Jun 18, 2026 · 13 min · 10 segments
This week on the M&W podcast we review what we did that wasn't work, the latest economics news, our work of the week and the work we wished we got to but didn't.
Brian WieserHostLuke StillmanHostOf course, a lot of that was gas stations, but non-store retail up 12% year over year.
And I know there was some narrative around it being weak in a sense, but from the vantage point that we care about, which is what it says about how revenue is recorded, how marketers ultimately are generating revenue because they allocate advertising on a percentage of revenue basis, it's really, really positive.
And I think to illustrate the point that you look at, say, a line like, I don't know, a non-store retailers up 12.2%.
That is a really favorable number when it comes to advertising because we know that e-commerce-based retailers spend about four times as much on advertising as bricks-and-mortar-based retailers do.
So you get all these factors, and whether the economy's underlying... good or not is beside the point, the revenues are coming in and the spending on advertising seems to continue.
But the last economic thing I saw was we had the Fed meeting, no change in interest rates.
But nine Fed governors went in their commentary from expecting no change in interest rates this year to expecting a hike later in the year.
And I think that, again, equity markets just are not fully paying attention to this stuff because it's going to be a constraining factor.
To the extent that the US has to tighten up a lot more, policy will be constrictive.
Of course, a lot of that was gas stations, but non-store retail up 12% year over year.
And I know there was some narrative around it being weak in a sense, but from the vantage point that we care about, which is what it says about how revenue is recorded, how marketers ultimately are generating revenue because they allocate advertising on a percentage of revenue basis, it's really, really positive.
And I think to illustrate the point that you look at, say, a line like, I don't know, a non-store retailers up 12.2%.
That is a really favorable number when it comes to advertising because we know that e-commerce-based retailers spend about four times as much on advertising as bricks-and-mortar-based retailers do.
So you get all these factors, and whether the economy's underlying... good or not is beside the point, the revenues are coming in and the spending on advertising seems to continue.
But the last economic thing I saw was we had the Fed meeting, no change in interest rates.
But nine Fed governors went in their commentary from expecting no change in interest rates this year to expecting a hike later in the year.
And I think that, again, equity markets just are not fully paying attention to this stuff because it's going to be a constraining factor.
To the extent that the US has to tighten up a lot more, policy will be constrictive.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.