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The European Central Bank delivered on its promise of June interest rate cuts, its first since 2019. The U.S. Federal Reserve is still deciding whether to do the same this year. But what the ECB does won’t affect the Fed’s decision, since European interest rates don’t impact U.S. job growth or prices. Also in this episode, the history of the federal jobs report, the cost of congestion pricing and the future of tourism on the Rio Grande.

The European Central Bank is joining Canada in cutting interest rates after months and months of holding them steady. But the U.S. Federal Reserve isn’t likely to follow suit, at least not yet. We’ll explain why. Then, we’ll dig deeper into the political and financial motivations for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s abrupt decision to block congestion pricing in New York City. Plus, what antitrust investigations into Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI could mean for AI mania.

Here’s everything we talked about today:


“European Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates for the First Time Since 2019” from The New York Times
“ECB: Interest rates are coming down in Europe. The Fed won’t follow yet” from CNN
“Canada becomes first G7 nation to cut interest rates” from Reuters
“Advocates for congestion pricing want Governor Hochul to think about long-term benefits” from ABC7 New York
“Big Auto And The Death Of Traffic Congestion Reform” from The Lever 
“Banerji: Seeing a true mania in Nvidia and meme stock trading” from CNBC
“Angel Reese: People watch WNBA for me too, not just one person!” from ESPN
“The ugly discourse surrounding Caitlin Clark” from The Washington Post

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks, and play a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Markets were steady; Initial jobless claims rise; European Central Bank lowers rates; AI companies investigated.

The U.S. added a record amount of new solar energy generation, an industry report says; European Central Bank lowers its key interest rate; initial jobless claims inch up to 229,000; Nvidia overtakes Apple as second most valuable company in the world.

A new report out of investment advisor Vanguard finds that more than 40% of employer matches go to the richest 20% of workers — and it’s not just because they have the highest salaries. We’ll discuss the problems with the 401(k) model and hear a potential fix. Plus, St. Louis is grappling with a “real estate doom loop.” How did it get there and how might it get out?

It’s been one week since former President Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election. So what’s to become of the publicly traded company he heads, Trump Media and Technology Group? Can a convicted felon legally be a principal of a publicly traded company? We discuss. Also on the show; Nvidia stock, congestion pricing and wage growth.