Today's Scoop:

Hey friends, make sure you're bringing that Rihanna halftime show energy to work this week.

Here's what you need to know today...

1. College degrees are losing their salary benefits.

2. Americans aren't hopeful for pay raises.

3. Consumers are less worried about inflation.

S&P 500: 4,137.291Mo: +4% | 1Yr: -6% | 5Yr: +51%

The market floated higher today ahead of tomorrow's crucial inflation report. Any surprise pickup in living costs could sink markets and encourage policymakers to push us into a recession.

College degrees are losing their salary benefits. The median annual pay for Americans with a bachelor's degree plummeted 7.4% to $52,000 last year, according to a report by the NY Federal Reserve. That's the steepest decline since 2004. Meanwhile, wages for those with only a high school diploma accelerated, closing the earnings gap between the lowest pay quartile of bachelor's degrees to only 7% from 21% in 2021.  

Americans are losing hope for higher pay. The median wage growth expected by consumers surveyed by the NY Fed sank to 3.3% last month in the sharpest one-month drop in expectations in over a decade. 

Consumers are less worried about rising living costs. The same survey reported median consumer inflation three-year expectations falling to 2.7%. Inflation expectations are critical because if businesses think costs will keep rising, they'll keep raising prices, perpetuating the cycle.

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• Toyota installs new EV-ready leadership

• Expedia reports a huge travel rebound

• Lyft can't keep up with Uber

• Wendy's pledges big emissions cuts approved by SBTi [🤓]

• PayPal makes big changes

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Scope Emissions & SBTi

As companies set target dates to achieve net-zero emissions, they'll be setting emission reduction targets for their Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (power-related), and Scope 3 (indirect) emissions. Scope 1 & 2 result from its core operations and the power it purchases to support those operations.

Scope 3 will be much bigger and more important but harder to tackle. It includes the Scope 1 & 2 emissions from all of their suppliers, the emissions from their products, and even things like employee commutes. It's the complete evaluation of how much greenhouse gas is emitted each year because the company exists. 

Not all pledges are created equal. Specific terms can signal authenticity in their ambitions, like the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The main concern with emissions pledges is whether the companies know how to measure their emissions, implement strategies to reduce them, or urgently reduce them. The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. In committing to SBTi, companies pledge to reduce emissions at a necessary pace to help avoid the worst outcomes of climate change and agree to official oversight and validation of their work.

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