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Lucy Brewster

brewmarkets.com

Keurig Dr. Pepper and Peet’s Coffee are teaming up—just to split into two different companies.

Today, beverage behemoth Keurig Dr. Pepper announced it is acquiring Amsterdam-based JDE Peet’s in an 

. Keurig Dr. Pepper will pay JD Peet’s investors $37.50 per share, a 33% premium on Peet’s three-month weighted average stock price.

Shares of Keurig Dr. Pepper fell 11.48% on the news, while JDE Peet’s surged 22.81%.

 As part of the two-step transaction, which is expected to close in 2026, the new entity plans to separate into two distinct public companies: Beverage Co., which will focus on brands like Dr Pepper, 7UP, and Snapple; and Global Coffee Co., featuring Peet’s, Green Mountain, and Keurig.

Post-split, Keurig Dr Pepper’s CEO Tim Cofer will lead the new beverage company, which is expected to bring in $11 billion in net sales. Keurig Dr Pepper CFO Sudhanshu Priyadarshi will lead the new coffee company, which is expected to enjoy $16 billion in annual net sales.

Getting together then separating may seem like a counterintuitive business maneuver, but there’s a method to the madness.

Keurig and Dr. Pepper originally joined forces in 2018, but the company’s coffee division has been weighing it down for years, underperforming its soft drink sales. Part of the reason has to do with steep competition in the coffee market, exacerbated by the surging price of coffee beans over the past year—and that was before 50% tariffs were slapped on Brazil, which produces much of the world’s 

Not only would JDE Peet’s give the company an entry into the European market, it would also allow it to focus on 

As for the beverage company, the streamlined entity will hopefully curtail a slowdown in soft drink sales fueled by health-conscious customers. Analysts expect it to focus on energy drink offerings like Ghost and Bloom.

"Following the separation, each stand-alone entity will lead its industry with a sharp strategic focus and with operating models that are finely calibrated to their unique categories and markets," Cofer said.—

Keurig Dr. Pepper is buying Peet's Coffee

The soda and coffee company is doubling down on caffeine.

A breakup in merger's clothing

For a party of small government and free markets, the Republican White House is certainly getting cozy with the private sector.

 that the US government is taking a 10% stake worth roughly $8.9 billion in the chipmaker, sending shares of the company soaring 6% that day. $5.7 billion of the deal will come from grants previously awarded through the 2022 CHIPS Act, with the remaining $3.2 billion coming from a separate government award.

 You might remember President Trump calling for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan 

 only a few short weeks ago, so it might give you whiplash to see Tan looking 

 alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 

But while the US government argues the deal is a national security priority, it’s also a boon for beleaguered Intel, which has been struggling to keep up with rivals like AMD and Nvidia in the AI arms race. On the flip side, some argue the deal can’t provide Intel with what it really needs—

—and that White House intervention introduces new risks.

This isn’t just about Trump and Lip-Bu Tan brushing conflict under the rug faster than the most toxic couple you know. In fact, the federal government’s relationship with the private sector could be undergoing a massive shift.

 establishing a sovereign wealth fund. Since then, the federal government has been on a 

: The Pentagon inked a deal to become the largest shareholders of rare-earths minder MP Materials, the White House allowed Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices to export chips to China as long as it gets 15% of those revenues, and way back in June, the federal government approved Nippon Steel’s acquisition of US Steel in exchange for a “golden share.”

While there’s a historical precedent for the US government taking stakes in private companies (for example, the Federal Housing Finance Agency taking over Freddie Mac and and Fannie Mae during the 2008 financial crisis), creating an entire fund for the government to invest in private companies is a whole different ballgame—and this stake in Intel is only the first inning.—

The US is building a sovereign wealth fund

Intel is just the first step in the US government's plan to build a fund.

The sovereign wealth fund is happening

Mark Reeth

Looks like we’re going to have to stop calling it the stock market and rename it the ETF market: Exchange-traded funds officially 

ETFs have hit the market at an incredible pace this year. Issuers have launched 640 ETFs in 2025, or about 4 per day, with 108 new funds making their debut in June alone—a record for the most ETF launches in a single month. The result is that there are now 4,300 ETFs on the market, compared to 4,200 stocks.

Two forces are at work here. On the one hand, issuers like BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the three biggest by assets under management), are in a fierce competition with one another for investor money. The result is that they’ve niched down, offering a wider variety of funds to suit every investor’s needs. On the other hand, the number of companies going public has 

 as the benefits of remaining private outweigh the costs of regulation, litigation, and shareholder activism.

The result is a rapidly growing universe of ETFs—and growing risk for investors who don’t do their homework. Single-stock ETFs, leveraged ETFs, and inverse ETFs are just a few of the new forms of funds that are gaining popularity, but each comes with its own perils and pitfalls. Remember: It’s all fun and games putting money into the Social Sentiment ETF until the 

ETFs outnumber stocks

There are 4,300 ETFs and 4,200 stocks on the market.

ETFs now outnumber stocks

Judy Dutton

 may not be glamorous, but it’s all the rage these days as 

 scrounge through cheap stores to skirt tariff-induced sticker shock.

The shift in buying behavior played out this week for investors as discount retailers reported relatively robust earnings and rosy outlooks for the rest of 2025. For example: Although Ross Stores missed revenue estimates and 

 an $0.11 dent in EPS due to tariffs today, the overstock outlet predicts that same-store sales will grow 2% to 3% this quarter.

Rising prices are beginning to scare skittish shoppers out of higher-end stores, but Ross is perfectly positioned to absorb all that unsold inventory and serve it up for a fraction of the price. As CEO Jim Conroy 

 in a statement, “We anticipate pricing across retail will move higher as we progress through the year, which will lead consumers to seek more value this fall season.”

: TJX, the company behind TJ Maxx and Marshalls, 

 its full-year profit outlook in the wake of higher-than-anticipated earnings and revenue. So did Walmart, which 

 a 4.8% jump in same-store sales in Q2. Although tariffs 

 Walmart’s prices by 1%, the megachain also rolled out 7,400 temporary price reductions, about 2,000 more than the previous quarter. CEO Doug McMillon vowed to keep prices low “for as long as we can.”

Should investors shop discount stores, too?

Outlet stores’ strong performance looks all the more impressive compared to how their pricier competition is doing.

Take Target: Comparable same-store sales have 

 or fallen for 11 quarters straight, prompting this hip-yet-struggling store to oust its CEO of 11 years. Still, fresh leadership will have a tough time balancing tariff pressures with discerning cheapskates, especially as BofA analysts 

 the store may need to raise prices at nearly 

“Tar-zhay’s aspirational vibe is on the bench. Discount retail is winning because the game shifted from style points to scoreboard math,” Running Point Capital Advisors Chief Investment Officer Michael Ashley Schulman told Brew Markets. “Walmart is spreading the hit, raising prices on only about a tenth of imported items, with grocery traffic subsidizing the rest. TJ Maxx and Ross live off turnovers, scooping up other retailers’ over-order fumbles and turning them into treasure-hunt touchdowns. Off-price thrives because chaos is their transfer portal—mispriced inventory flows to them, not away from them—so they win ugly.”

So, what does that mean for you? “For investors, bet on margin defense under tariff pressure, turnover ratio, and a playbook tilted to staples over sizzle,” Schulman said.

Discount retailers are popping, premium brands are dropping

TJX, Ross, and Walmart all illustrated the draw of value for consumers right now.

There's big money in discount stores

For months now, investors have lived in fear that the stocks propelling the entire market higher could stumble—and bring the whole S&P 500 down with them.

This week, it feels like the dominos have started to fall, and the anxiety about an AI bubble is reaching a fever pitch. The latest indicator: today’s announcement that Meta Platforms is freezing its 

The tech titan has shelled out incredible paychecks to bring researchers aboard its AI unit as Mark Zuckerberg races rivals like OpenAI to become the biggest name in artificial intelligence. But even Big Bucks Zuck has a spending limit, and he’s decided to close up his wallet only a few days after news broke that Meta’s AI group is undergoing its 

Investors are starting to get antsy, and want to see some tangible result from big tech’s AI spending bonanza, in which Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta will dole out a combined 

 just this year. Even crazier: a recent McKinsey report predicted AI spending will reach $7 trillion over the next five years to meet demand.

The hope is that this gargantuan spending will result in huge profits for these companies—but with actual returns remaining in limbo, this AI-fueled bull market is beginning to fizzle.

Today’s news from Meta is just the latest in a series of body blows to the AI trade this week.

Fears of a bubble forming in the AI space began after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that startup valuations are “insane.” The bad news kept coming when MIT published a study showing that 

In the days since, some of the highest-flying AI stocks on the market dropped hard. Palantir is the prime example: The secretive tech stock sold off for six days straight on the heels of a short seller report from 

 its high valuation, calling it “detached from fundamentals and analysis.”

Nobody knows for sure whether AI stocks are in a dot-com era bubble—not even us (shocking, we know). But FT editor John Thornhill 

: There will probably be multiple cycles of hype and crash as the AI revolution continues on. Bubbles can serve a purpose, he argued, resulting in the buildout of infrastructure that eventually leads to widespread adoption of the technology.

, now is the moment to buy the dip when it comes to these flashy, momentum-driven tech stocks. If you’re a big tech believer, right now offers a great entry point into these stocks, which have been on a tear over the past year.

But we can’t promise it’ll be a smooth ride upward anymore.—

Meta logo with a "not hiring" speech bubble

Meta halted its hiring frenzy

The AI bubble is starting to look overextended, and Meta might be the canary in the coalmine.

Is the AI bubble bursting?

You know the market is getting frothy when people who’ve previously peddled failed ventures are getting second chances.

And in the case of Chamath Palihapitiya, we’re way past chance number two.

The former Facebook executive and venture capitalist is back with a $250 million 

 (SPAC) called American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. The new SPAC will seek to acquire companies in AI, crypto, defense, or energy, according to its S-1.

For those of you who don’t remember, Palihapitiya unleashed a slew of SPACs back in their heyday of 2017 to 2021, when they were first gaining popularity as a backdoor method for startups to go public without the traditional IPO process.

Many of his SPACs did not turn out to be particularly lucrative, to put it mildly.

 Palihapitiya launched, four had to return cash to investors because they never found a partner company to merge with. Five of the remaining six were spectacular failures with a 

 of 75%, according to Bloomberg. They include Virgin Galactic, which delivered investors a loss of 99% since its debut; Clover Health, which has lost 76% of its value; and OpenDoor, which boasts a cumulative loss of 66%.

The sole success was SoFi Technologies, which has returned 131% to shareholders since it arrived on the market.

At least this time around, Palihapitiya is being up front about the risks involved with investing in one of his SPACs.

In a letter published alongside American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp.’s S-1 prospectus, Palihapitiya added a disclosure to his latest foray: “We believe that retail investors should only participate if (a) this investment is a small part of an otherwise diversified portfolio, (b) this investment is a quantum of capital they can afford to completely lose and (c) if they do lose their entire capital, they will embody the adage from President Trump that there can be ‘no crying in the casino.’”

Seems Palihapitiya is finally admitting that putting your money on him isn’t investing, it’s gambling.—

The SPAC King is back, investors beware

The return of Chamath Palihapitiya may herald a market top.

The SPAC King is back

The cutthroat race to dominate the multibillion-dollar GLP-1 market just got even more ruthless.

Today, shares of Novo Nordisk jumped 3.71% after the pharma giant snagged a much-needed win: Its star weight-loss drug Wegovy became the first GLP-1 medication to be 

On top of that, the company announced today it plans to halve its 

 for patients who pay for Ozempic in cash. Users can now get the drug for roughly $499 through NovoCare, a direct online pharmacy, as well as telemedicine platform GoodRx.

 pharma companies have been increasingly deploying as a backdoor tactic to lower prices. Offering these drugs on a direct-to-consumer platform avoids costly and complex middlemen, which includes pharmacy-benefit managers.

 To catch you up on the ongoing GLP-1 rollercoaster, Novo Nordisk 

 when it debuted the first super-effective GLP-1 drug, Ozempic. Its market cap became so gargantuan that it surpassed the 

But the drugmaker has blown its lead due to production miscalculations and stiff competition from fellow pharma giant Eli Lilly, as well as a slew of telemedicine startups producing knockoff versions of the drug. Novo’s shares are down 60% over the past 12 months.

Now, it looks like Novo could be staging a comeback—one it desperately needs. At the same time that it’s cutting prices, arch-rival Eli Lilly 

 of its own GLP-1 meds by roughly 170% in the UK. President Trump has been pressuring US pharma companies to lower US prices, and raise them in Europe. Shares of Eli Lilly sank 0.45%.

While the pharma behemoths continue to duke it out, 

 today nearly slipped under the radar: telemedicine platform GoodRx, which soared 37.27% on the news that Novo Nordisk would be offering its discounted Ozempic on the platform.

One party having a BadRx day right now? Hims & Hers, the beleaguered online pharma platform that previously struck a short-lived distribution deal with Novo before the partnership 