Beef sales are plunging, but processors continue to raise prices as a yearslong cattle shortage strains the industry.

• 💸 Why it matters: Constrained cattle supplies are driving up costs for meatpackers, squeezing profits, and threatening to keep burgers and steaks expensive on menus and grocery shelves.

Driving the news: Tyson Foods today cut its profit outlook, having posted an operating loss of $707 million in its beef division over the trailing nine months.

• In its quarter ended June 27, beef volumes declined by 15.9% from a year ago, while prices Tyson charged grocery stores, restaurants and other customers rose 12.1%.
• The company's efforts to streamline its processing network helped, but soaring cattle costs — fueled by drought, higher feed costs and rising fertilizer and energy prices hitting farmers — more than erased those savings.

🗣️ What they're saying: "Beef hasn't performed the way we expected, and we're not pretending otherwise," Donnie King, the company's outgoing CEO, said on an earnings call.

🇲🇽 What's next: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to lift its temporary pause on Mexican cattle imports after a period of concern over the screwworm, which could put downward pressure on prices.

• King said that move "does provide the potential for some level of improvement in 2027 and beyond."
• But "to be clear, the reopening of the Mexican border will not solve the entire gap of beef losses we are currently seeing," he said.

🍽️ What we're watching: Whether beef prices continue to rise at restaurants.

• Beef and chicken make up about 25%–35% of input costs for most restaurants, according to Bank of America analyst Sara Senatore.

Go deeper

By many measures, the labor market is showing signs of improvement. But American workers are less confident than ever in the companies that employ them, Axios' Courtenay Brown writes.

📉 By the numbers: About 43% of U.S. employees reported a positive six-month outlook for their employer's business in July, according to Glassdoor's Employee Confidence Index — the lowest on record in data going back to 2016.

• That's down sharply from the record 53% who said the same in 2022, when the labor market was the hottest in years.

🙁 Zoom in: Telecom workers have grown the most pessimistic over the past year (a drop of nearly 14 percentage points), while confidence is also sliding across other white-collar industries.

• Confidence has also fallen sharply in hotels and travel accommodation (-12 points) and restaurants and food service (-9 points).

The intrigue: The confidence gap is widening inside companies. Entry-level and mid-career workers were more pessimistic in July, while confidence among senior employees improved.

• The divide reflects one key feature of the current labor market. Entry-level workers are bearing the brunt of weak hiring, as some employers experiment with using AI to automate junior-level tasks.

🏨 Marriott shares slumped after the hotel giant said that conflict in the Middle East is weighing on its performance. (Bloomberg)

🚗 Nissan turned its first quarterly profit in two years after intensive restructuring, but the company cut its vehicle sales outlook. (Reuters)

🏠 JPMorgan Chase said it's investing $750 billion through 2035 to expand affordable housing, homeownership and other economic opportunities. (WSJ)

You didn't need a spidey sense to know that "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" was poised to be a hit, but the superhero flick's showing at the box office surpassed even the most exuberant expectations in its opening weekend.

💰 State of play: The film notched $360 million in domestic ticket sales, marking the biggest debut in movie history.

• It edged out "Avengers: Endgame," which sold $357 million in tickets in 2019.

Zoom in: Overall, the weekend box office also posted the biggest haul ever, beating the "Avengers: Endgame" weekend with an estimated $430 million+ that included $51 million for "The Odyssey" in its third weekend, according to Rentrak.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: I'm not an avid superhero movie fan, but I'm still planning to see this one. FOMO!