In Other Brews…

• Inflation has cooled off enough to break out its fall wardrobe. Annual inflation fell to a three-year low of 2.5% in August, spitting distance from the Fed’s 2% target. While grocery (+2.1%) and gasoline (-10%) prices have steadied over the last year, housing remains stubbornly high (+5%). Everyone’s expecting the Fed to cut rates next week.

• Turns out America still loves the NFL. Week 1 games averaged a record 21M viewers each, a 12% increase from 2023. The most people since 2019 (123M) watched some of a game. However, despite being the second-most watched MNF premiere, the 49ers' win over the Jets drew 10% fewer viewers than last year, likely due to ongoing ESPN/DirecTV disputes.

• Numbers are in for colleges’ first enrollment season since the Supremes struck down affirmative action. Harvard reported Black enrollment declined from 18% to 14%, Hispanic enrollment increased from 14% to 16%, and Asian-American enrollment held steady at 37%. MIT and Brown saw declines in minority enrollment, while other ivy-covered schools like Yale and Princeton showed little change. 

• The show best known for making Millennial parents cry is officially America’s favorite. Bluey, the animated 7-minute kids’ program following a family of Aussie cattle dogs, is the U.S.’s most-watched show of 2024. The smash hit on Disney+ racked up 35 billion minutes watched; Cocomelon (2021-2022’s top kids’ program) and Suits (top show overall in 2023) can’t keepy uppy.

• Amazon’s taking a page out of Wally World’s playbook, launching a new generic label of budget-friendly food items that’ll ship straight to your doorstep. Bezos’s baby is hoping “Amazon Saver” will attract price-conscious shoppers with most items in the “no-frills” private label brand priced under $5––everything from cookies and crackers to sliced turkey and ham.