Hey friends - if you’re reading this and it’s Friday, get out of here. Enjoy the weekend. If it’s Tuesday, well done. Welcome back.

🌎 The Big Picture

It was a relatively light week, but there are some bigger trends worth highlighting that caught my eye this week:

American businesses hit the brakes in May, and the strain is showing.

S&P Global's monthly Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which tracks business activity across the U.S. economy, came in at the same sluggish level as April, pointing to economic growth of barely over 1% annualized for the second quarter. That's a serious slowdown from where we started the year.

The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran has thrown shipping through the Strait of Hormuz into chaos, squeezed global supply chains, and pushed energy prices up. Factories scrambled to stockpile inventory before costs got any worse, which gave manufacturing output a temporary bump to a four-year high.

That stockpiling bump isn't real demand. Orders crept up slowly, exports dropped, and service businesses, where most Americans work, had their worst showing since late 2023. Business input costs jumped at their steepest pace since the brutal inflation stretch of late 2022, and companies passed those costs onto customers with the fastest price hikes in nearly four years. Workers felt it too, especially in services, where employers started cutting jobs rather than absorb the higher costs.

Rising prices paired with slowing demand is a rough combination that's squeezing household budgets and business margins alike.

Vet costs are rising faster than most prices, and there's a clear reason why.

Bank of America's analysis of card transactions across millions of customers found that vet services got 6% pricier over the past year through April 2026, well outpacing overall inflation and much faster than wages. It's no accident. Large corporations and private equity firms now own roughly 25 to 30% of all vet practices and about 75% of specialty clinics. As they've squeezed out local competition, prices have climbed and pet owners have lost any real leverage.

If you have pets and haven't reviewed your budget for veterinary care lately, this is a good moment to do that.

Americans are falling behind on debt, and student loans just got much worse.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that total household debt barely budged, rising just 0.1% to $18.8 trillion in Q1, the slowest growth in years. But the share of people missing payments keeps climbing toward territory not seen since the Great Financial Crisis. Over 13% of all credit card balances are more than 90 days overdue, and retail debt like department store credit and installment loans isn't far behind at 9.8% over 90 days delinquent. That doesn't even count Buy-Now-Pay-Later balances, which don't show up on credit reports at all. Auto loans are the worst of all, with 5.6% of balances 90 or more days past due, a record going back over 20 years.

The housing market is holding up relatively well.

Mortgage and home equity line of credit balances are mostly being managed, with only about 1% more than 90 days past due on both. Credit card and mortgage delinquency rates ticked up gradually in Q1, and auto loans were roughly flat, so the deterioration is happening slowly enough that it hasn't set off alarm bells for policymakers just yet.

Student loans are a whole different situation.

The share of student loan balances 90 or more days overdue jumped to 10.3%, up from 9.6% at the end of 2025. About 2.6 million more borrowers fell into default in just the first three months of this year, on top of the million who defaulted last quarter. That kind of debt stress is going to start showing up in consumer spending, and businesses will feel it.

Stepped back, the picture across this week's data is consistent: slowing growth, rising costs, and households under increasing financial pressure.

🏭 The Companies Everyone’s Talking About

❔ The Big Question of the Week

Scoops app users: We have taken the beta app offline for a short period for some major updates. Can’t wait to show you all what we’ve been working on! Reach out if you have any questions.

We’re going to switch up the content in this spotlight for a bit to make sure you all have the info you need to master your week.