Good Morning and Happy Friday! Last week’s recession is over - retail sales came in much better than expected last month, and the stock market ended up recovering all August losses. Starbucks will give Brian Niccol $85 million in cash and let him work from home (you can really work from anywhere if you’re good at what you do). Walmart is starting to cut prices as inflation slows, and quant funds are gearing up to unleash a wave of cash in the stock market. Plus the difference between being rich and wealthy, and how to deal with annoying emails at work.

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_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Wizz Air's Unlimited Europe Flights

A European airline just dropped a $550/year pass that will let you take unlimited flights all throughout Europe. 

Wizz Air, a Hungarian-based low-cost carrier, might not be a household name, but it serves nearly every country on the continent, with destinations including Athens, Madrid, Paris, and Reykjavik.

Whether you’re a college student studying abroad or a London banker constantly jetting off on holiday, this pass could be a travel game-changer if you’re flying a few times each month.

However, there are a few caveats. While you can book up to three flights per day, each booking comes with a 10 euro fee, and you’ll need to pay extra for anything more than one personal item.

Plus, the airline is only releasing 10,000 of these passes, and the introductory fee of $550 (499 euros) will only be available until today, after which the price rises to 599 euros.

Low-cost carriers like Ryanair and easyJet have revolutionized air travel in Europe, leaving American counterparts like Spirit and Frontier struggling to replicate their success. Wizz Air’s approach is a bit different—unlike Frontier’s GoWild! Pass, which only allowed next-day bookings, Wizz lets you secure your flights three days in advance, adding a layer of convenience for frequent flyers.

Takeaway: Wizz has been facing profitability challenges, with a recent 44% drop in its first-quarter operating profit and customer satisfaction ratings among the lowest in Europe. The post-pandemic boom has been a rough spot for some airlines, with intense competition in the race for the bottom. So we’ll see if Wizz figures it out or ends up bankrupt like MoviePass. And who knows - it can’t be that much worse than Spirit.

_{PRESENTED BY DOLLAR FLIGHT CLUB}

Travel Smart: $1 for Premium Flight Deals

Hate overpaying for flights? Yea, us too.

That’s why we snagged you the deal of a lifetime: Short Squeez readers can try Dollar Flight Club’s Premium Plus+ membership for only $1. 

It’s easy—just sign up, set your departure airports, and relax as flight deals discounted up to 90% roll in. Think deals to your dream destinations like:

• Round trip to Paris from $293

• Hawaii from $161

• Orlando from $38 (no joke)

Don’t wait, try for $1 now.

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Consumer spending jumped in July as retail sales were better than expected (CNBC)

• S&P 500 erases August losses as ‘irrational recession fears’ fade (MW)

• Latest economic data cools recession worries (YF)

• Starbucks is giving incoming CEO Brian Niccol $85M (CNBC)

• Walmart cutting prices as inflation slows (Axios)

• US unemployment claims fall 7,000 in sign of resiliency in job market (YF)

• Why credit unions are buying banks (Axios)

• Warren Buffett did something curious with his Apple stock holding (CNBC)

• Jamie Dimon wants to hit millionaires with the ‘Buffett Rule’ (YF)

• Quant funds are poised to unleash a wave of cash in the stock market (YF)

• NBC is pinning Peacock’s streaming success on its $2.45B NBA deal (CNBC)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Indexes end higher as retail sales soothe slowdown fears.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Ulta Beauty ($ULTA) +11% after Warren Buffett unveiled a stake in Ulta in his portfolio.

• (+) Walmart ($WMT) +7% after boosting earnings projections after a strong Q2.

• (–) Dillards ($DDS) -11% because of an earnings miss; jump in expenses.

Private Dealmaking

• Lockheed Martin will take Terran Orbital private for $450 million 

• Prytek bought Tipranks, a stock research platform, for $200 million

• Re:Build Manufacturing, an industrial manufacturing solutions platform, raised $120 million

• HistoSonics, a liver cancer therapy solutions developer, raised $102 million

• Chaos Labs, an on-chain risk management provider, raised $55 million

• Sahara AI, a decentralized AI blockchain platform, raised $43 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

How To Stay Smart In A Smart World

Doomsday prophets of technology predict that robots will take over the world, leaving humans behind in the dust. Tech industry boosters think replacing people with software might make the world a better place—while tech industry critics warn darkly about surveillance capitalism.

Despite their differing views of the future, they all seem to agree: machines will soon do everything better than humans. In How to Stay Smart in a Smart World, Gerd Gigerenzer shows why that’s not true, and tells us how we can stay in charge in a world populated by algorithms.

Machines powered by artificial intelligence are good at some things (playing chess), but not others (life-and-death decisions, or anything involving uncertainty). Gigerenzer explains why algorithms often fail at finding us romantic partners (love is not chess), why self-driving cars fall prey to the Russian Tank Fallacy, and how judges and police rely increasingly on nontransparent “black box” algorithms to predict whether a criminal defendant will reoffend or show up in court.

He invokes Black Mirror, considers the privacy paradox (people want privacy but give their data away), and explains that social media get us hooked by programming intermittent reinforcement in the form of the “like” button. We shouldn’t trust smart technology unconditionally, Gigerenzer tells us, but we shouldn’t fear it unthinkingly, either.

“A seriously compelling, eye opening, and well researched investigation.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Annual Change in the Price of Food in US

_{PRESENTED BY MACABACUS}

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Download Macabacus can save you hours in Excel and PowerPoint.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Words

Words have the power to heal or hurt, to inspire or discourage.

They shape our thoughts, our reality, and our relationships.

What words do you use most often?

What story are they telling?

Consider how Martin Luther King Jr.'s words ignited a movement, or how a teacher's words can shape a student's future.

Choose your words carefully.

Speak with kindness.

Use language that empowers.

Remember, handle your words carefully – for words have more power than atom bombs.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• What’s the difference between rich or wealthy?

• 2 ways to deal with annoying emails at work

• How to balance your priorities at work

• How to navigate tough conversations as an entrepreneurial leader

• The power of humble leadership

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day