Hey there weekday warriors,

(Heads up, if you already know the yuge news about the future of The Water Coolest, you can skip this part...)

By now you've probably seen the headlines and the posts about some changes at Barstool. And, well, things are changing on my end too...

After nearly two years at Barstool, The Water Coolest is going independent (again). And I'll be in the driver's seat, which means not a damn thing is going to change (except, the logo and some legal language... obviously).

"So, do I have to do anything?" - you, probably

Yep. We'll be sending from thewatercoolest.com domain (again). So, to ensure you always get the emails, you should tell your email provider that you're cool with getting emails from [email protected].

Here's how to do it...

1. Add [email protected] to your address book/tell your email provider we're safe (here are instructions for every email provider).

2. That's it.

I appreciate you coming along for the ride. And if you have any questions, you can reach out directly at [email protected].

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

Tyler

PS, Have some questions? Concerns? Been hoping to collab? Just want to chat? Drop me a note >

+ US stocks "closed higher Wednesday, shrugging off data pointing to an uptick in the pace of inflation as investor focus shifted to consumer inflation data for September that will likely seal the Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to stand pat on rate hikes next month." (Investing.com)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield "fell on Wednesday as investors assessed wholesale inflation data that came in hotter than expected and the latest Federal Reserve minutes." (CNBC​)

+ Oil "fell over 2% on Wednesday as fears of disruption to supplies due to conflict in the Middle East receded a day after top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia pledged to help stabilize the market." (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin "hit new October lows after the Oct. 11 Wall Street open." (Cointelegraph)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24-hours were: 1) Nvidia +2.20% 2) Tesla -0.24% 3) Palantir +0.67%.

Birkenstunk

Birkenstock showed up to the party yesterday... and was hit with the "who do you know here?" by investors (not unlike pretty much anyone that wears its footwear)...

Newly minted shares of Birkenstock fell 12%​​ on their first trading day. That's after they opened at $41 per share, below where the masters of the universe priced them ($46). For what it's worth, that price range was considered "conservative."

BIRK's debut was the worst of any company in the past two years with a market cap of at least $1B. It's not a contest, but if it was, Birkenstock would win. Still, the cobblers raised $1.48B... which should come in handy when all the class action lawsuits from investors start rolling in.

So, what went wrong?

I mean, they could have picked a better time in their 250-year history to IPO...

We're at the tail end of an IPO drought, a few recent IPOs faded after a hot start, and fears about WW3 are on everyone's mind.

Not to mention, Birkenstock is literally a shoemaker (that's not named Crocs). Look no further than Allbirds, which is trading below $1 and has fallen 96% since its IPO.

On the bright side, we don't need to hear about the IPO market being "back" anymore.

+ If It’s Under $5 It’s Free: The Logic of ‘Girl Math’ and ‘Boy Math’ (Read)

+ Want to test your luck with the $1.73B Powerball drawing? Don’t buy your ticket with a credit card (Read)

+ ICYMI yesterday... Consumers sound off on things inflation made so expensive that they’re no longer worth it (Read)

+ Not that it matters because, you know, CPI data drops today and all... but the most recent FOMC meeting minutes were released yesterday. And there were no real surprises. The Fed stressed "higher for longer." And reminded us about its mandate for 2% inflation. And said it will trust the data.

But at least some enterprising investors honed in on commentary which pointed out that current economic uncertainties could make the "case for proceeding carefully in determining the extent of additional policy firming that may be appropriate." So we've got that going for us. The major US indices began moving in the right direction after the Central Bank released its latest mixtape. (Read)

What else?

+ Does big oil repulse you? Does the mere mention of fossil fuels make you violently ill? Welp, you might want to stop reading (and probably get rid of your ICE car). ExxonMobil just made the biggest acquisition since it added Mobil to its name. XOM (one of the great ticker symbols imho) bought Pioneer, a shale drilling OG for just shy of $60B as part of an all all-stock deal. Shares of Exxon fell 3.5% on the day (Read)

+ I've got some bad news... and I've got some worse news. The bad news is that the producer price index, a measure of inflation that tracks how much producers pay for finished goods, came in above expectations (0.5% month over month vs. 0.3% expected). The worse news? The PPI is usually a pretty good indicator of consumer inflation to come, since at some point you and I are going to buy those widgets... because consumerism and football, that's what America does. (Read)

+ I take back everything I said about the 87k new IRS agents coming after peasants for $601 Venmo payments. The IRS just sent Microsoft a bill for $28.9B in additional tax payments dating all the way back to 2004. Microsoft claims it paid in full... and probably feels a lot like the rest of us about taxes (if the IRS knows how much we owe, why don't they just tell us?). (Read)

+ Greensky has gone the way of David Solomon's DJ career. Goldman sold the home improvement lender to a group of PE shops at a loss. And I've got receipts. The fire sale will result in a 19 cents per share reduction in Q3 EPS. Woof. This is just the latest attempt by DJ D-Sol to make us forget all about that time he tried to make Goldman into a bank for poors (read: consumers). Shares were down ~0.5% on the day. (Read)

Here's what I'm keeping an eye on today...

+ Delta, Walgreens and Domino's Pizza report

+ September CPI data drops... and quite frankly that's all that really matters

Yesterday, I asked What has inflation made so expensive that it's not even worth doing anymore?

Flipping houses was up there. But the biggest thing that’s become too expensive is deleting beers at the bar.

Here's today's question...

I’m not proud of it, but this has been a big topic of discussion in my house…

Have you ever used “girl math” or “boy math?”

Respond directly to this email and I'll share the best answers tomorrow.