It’s prime grilling season and the steaks have never been higher. The average price of an uncooked beef steak jumped 8% over the past year, reaching a record $11.49 per pound in the US, according to federal government data.

Ground beef is sky-high, too, spiking nearly 12% to a record $6.12 per pound. Now more than ever, if you want to make a good burger, you’d better have some cheddar.

What’s the beef?

Beef prices have actually been trending upward for years because US cattle inventory is down. It’s 8% smaller than it was in 2019 and at its lowest level in more than 70 years. According to the Associated Press:

• Years of drought have made it more expensive for ranchers to feed their cattle.
• Cattle prices are high, so ranchers are cashing in while they can, selling their cows instead of using them to breed more calves.
• If ranchers do want to grow their herds, it’s hard to come up with tens of thousands of dollars to make that investment, especially when borrowing costs are high.

What about imports? There are challenges there, too. The US government suspended Mexican cattle imports to ensure a flesh-eating fly, the New World screwworm, stays far away from US farms (and our nightmares).

Beef prices could also start feeling the heat from President Trump’s trade policy. According to Axios, about 23% of US beef imports come from Brazil, where Trump has announced a 50% tariff to take effect on August 1. Brazilian meatpackers are already reconsidering future shipments, Reuters reported.

Big picture: “Prices for beef will continue to be tumultuous for the next two to four years,” the CEO of KC Cattle Company told Axios. To prepare, Walmart opened its first beef processing facility last month to have more control over the supply chain.—BC

Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its entire fleet last night. According to an FAA advisory, the airline sought approval to ground over 200 planes under its brand. It later expanded the stoppage to include planes from its Horizon Air unit. Alaska Airlines said the decision stemmed from a computer network outage. While the ground stop was lifted about three hours later, around 11pm Pacific, Alaska said that “residual impacts” to its operations would be felt, adding, “It will take some time to get our overall operations back to normal.” As NBC News noted, the disruption comes almost exactly a year after a faulty CrowdStrike update caused chaos for airlines.

Japanese prime minister will stay in role to tackle inflation, tariffs. PM Shigeru Ishiba held a press conference Monday morning local time after his party lost an important parliamentary election on Sunday to announce he would not step down. The Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner were unable to retain a majority in the upper house of Japan’s Parliament, meaning the LDP is now a minority in both houses despite still being the leading party. He cited the need to tackle inflation at home and reach a trade deal with the US as reasons why he wanted to remain premier and avoid political instability.

Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigned following Coldplay debacle. The software startup announced on Saturday that its board of directors accepted Byron’s resignation after the married executive got caught on the “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert last Wednesday night in an intimate pose with another woman, the company’s Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot. Axios reported that Cabot is on leave from Astronomer pending an investigation into the incident, which to the wider world has become a meme. One example: At Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the Phanatic recreated the moment on the Phillies jumbotron.—HVL

The WNBA All-Stars warmed up before a sold-out crowd in Indianapolis on Saturday in black shirts that read: “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”

Off court, the players are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that they hope will share more of the WNBA’s recent windfall with “the ones that have put in the blood, sweat, and tears for the new money that’s coming in,” according to Napheesa Collier, who was named the MVP of the All-Star Game.

Playing the percentages

WNBA players know their league doesn’t make NBA money. But currently, NBA players receive 50% of all league revenue, whereas the WNBA players receive just 9.3%.

According to Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the WNBA players association, the league offered players a fixed percentage of revenue, but the union wants a model where “our salaries grow with the business, and not just a fixed percentage over time.”

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said before the game that the league aims to significantly increase player salaries and benefits while balancing profitability for owners and encouraging continued investment.

Final score: Team Collier beat Team Clark 151–131, but Team Clark’s captain and namesake, Caitlin, could not play due to a groin injury.—HVL

It’s an earnings report bonanza: More than 20% of the S&P 500 reports Q2 earnings this week, led by Magnificent Seven heavyweights Alphabet and Tesla on Wednesday. So do Domino’s (today) and Chipotle (Wednesday), along with defense companies, including RTX and Lockheed Martin on Tuesday, and General Dynamics on Wednesday. Plus, investors will be watching on Tuesday to see whether Coca-Cola is actually switching from corn syrup to cane sugar for its US products.

For your viewing pleasure: Happy Gilmore is back to play a second round. The sequel hits Netflix this Friday and will attempt to tap tap taparoo into some of the magic that made the 1996 original a classic. On Wednesday, the new season of South Park is finally set to arrive after a weekslong delay and lots of drama, including the show creators bashing the pending merger between Comedy Central parent company Paramount and Skydance Media. Comic-Con kicks off in San Diego this Thursday, Fantastic Four surfs into theaters on Friday, and Shark Week is running all week.

President Trump heads to Scotland on Friday: During his trip across the pond, Trump is expected to meet with UK PM Keir Starmer to “refine” the trade framework struck between their two countries in May, according to the White House. Trump is also visiting two of his family-owned golf courses, plus the site of another future course, though it’s unclear whether Trump will hit the links himself. Either way, he’ll be back in the UK in September for a state visit.

Everything else:

• JPow delivers remarks at a banking conference on Tuesday, as betting markets try to predict how hot his Fed chair seat is.
• New home sales data for June will be released on Thursday.
• On Saturday, the US Postal Service puts the stamp on 250 years of operation.
• Saturday marks 35 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law.

A recent Appriss Retail and Deloitte report found that $685 billion of merchandise was returned in the US last year, but 15% of it, or $103 billion worth, was fraudulent, meaning a lot of empty boxes or used items went back to retailers.

Bad returns are much more common in the realm of e-commerce than in traditional stores. Problem behaviors include customers buying apparel, wearing it once, then sending it back for a refund, and people claiming packages never arrived.

No data was provided for the economic impact of the opposite phenomenon: genuinely requesting a return label but then never finding the right size box to send the item back in.—HVL

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