Hello! Today, some Americans will have the day off in honor of Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or something else entirely — in most states, however, it’s business as usual. Today we're exploring:
Note from the editor: The surprise attack by Hamas on Israel on Saturday has killed more than 700 Israelis, with the resulting counter-offensive killing more than 400 Palestinians. According to data from the UN, this makes 2023 the deadliest year in the Israel-Palestine conflict since 2014, with violence only likely to escalate as Israeli leadership considers a ground invasion of Gaza after formally declaring war on Sunday.With such a harrowing, deeply human story, data has its limits and reports are often out-of-date within hours. For live updates, we recommend following developments here.
Growing interest
Last Wednesday, we charted the soaring yield on US treasury bonds, as the US government’s cost of borrowing jumped to 16-year highs. That move spooked the markets, but the focus in the last few days has increasingly been on the budget itself after Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown, postponing spending decisions by another few weeks.
Like most developed nations, the US spends more than it takes in taxes — essentially “living beyond its means”. For years, that wasn’t an issue, with Uncle Sam able to borrow at close to record-low rates for a decade.
However, higher borrowing costs have changed the game. Indeed, forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office project that the majority of future government deficits will not be down to net new spending, but rather paying the interest on what's already owed (some $33 trillion), with deficits expected to rise as a share of GDP for the coming decades — a projection that was made before the most recent bond meltdown.
DreamWorkers
DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind mega hits like Shrek and Madagascar, yesterday confirmed that it had slashed approximately 70 positions as the movie maker looks to cut costs more widely. The layoffs, equivalent to ~4% of its workforce, come against the backdrop of the ongoing actors’ strike, rising production costs, and record job cuts in the media industry this year.
The green-skinned monster
The studio’s had an animated history, having started life as a division of DreamWorks SKG, a production company set up in 1994 by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, ex-Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg, and music mogul David Geffen. In the 29 years since, the company’s been spun out, picked up 3 Oscars, bagged 41 Emmys, been acquired by NBCUniversal for $3.8 billion, and released over 40 animated features.
The latest of those — Trolls Band Together — is set for release next month, but it will have to make a lot of money to emerge from the big, green shadow that’s loomed over the studio for the last 2 decades. Indeed, Shrek titles still occupy the company’s top 4 highest-grossing movie spots, 13 years since the last movie was released. Like Pixar, which is turning to Toy Story 5 to recreate some of its former movie magic, DreamWorks is looking to its previous hits for rejuvenation, with Shrek 5, Kung Fu Panda 4 and an as-yet-untitled Madagascar 4 currently in the pipeline.
Worth its salt
Even though US adults are generally drinking less these days, they seem to be increasingly making an exception for a bevy of bebidas imported from Mexico.
The US is the largest market for Mexico’s agave-derived spirits, with tequila and mezcal, its smoky counterpart, booming in recent years. Indeed, last year tequila and mezcal surpassed American whiskey to become the second-fastest growing spirits category in the States — selling nearly 30 million 9-liter cases — with the pair poised to overtake vodka as the fastest-growing spirit category in 2023.
And it's not just tequila that has Americans in high spirits: Mexican beer is also having un momento, with imports up more than 10% this year, and this summer seeing the American classic Bud Light dethroned as the nation’s favorite beer by Latin-owned Modelo Especial.
Top shelf
While volume sales of tequila/mezcal have grown 273% since 2003, it's the top shelf stuff that’s really selling: super premium tequila/mezcal brands surged more than 1,500% in the same period.
America’s collective leaning towards more lavish liquors may be explained by a bit of good-old-fashioned star-power: the launch of George Clooney’s Casamigos in 2013, which was sold to Diageo for a staggering $1 billion only 4 years later, paved way for a flight of celebrity-backed tequilas, from Kendall Jenner’s 818 to The Rock’s Teremana.
• Going chestnuts: this year’s World Conker Champions have been crowned, after thousands gathered in England to watch more than 250 participants try to conquer the competition.
• Hard to believe, but there may have been some… good climate news? Global emissions from power production pretty much plateaued in the first half of 2023, rising only 0.2%.
• TikTok parent company ByteDance is buying back shares from US employees in a deal that values the Chinese technology giant at $223.5 billion — 26% lower than just a year earlier.
• The Nobel Prize for Economics for 2023 has been awarded to Claudia Goldin, whose research into the gender employment gap has, ironically, made her the first woman to win the award without sharing it with a male colleague.
• To put the astonishing new world record marathon time of 2:00:35, set yesterday by Kelvin Kiptum, into perspective, delve into these marathon stats from the last century.
Off the charts: Manufacturers are scrambling to keep up with soaring demand for which 2 drugs, that have soared onto the market in recent years? [Answer below].
