment on the ballot this fall that will allow voters to decide whether to codify the right to an abortion in the state constitution.
 Russian missile strike targets civilian area in Ukraine. A Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, yesterday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 40. 1,000+ people were inside the mall at the time of the strike, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that the mall represented no strategic value to the Kremlin. In a statement, G-7 leaders who are meeting in Germany called it a "war crime."
 At least 46 people were found dead in a truck in San Antonio. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said they were migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States, which would make it the deadliest tragedy for people crossing the border in decades. Officials will likely investigate the heat factor—temps climbed above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the city on Monday.
| | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images The Supreme Court's conservative justices again flexed their majority on Monday, siding with a high school football coach who prayed with students after games in a 6–3 decision. The ruling, along with a string of recent pro-religion decisions, has led experts to claim that the current Supreme Court is the friendliest toward religion in nearly 70 years. The case: Joseph Kennedy, the football coach, began praying on the field after games around 2006. Praying sometimes alone and sometimes with players, Kennedy was told by the Bremerton, WA, public school to stop his practice in 2015 on the grounds that it could be viewed as the school's endorsement of religion. Kennedy refused, and his on-field prayer became a local media spectacle. Ultimately, he was placed on paid leave and didn't apply to renew his contract with the school for the following year, instead suing the district for, he claimed, violating his First Amendment rights. SCOTUS's ruling: The court's conservative justices contested the idea that Kennedy's prayer was coercive to students, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing for the majority that the prayers were "quiet" and "personal." In the dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the majority's decision misconstrued the facts of the case, adding that the ruling "does a disservice" to schools, students, and the separation of church and state.—MK | | Paul Weaver/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images Stat: The hottest new trend sweeping the country? Registering as a Republican. More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the GOP in the last year, compared to just 630,000 who switched over to the Democrats' side, according to an AP analysis. Extra worrying for Dems is that many defectors to the GOP hail from suburban counties that had shifted blue in recent elections. Quote: "I have got no higher priority than making sure that Americans who are being illegally detained in one way or another around the world come home." Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comments over the weekend took on greater urgency yesterday, when a Russian court said Brittney Griner's trial for cannabis possession would start July 1. The WNBA star has been in Russian custody for more than four months. Less than 1% of defendants are acquitted in Russian criminal cases. Read: The co-founder of Ethereum gives packing tips for people seeking to travel light and smart. (Vitalik Buterin)
| | Courtesy: Freakonomics Radio A study from last year found that, of the 2 million podcasts in Apple's podcast library, 26% have only produced a single episode. Freakonomics Radio is not one of them. The popular show about the "hidden side of everything" recently released its 500th (!) episode. We caught up with Stephen J. Dubner, the host of the podcast and the co-author of the Freakonomics books, to talk about the evolution of the podcast, his question-asking philosophy, and his newfound love for golf. Here's a condensed excerpt: MB: You talk to people in many different fields for your podcast. Did you ever speak to someone where you were like, forget this podcast thing, what this person is doing is so interesting I just want to throw away the microphone and join this person's research team? SD: That happens pretty routinely. Not that I want to join their team and do research per se, but just move into that world. I had a conversation with one of the astronauts who was the crew chief on the International Space Station. And before he came down from space, he was asked if there was someone he wanted to have a chat with from space, and he picked me (weirdly, like I would not have picked me if I were him). So I'm talking to this guy who's floating around in this capsule, then he's introducing me to the other people and they are just incredibly smart and interesting, but also, they have a mission in life that is just so much larger than what I feel I'm doing. I feel I go into someone else's universe every week and I love that and I do get bored easily, so I probably wouldn't have been a very good astronaut even if I were smart enough and strong enough to do that. But, yeah, it's funny you asked that question because I think about it all the time. Like, if I didn't have to do a show next week, I would definitely go and take up a crazy pursuit. Read the full interview here. | | Beach animals: They're not what you think. No computers, no slips: This video explains the ingenious "marking system" by which Waffle House employees make your order. Book rec: Jenna Kutcher's How Are You, Really? feels like a conversation with a best friend + mentor + therapist all in one. Check it out.** Grab a piece of the pie: A pizza-making robot with $580m in preorders? Dreams really do come true. Piestro uses advanced robotics to make artisanal pies in 3 minutes. There's one month left to invest and get that dough.* Summer style's on sale: Get up to 30% off DUER's stylish and sustainable pants that are versatile enough to go from the bike to the boardroom. Shop now and save big.* *This is sponsored advertising content. **This is promotional content from an editorial partner. | | - Three people were killed when an Amtrak train hit a dump truck in rural Missouri and derailed.
- The Jan. 6 committee announced a surprise hearing for this afternoon to present new evidence and hear witness testimony.
- Digital World Acquisition Corp., the SPAC that's planning to merge with former President Trump's social media app Truth Social, said that all of its board members had received subpoenas from a New York federal grand jury. The merger is already being investigated by financial regulators.
- Explorers say they found the deepest shipwreck ever discovered. The USS Samuel B. Roberts, which was sunk in the Philippines during World War II, was found at a depth of 22,916 feet.
| | Brew Mini: "Popular smoothie ingredient" (five letters) is your sample clue today. Play the Mini here. Music trivia Who was the youngest solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart? For 30,000 bonus points, can you name the song? | |  Would you let Elon Musk or Tom Brady advise your everyday life? Morning Brew's Anish Mitra took to the streets of NYC to see which celeb people would choose. Watch now.
 Interested in how Freshly uses technology to become more sustainable? Listen or watch yesterday's Business Casual episode.
 The perfect gift for your co-worker: Shop Right Here Right Now candles from Morning Brew.
| | | ✢ A Note From Starbucks *All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1220 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 5th – 6th April 2022. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18+). | | |
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