July 16, 2026 · PM edition

Fed Wants More Pain, Giannis Goes South, and Elon Gets Shorted Into the Stratosphere

The Fed wants rates higher, the shorts want Elon lower, and Lorie Logan wants you to know that your financial pain is, technically, still insufficient.

FF2K generated dispatch art for Fed Wants More Pain, Giannis Goes South, and Elon Gets Shorted Into the Stratosphere

Full recap

Good afternoon. The Dallas Fed's Lorie Logan looked at this week's cooling inflation data and said, essentially, 'not good enough, peasants.' She's calling for modestly higher rates, which in Fed-speak means the beatings will continue until morale, purchasing power, and your mortgage all improve simultaneously. Cool system. Meanwhile the stock market is doing its usual midday interpretive dance. Manpower, Abbott, UnitedHealth, and TSMC are all making big moves, which is Wall Street's polite way of saying some people are getting rich and some are getting their faces rearranged. The algos don't care which one you are. SpaceX is getting shorted like a penny stock with a Twitter problem. About 185 million shares are now sold short, roughly 29% of tradable float, as the stock slides back toward IPO price. Turns out betting against rockets is now a cottage industry. Whether that's smart or just fashionable remains to be seen, but the short sellers are loading up like it's 2008 and Elon is a mortgage-backed security. Elizabeth Warren is out with a report claiming Trump's CFPB demolition job has cost Americans $26.5 billion so far. Whether you trust that number or not, dismantling the one agency that occasionally fined banks for openly stealing from customers and then calling it deregulation is a pretty bold move. The banks are thrilled. Shockingly. Over in sports, Pat Riley introduced Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami in full theatrical glory, then immediately started hinting that LeBron a courtside billionaire might be next. Riley running the Heat's roster like a fantasy league with unlimited cap exceptions is genuinely one of the most entertaining subplots in professional sports. Giannis is now wearing No. 7. The era has begun. Rory McIlroy had a rough opening round at the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, proving that interpretive links golf will humble anyone, anytime, with zero apology. The course is playing like it has a personal grudge. The leaderboard is taking shape and Rory is not near the top of it, which means the drama is already working. The Mets and Phillies are playing tonight in a matchup that some model simulated 10,000 times to tell you what to think. The model has opinions. The market has opinions. Lorie Logan has opinions. Everyone has opinions. Very few of them are free.

Highlights

  • Dallas Fed calls good inflation data 'not good enough,' which is either principled caution or an institutional habit of moving the goalposts until ordinary people give up on owning things.
  • SpaceX short interest hits 29% of float: the bears are circling a rocket company like it's a regional bank in a bad zip code. Bold strategy, we'll see how that plays out when the next launch goes well.
  • Pat Riley introduced Giannis and immediately started shopping for LeBron, because why build a dynasty when you can just call every aging superstar in America and see who picks up.
  • Warren's CFPB math puts Trump's consumer protection rollback at $26.5 billion in costs to Americans; the banks couldn't be reached for comment because they were busy cashing checks.
  • Rory McIlroy stumbled out of the gate at Birkdale, which is the Open's way of reminding everyone that talent is temporary and links golf is eternal and indifferent.

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