Americans Are Spending Like No Tomorrow & Dell Surge Lifts Trump’s Portfolio
May 29, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readAmericans Are Spending Like No Tomorrow & Dell Surge Lifts Trump’s Portfolio
The American consumer is still spending, but the way they're spending tells a more complicated story than simple economic strength. Retail earnings this week showed budget retailers like Dollar Tree and Costco surging while the personal savings rate dropped to 2.6% — its lowest level since mid-2022. Meanwhile, Anthropic overtook OpenAI as the world's most valuable AI startup with a $965 billion valuation, Dell's stock jumped 75% in five days on the back of its AI server business and a Pentagon contract, and JP Morgan found itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons — including a $4.25 million arbitration loss over what's being called the "Salami incident."
The American Consumer Is Spending, But Stretching
Retail shares popped across the board yesterday after earnings revealed that customers kept spending despite higher gas prices and depleted savings. Dollar Tree rose 18%, Best Buy gained 16%, and Costco surged 20%. But the resilience came with a caveat: consumers are increasingly choosy, prioritizing value and affordability above all else. Budget retailers like Dollar Tree and Costco are being overrun with shoppers from all income brackets.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:28) **Show Open & Spelling Bee Recap** - Hosts Neil and Toby greet listeners and recap the Scripps National Spelling Bee, won by 14-year-old Shrey Parik in a sudden-death spell-off.
- 2 (03:13) **American Consumer Resilience & Retail Earnings** - Retailers report strong sales as shoppers prioritize value, but the personal savings rate drops to 2.6%.
- 3 (05:42) **Costco Earnings: Gas & Volume Records** - Costco reports a 12% sales increase and record-breaking gasoline volumes.
- 4 (07:23) **Anthropic Surpasses OpenAI as Most Valuable AI Startup** - Anthropic raises $65 billion in a Series H round at a ~$965 billion valuation, overtaking OpenAI's $852 billion valuation.
- 5 (11:43) **Stock of the Week: Dell** - Dell reports its fastest revenue growth since 2018, driven by a 757% jump in AI server revenue.
- 6 (17:06) **Dog of the Week: JP Morgan (The "Salami Incident")** - A broker fired over a $642.50 Super Bowl deli platter wins $4.25 million in a wrongful termination arbitration.
- 7 (21:18) **Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Explodes** - Jeff Bezos' New Glenn rocket explodes during a hot fire test at Cape Canaveral, causing a massive fireball.
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Show Notes
#856: Retail stocks are surging thanks to US shoppers continuing to spend, spend, spend (even if it’s squeezing their budgets). Anthropic surpasses OpenAI as the most valuable AI startup. Dell wins a $9.7B Pentagon deal. JPMorgan owes an ex-employee $4.25M for wrongful termination. Finally, Blue Origin’s attempted launch ends in a spectacular explosion (no one was hurt).
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