Axios

One thing is very clear about August's hotter-than-expected inflation report this morning: Investors were not expecting this.

Why it matters: Many had been banking on less aggressive Federal Reserve tightening... eventually. Tuesday's market collapse bolstered the belief that traders were mesmerized by a "sucker's rally," and are now paying the price.

SAN FRANCISCO — Business travel broke records the week after Labor Day, according to a new TripActions report.

Driving the news: There's been a nearly 6x increase in trip bookings and spend for travel starting between Sept. 1 and Nov. 19, compared to a year ago.

Starbucks unveiled a new strategy today to reinvent itself inside and out, and to expand around the world.

Why it matters: The coffee giant needs a bold overhaul to resolve growing tensions with some of its U.S. workers, adjust to new consumer preferences and behaviors, and rethink how it approaches its global markets.

SAN FRANCISCO — Travel may play a different role than it has in the past.

What they're saying: It will become "the antidote to us endlessly scrolling on a screen or watching something or buying something or working," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said at Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference.

Retailers are preparing for an unprecedented holiday shopping season and could need to offer more discounts to lure inflation-wary shoppers.

Why it matters: “This is the first holiday season amid a consumer slowdown and high inflation for many years, so there is no recent precedent to learn from,” GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders told Axios.

New guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control provides a roadmap for people who used Tornado Cash for lawful transactions to withdraw their stuck funds.

Driving the news: On August 8, Treasury announced that the smart contracts that made up the Tornado Cash transaction privacy application on Ethereum had fallen under U.S. sanctions, meaning that no U.S. person could use it.

Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted to approve Elon Musk's offer to buy the social media platform for around $44 billion, just weeks before the start of the company's trial against the billionaire for trying to back out of the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Why it matters: The vote came the same day Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former head of security who released an 84-page whistleblower complaint against the platform last month, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the national security implications of his claims.

Amtrak canceled three of its long-distance routes out of Chicago this week as the company gears up for a potential railroad workers' strike.

Why it matters: A labor contract dispute between railroad workers and freight rails could lead to the U.S.'s first railroad strike in nearly three decades, impacting more than 21,000 route miles the company operates outside of the northeast, per CNN.

Netflix's "Squid Game" made history as it triumphed with a series of firsts at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday evening.

The big picture: The smash-hit show, about a group of people facing financial trouble who play each other in life-or-death games to win money, is the first South Korean series and first television series not in English to win at the awards, the Los Angeles Times notes.

There's no sugar-coating it: August's inflation numbers were terrible news for everyone rooting for the economy to come in for a soft landing.

The big picture: Yes, the prices of gasoline and other forms of energy fell. But prices of most of the other things people buy — including essentials like food, rent and medical care — are still rapidly rising.

Bloomberg Media is ramping up its D.C. coverage plans ahead of the midterms with a slew of new products, hires and events.

Why it matters: The D.C. media market has proven particularly lucrative for publishers looking to capitalize on a growing pool of political and issue ad dollars.

Inflation went up again in August — especially for food items — but Starbucks has seen record demand, interim CEO Howard Schultz said Tuesday.

Why it matters: “We have been immune from any recognition whatsoever that there is a downturn in customer traffic, a downturn in ticket,” Schultz said kicking off the company’s investor day in Seattle.

Workers in seven states are set to get wage increases next year based on the CPI numbers released Tuesday morning. Overall, prices rose 8.3% in August over the past year, the Labor department said.

Why it matters: 12 states and Washington, D.C., adjust their minimum wages based on inflation and seven specifically look at the August readout. These moves were of less consequence when inflation was minimal.

The Verge has redesigned its home page and user experience to include a Twitter-like feed of content that's editorially curated by its top editors and reporters, executives told Axios.

Why it matters: "I think that the core realization for us is that our competition is not Wired, our competition is Twitter ... and other aggregators of audience," said Nilay Patel, The Verge's editor-in-chief.

AppLovin on Tuesday said it won't submit a new bid to acquire video game development platform Unity Software, after its $20 billion all-stock offer was rejected.

Why it matters: Unity now can complete its $4.4 billion acquisition of mobile ad tech firm IronSource, which it would have needed to scrap under the terms of AppLovin's proposal.

Twitter shareholders on Tuesday will vote to approve or reject Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover offer, while Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko will testify in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Between the lines: The two events aren't officially related, but there is a through line with Musk hoping that Zatko will become his Get Out Of Deal Free card.

Consumer prices ticked up during the month of August, bucking expectations that inflation would fall slightly, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Costs for shelter and food continued to jump, though plummeting gasoline prices helped ease overall price gains.

This holiday season, don’t look for e-commerce growth to slow down,

Driving the news: Economists at Deloitte forecast growth of 13.5% in e-commerce sales this holiday season, pushing sales up to $262 billion, according to a new report out this morning.

Coal prices are soaring as the global energy crisis forces power providers worldwide to boost usage of the carbon-laden mineral.

Why it matters: A renewed embrace of coal represents a turnabout from the previous global focus on cutting emissions.

A new climate software firm that's announcing itself to the world on Tuesday says it has a competitive edge that other companies lack.

The big picture: Climate Alpha, which just raised a $4 million seed round, uses AI and machine learning to tell customers where to invest and move to in light of climate change and other factors.

Twitter is still the place where media publishers collectively have the largest audiences, followed by Facebook and Instagram, according to an Axios analysis of 82 major news, entertainment and sports publishers.

Why it matters: While some publishers are finding quick success on TikTok, the platform yields fewer overall followers for publishers than other social platforms.

David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group and huge philanthropist, is out today with "How To Invest: Masters on the Craft" — interviews with fellow billionaires and pioneers about building wealth.

• A big takeaway, synthesized from advice by Warren Buffett and others: Don't sell so much! Hold on for a long time: You avoid transaction costs, avoid taxes and keep compounding.

Amazon's latest benefit for Prime members kicks off this week with the debut of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video.

Why it matters: This season marks the first in NFL history that an entire rights package will be made available exclusively via a streaming platform.

The most-nominated program of this year's Emmy Awards may not have picked up the most prizes, but HBO's "Succession" ultimately proved its status as the hottest TV show of the year by winning the top award on Monday evening.

Why it matters: The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards on NBC saw a slew of historic firsts, proving that award shows can still create important cultural moments, even though viewership is declining.

Hundreds of people are expected to be laid off on the business side of Warner Bros. Discovery, via a round of layoffs that will begin Tuesday, sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Executives have warned for months that the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery would yield roughly $3 billion in synergies.

Working conditions — more than pay demands — are holding up the resolution of a years long labor dispute between the nation's largest freight rail companies and their unions.

Why it matters: Their demands highlight how the pandemic deepened worker unrest. Beyond that, the possibility of a strike is now putting the nation's still recovering supply chain and economy at risk. A work stoppage would cost $2 billion a day, according to one estimate.

A U.S. appeals court on Monday heard arguments on minimum airplane seat size rules that a flyer advocacy group says is necessary for passenger safety, per Reuters.

Driving the news: The Justice Department said the Federal Aviation Administration's "examination of existing evidence has not yet demonstrated a safety need for minimum seat dimensions" but that the agency is continuing to examine the issue, Reuters reported.

SAN FRANCISCO – A more Netflix-like experience could be coming to Peloton subscribers over the next year, CEO Barry McCarthy said Monday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference.

Why it matters: The company hadn't focused on content personalization prior to McCarthy — a former CFO who spent nearly two decades at Netflix and Spotify — taking the reins in February.