(1:18) - The Federal Reserve has been firm in its stance that most of the inflation we are seeing in the economy right now is transitory. However, with the cost of rent on the rise, Jay Powell and the Fed may feel more pressure to raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.

(12:12) - Although many Covid-19 restrictions across the country have been loosened, movie theaters are still struggling to get back on their feet. Another factor that is heavily contributing to this is major movies going straight to streaming services.

(22:46) - The U.S. is starting to step up pressure on certain companies over labor practices in China that are notoriously unacceptable. This, combined with unfinished trade talks, could only heighten the tension between the two powerhouse nations.

(32:15) - Stack roulette.

(1:19) - The jobs report for July was a stellar one, however the job openings survey showed that there are 1 million more job openings than there are people looking for work. How much longer will this tight labor market persist?

(13:22) - Nicole Nguyen from The Wall Street Journal joined the show to discuss her story on how many Amazon sellers have a habit of hunting down negative reviewers, and what lengths these sellers go to in order to get those bad reviews deleted.

(22:57) - Countless companies had made plans for the fall, whether it be events, office re-openings, or general schedule changes. However, with the rapid spread of the Delta variant, those same companies are now scrapping those plans once again.

(33:16) - One change that the pandemic brought about that seems likely to stay is the use of QR codes in place of physical menus at restaurants. Will other business sectors follow suit and adopt QR codes as a central piece of their operations?

(2:43) - Through Executive Order, the Biden Administration has extended the eviction moratorium for another two months. However, this is almost sure to be challenged in court, as the Supreme Court has said they will not accept another extension without congressional action.

(10:55) - Tom Stringer of BDO joined the show to discuss how the pandemic has changed the way that corporations think about office space. How are companies thinking about the location of offices, and what patterns have formed?

(22:43) - Walmart has begun giving weekly bonuses to its warehouse workers in order to increase the retention rate. This further illustrates the desperation that businesses are facing with the ongoing worker shortage, and what lengths they will go to in order to keep employees.

(33:50) - Stack roulette.

(0:30) - The July jobs report was released this morning and revealed that the U.S. added 943K jobs last month, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.4%. This beat analyst expectations by a large margin, and was the fastest pace of hiring in nearly a year.

(12:51) - Paul Lane of the Armstrong Advisory Group joined the show to dive into the strong July jobs report, detailing what sectors saw the fastest growth, what happened with wages, and much more.

(24:41) - United Airlines has become the first major U.S. airline to require all of its staff to be vaccinated, which comes to about 67K employees. The airline added that workers will have to comply by October 25th or five weeks from full FDA approval of the vaccine.

(37:26) - Maersk, the biggest container shipping company in the world, had a huge earnings beat for Q2, bringing in $5.1 billion.

(2:06) - The guys examine the history of markets reaching all-time highs, specifically how to approach investing when stocks are soaring. Is investing when the market is peaking the right move?

(13:32) - Robinhood had a notoriously rocky IPO last week, but has since skyrocketed over 100% this week. That is...up until today, as the stock is now trading down over 14% after closing over 50% higher on Wednesday. Can we expect this rollercoaster to continue for Robinhood?

(22:39) - A new survey has shown that 65% of workers who said they could do their job entirely remotely would be willing to take a 5% pay cut in order to work only from home.

(35:21) - Stack roulette.

(1:36) - President Biden has set a goal for electronic vehicles to make up half of all auto sales in the U.S. in 2030. What needs to be done in the next decade to have EV's make up a significant portion of auto sales? Is this a realistic goal?

(14:23) - The labor force participation rate is the lowest it's been in over four decades, and companies are scrambling to find workers. The guys discuss whether or not the participation rate will return to pre-pandemic levels, and what the driving force is behind this trend.

(24:32) - Weekly jobless claims came in at 385K, which is the exact number that analyst expected. What is keeping jobless claims so high, and when could we expect to see them get back below 300K?

(36:39) - Gig companies such as Uber and Lyft want Massachusetts voters to vote against gig workers gaining full employee status on next year's ballot question. Rather, the gig companies want there to be a third way for people to be compensated.

On this week's edition of "Ask Todd", Todd Lutsky revealed major mistakes that he has seen clients make when doing their estate planning. People tend to think that a Will can constitute as a whole estate plan, which is almost never the case. Todd also details Cushing & Dolan's guide for August titled, "Steering Clear of 9 Key Estate Planning Missteps".

(0:34) - There's a severe shortage of truckers in the country today, and companies are now looking abroad to find workers. These trucker shortages have ripple effects across the country, such as logistics and shipping container delays.

(12:48) - CVS reported an earnings beat for Q2, and yet the stock is trading down over 2%. This is due to the company not paying dividend increases to shareholders and not buying back stock, but instead reinvesting their profits to further develop their stores.

(23:09) - AT&T is going to spinoff DirecTV and AT&T TV into a private equity firm, with the company taking $7.1 billion to pay off debt. Was AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV one of the worst acquisitions in recent memory?

(36:03) - Tailwind Air on Tuesday started direct nonstop seaplane service between Manhattan and Boston Harbor. Is this a better option than flying commercial, or even taking an Amtrak train from one city to the other?

(0:40) - The ADP released their jobs report this morning, which revealed 330K private sector jobs added in July vs. expectations of 653K. Barry and Paul run through the report and discuss why these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.

(12:06) - Spirit and American airlines are canceling numerous flights for the third straight day due to a number of factors. On a related note, how badly will airlines be hurt if business travel takes a long time to return?

(22:23) - Estate planning attorney Todd Lutsky of Cushing & Dolan joined the show for another edition of "Ask Todd".