Stifel Bits

Summary

• Narragansett, Rhode Island police reported a tractor-trailer spill of over two tons of squid onto a road in 2026.
• 41% of publicly posted long-form LinkedIn posts from April to June 2026 were entirely artificial intelligence-generated.
• The inflation-adjusted median household income for households headed by people under 40 reached $100,900 in 2024, a 9% increase since 2019.
• The inflation-adjusted median home value increased by 30% from 2019 to 2024.
• The yield on the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond reached 5.327% on August 18, the highest level since 2007.
• A container ship owner paid $4 million to bypass the queue at the Panama Canal.
• Construction workers in Belgium discovered gold bars estimated to be worth $10 million while laying sewage pipes at a former brewery site.
• The U.S. government debt crossed $40 trillion last week, doubling in less than a decade.
• Corporate America raised approximately $500 billion this year to build AI data centers.
• Safest bonds performed worse than slightly riskier bonds this year due to high borrowing demand.
• Researchers found dogs' brains respond differently to happy, angry, fearful, and sad human faces, with happy expressions activating reward centers.
• The loudly crying face emoji became the world's most-used emoji in 2025, overtaking the laughing face \& the rolling on the floor laughing face.
• JPMorgan estimates GLP-1 medications could cut annual food \& beverage sales by $30 billion to $55 billion.
• A humanoid robot ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games.
• American Airlines is reintroducing seatback screens after previously betting passengers would prefer their own devices.
• Costco is adding Medicare plans to its existing offerings of groceries, gas, vacations, cars, \& insurance.
• Amazon is expanding Prime Air drone delivery to provide groceries \& electronics in as little as 30 minutes.
• Nestlé is using AI \& nutrition science to develop foods for people on GLP-1 medications.
• Disney plans to reimagine Tomorrowland, update Spaceship Earth, \& bring back fan favorites like Dreamfinder.
• Murphy USA is testing automated White Castle kiosks that serve hot food in about two minutes.