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DAILY STACK
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Five stories ranked by Real-Life Impact
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Wednesday, July 22, 2026
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Today's Thesis: Your grocery bill is the receipt for everything going wrong this year, Tesla reports tonight with $90 billion on the line, Alphabet's earnings call will tell you whether AI is hiring or firing, your electric bill just set a summer record, and your senator is hearing the case for new tariffs at 10 a.m.
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The Prophet's" #1 Retirement Stock Right Now — Free
Whitney Tilson — the man CNBC calls "The Prophet," twice featured on 60 Minutes — is revealing the name and ticker of what he calls America's Greatest Retirement Stock.
It's already outperformed Apple, Amazon, and the S&P 500 combined...
A billionaire put 60% of his $9 billion fund into it...
And Google's former CEO just partnered with it directly.
Right now it's trading at a rare discount.
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1
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Your wallet
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Vegetables +11.9%, beef +22%, OJ +26%
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Your grocery bill is the receipt for everything going wrong
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Your grocery bill is now the receipt for everything that went wrong this year. Fresh vegetables are up 11.9% from a year ago, with tomatoes alone climbing 32%, according to the USDA. Ground beef is up 22% since January 2025, and orange juice is up 26%. The Farm Bureau says a July Fourth cookout for ten hit a record $73.82 this summer — $2.90 more than last year. Between the Iran war driving energy costs up 15.7%, tariffs adding to import prices, and the heat wave stressing supply chains, every aisle in the store is telling the same story.
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The other side: Eggs are down 31% from their peak, overall food inflation at 2.7% is slower than last year, and prices adjusted for purchasing power are nearly flat.
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2
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Markets
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6.4% expected swing (~$90B in value)
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Tesla reports tonight — record sales, shrinking margins
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Tesla posts Q2 earnings after the close today. The company delivered a second-quarter record 480,126 vehicles, up 25% from last year, but Wall Street expects revenue near $25.7 billion — and price cuts are squeezing margins. Options traders are pricing a 6.4% move in either direction, which means roughly $90 billion in market cap shifts on a single call. If your retirement fund holds any tech or EV exposure, tonight's results move the needle.
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The other side: Tesla's energy storage business is growing fast and could offset the margin pressure investors are focused on.
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3
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Your job
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Alphabet reports after the close
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Alphabet reports tonight. What Google says about AI hiring matters.
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Alphabet reports after the close today, and what Google says about AI replacing engineering roles will set the tone for tech hiring through fall. The company cut thousands of positions in 2024–2025 while growing revenue — replacing workers with AI tools faster than it added new roles. CEO Sundar Pichai has said AI now writes more than a quarter of Google's new code, and investors want to know where that leaves the humans. Tonight's call reveals whether the pattern has changed or accelerated.
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The other side: Google has been expanding its AI safety and cloud infrastructure teams — total headcount may have stabilized even as some roles were cut.
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4
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Your home
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$792/household this summer (record)
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Your electric bill just hit an all-time high
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The average American household will spend $792 on electricity this summer, up 10.5% from last year's $717, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Data centers now consume 6% of all US electricity, and utilities filed $9.4 billion in rate hike requests in the first three months of 2026 alone. One in six households is behind on their power bill right now.
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The other side: Most of the increase comes from aging grid infrastructure and hotter summers, not data centers alone.
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5
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Your vote
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Senate Finance hearing at 10 a.m. today
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Your senator hears the tariff case at 10 a.m. today
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Trade Rep Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee this morning on the administration's plan to replace expiring tariffs with new Section 301 duties covering 99% of US trade. With the 10% rate expiring Friday, what comes out of this hearing will shape what you pay at the store for the rest of the year.
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The other side: Greer hinted on CNBC Tuesday that the new rate could end up lower than 12.5%, which would mean a net tariff decrease from the current 10%.
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Off The Stack
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Gas hit $4.003 as Iran attacked another tanker and Houthis declared a Saudi maritime embargo. — Two new escalations, but the gas story has run daily; price update only.
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Mediators floated a 10-day ceasefire proposal for the Strait of Hormuz. — If it holds, oil retreats fast; still developing, no agreement yet.
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Brazil 25% tariff took effect at midnight. — Covers sugar, paper, apparel, and steel; exempts coffee and beef. Covered Monday.
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Daily Stack · Five stories ranked by Real-Life Impact
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