Morning Brew Daily
Markets Cheer for TACO Trade Return & Ryanair vs. Musk is Good for Biz
22 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning, Brew Daily Show. I'm Neil Freiman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, it's tacos for breakfast as Trump backs off Greenland tariff threats.
Ben, is Elon Musk really going to buy Ryanair? It's Thursday, January 22nd.
Chapter 2: What impact did Trump's tariff threats have on the markets?
Let's ride.
This winter, America is turning into a nation of monks. Not only is dry January in full swing, but a new, even more hardcore test of discipline has surged in popularity. No, by January, the wall street journal notes that many younger people inspired by social media have taken a pledge to avoid purchasing anything that's not essential.
things like clothes or electronics, for the 31 days of January. It's not necessarily new, but it is far more mainstream than before. Google searches for no-buy January hit a five-year high this December, according to PwC, and a survey by NerdWallet found more than one quarter have tried no-spend January, with 12% hopping on the trend in 2026. Toby, what do you think is easy for you?
Dry January or no-buy January?
See, I'm more of a financially crippling February kind of guy, a multi-buy March, an affluent April, a massive debt May kind of guy. In reality, I do love any January challenge. So for the last eight or nine days of the year, I'm not buying anything either in solidarity with my no-buy brethren. Of the month, of the month. So I can buy, I cannot buy something for eight days, I think.
And now a word from our sponsor, Indeed. Neil, I'm finally adopting AI. Sudden change of heart around technology? Nope. AI is the name of a very mean kitten I found outside my apartment.
Well, in less bitey news, we're here at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, and Indeed is here too, diving into things like how AI is transforming jobs, skills, and employer adoption. Indeed will be sharing real-time insights like that into the global labor market and how leaders can navigate the workforce challenges and opportunities ahead.
Indeed's Helping Business Leaders and Hiring Professionals dive into these perspectives through Indeed's Global Labor Market and Workforce Trends Report.
This report also includes where job opportunities are growing, where skill shortages and mismatches could impact business performance. and how immigration patterns are shaping workforce capacity.
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Chapter 3: How did the handshake agreement affect US-EU relations?
But if I'm a Tesla shareholder, I'm going, gosh dang it again. Can you just focus in? Lock in for a little bit. Don't joke about buying any other airlines. Moving on, despite pioneering the very concept of e-commerce, Amazon wants to turn back the clock to the days of brick and mortar retail, and its latest bet to find a winning store format is its biggest one yet.
The Everything Store is bringing a massive big box store to Orland Park, Illinois, after convincing the city's board of trustees in a vote this past week. But just calling this a big box store feels like a gross understatement. This place is going to be gargantuan. The site sprawls over 35 acres. The store itself will be 230,000 square feet. That dwarfs competitors in the space.
With the average Walmart store clocking in at just 173,000 square feet, it is big enough to fit nearly two average Costco-sized stores inside. Now, much like what your ex told you, size doesn't matter. It's what's on the inside that counts. And inside those giant walls, Amazon is creating a Frankenstein's monster. The space will be 50% retail and 50% fulfillment.
The front half will contain your groceries, general merch like diapers and paper towels, and even some prepared food made onsite. The back half will be what Amazon does best, fulfillment for online and in-store orders.
It hopes that by smooshing together retail and fulfillment and dotting the aisle with in-store kiosks for online ordering, it will be able to combine its digital prowess and normal shopping in a way that other brands can't pull off. Neil, this feels like a very Amazon-y store.
Well, Amazon has just tried just about everything when it comes to brick and mortar retail. They've launched physical bookstores. They've launched shopping mall kiosks. They've done apparel stores. They've done convenience stores. They even had their own Amazon supermarket chain. None of it has worked. Amazon Go convenience stores, there's still a few of them left.
There's 14 locations nationwide, but that's less than half of the amount that they had in 2023. So this is just another attempt. They're saying, okay, we've tried everything. Why don't we just Why don't we just do the biggest concept yet? And maybe that would be the best opportunity because look, we are a mass market retailer on our website. We sell everything.
These other stores have been maybe a little more niche or catered to a particular clientele. Why don't we just basically build our own Walmart and see what happens?
I'm very interested about this digital and physical integration that they're trying to do here because these in-store kiosks allow you to basically access Amazon's e-commerce platform while you're walking around. So maybe you see this lovely sweater in front of you, but you don't really like the color that's on display in the physical store.
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