Ben Berkowitz

Today's the 39th anniversary of "Black Monday" when the Dow fell 22.61% in a single day. Issues at the time: "concerns over inflation, a weakening dollar, rising oil and commodity prices, protectionism, tensions between the United States and Iran, and the potential end to a long economic expansion."

Wholesale prices for fresh and dry vegetables rose 41% in September. That's: * All-time top 10 (data to 1947) * Largest monthly gain ever recorded outside of wintery months (Nov.-March) Wholesale grain prices rose 17.4%. That's: * All-time top 10 (data to 1967) * Biggest September gain ever

The 9/11 photographers who ran toward the danger www.axios.com/2026/09/11/s...

"The war in Iran has now cost U.S. consumers $100 billion in higher energy prices, and the bill is rising another $1 million about every two minutes, per a real-time estimate from Brown University." via @berkowitzbt.bsky.social

It's the diesel, stupid. Matt Phillips nails it this morning — stop relaxing about $80 crude and start worrying about $180 diesel, the fuel that actually powers the economy. www.axios.com/2026/08/24/d...

The governor of Texas says data centers "dug their own grave." Skepticism about the AI boom is nothing new; no one expected the problem was going to be red-state Republicans, though. www.axios.com/2026/08/23/g...

GOP consumer sentiment fell >18 points in the last 6 months, per the UMich index. The last time GOP sentiment fell that much in 6 months (while Dem sentiment barely budged) was the start of the Great Financial Crisis in late '08-early '09. via @neilirwin.bsky.social www.axios.com/2026/08/14/c...

EXCLUSIVE: Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack U.S assets, according to classified intelligence shared with Axios. The intelligence could become a pretext for U.S. military action.

No, Justin Bieber did not interview Jensen Huang at Jeffrey Katzenberg's CEO uber-conference WNDR. But now we know who DID appear for what and when, via this @danprimack.bsky.social exclusive for @axios.com. www.axios.com/2026/05/11/k...

I forgot for a moment that we're in that dangerous time of year when an abrupt exclamation after 330pm can be either market news or basketball developments.

First I laughed. Then I tried to figure out the valuation.

Reading up (and writing about) since 6am! www.axios.com/2026/01/31/a...

A delightful thread, and worth the 5 minutes to clear your brain amid the onslaught of news. Nos. 15-17 are demonstrably wrong. But, you know, not everyone is perfect.

BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Stop thinking about this as a disruption or brief retreat from "normal," or as a uniquely American or Trumpian moment.  It's a living rewiring of societies, business and our way of life — and it's rapidly accelerating across the globe.

If you put $1,000 each into the Nasdaq and a broad crypto basket on Jan. 19, you'd have ended the year with $2,026. If you put $1,000 each into President Trump's traded assets - TMTG stock and the Official TRUMP coin - you'd have ended up with $444. www.axios.com/2026/01/02/t...

The 2025 news cycle, in 1 chart www.axios.com/2025/12/29/g...

@berkowitzbt.bsky.social named head of news at @axios.com: talkingbiznews.com/media-news/a...

I paid $2.89 for 18 eggs last Saturday. Paid $12.69 in February.

Dividend checks. Farm bailouts. Debt reduction. Deficit reduction. Tax elimination. The administration says tariffs aren't really intended to generate revenue — but the money's still being pledged all over the place, much more than is actually coming in. www.axios.com/2025/11/22/t...

Bessent, Oct. 15: China "can't be trusted" Bessent, Nov. 15: "I think we have to go into this believing that President Xi will keep his word to President Trump" www.axios.com/2025/11/16/u...

On a $500,000 home, assuming current average rates, taking out a 50-year mortgage instead of a 30-year loan would save you $5,000 in monthly payments over five years. You'd also lose out on $27,000 in equity. www.axios.com/2025/11/10/t...

For at least the 3rd time in the last 4 months, the president is floating a $2,000 tariff dividend. It's still not clear if the tariffs were even legal. www.axios.com/2025/11/09/t...

* Most October layoffs since 2003 * Most Q4 layoffs since 2008 * Most YTD layoffs since 2020 * Least YTD hiring since 2011 * Least holiday seasonal hiring since 2012 The labor market has a problem. www.axios.com/2025/11/06/l...

New for @axios.com: Palantir CEO Alex Karp tells The Axios Show that his company is "baller" and that Wall Street analysts are: * Biased against him * Jealous of Palantir's success * Using outdated models to understand companies www.axios.com/2025/11/06/p...

You can tell a lot about a college by how aggressive they are with emails during application season. I've gotten 49 emails in 60 days from @hofstrau.bsky.social. My kid applied to 39 schools, and Hofstra's sent more emails than the other 38 combined.

Headline CPI was benign - but for the second month in a row, y/y coffee prices rose at a faster rate than any other line item in the basket, followed closely by beef. www.axios.com/2025/10/24/i...

Editor pro-tip: When a reporter asks you if she can go drive an 18-wheeler and then sleep in the back, you should of course say "yes." www.axios.com/2025/10/01/v...

This is an intimate interview with Ukrainian President Zelensky unlike any I've seen recently. Speaking with my colleague Barak Ravid, he was candid, emotional and very human. He's increasingly hopeful for his country. WATCH The Axios Show: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kwZ...

The new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas will NOT apply to existing visa holders when it goes into effect Sunday, per a White House official. (Some lawyers and companies had warned existing holders to rush back to the U.S. today to avoid the fee.) www.axios.com/2025/09/20/t...

One of President Trump's major campaign promises was to lower grocery prices. By and large, they're higher than they were last month and last year, some categories by double digits. My latest with @kellytyko.bsky.social www.axios.com/2025/09/11/t...

THE AXIOS SHOW exclusive: After taking a stake in Intel and a cut of Nvidia's chip sales in China, the U.S. government may next target a share of the money generated by patents developed at major universities using federal funding, Howard Lutnick says

The White House said late Friday it may let trade partners negotiate lower tariffs on ... Hair? Parrots? Edible crickets? www.axios.com/2025/09/06/t...

Chairman of the board? No, chairman of ALL boards. President Trump has assumed a quasi-authority to orchestrate how the private sector operates, broadly and at individual company levels. No one's stopping him, so he confidently plows ahead. My latest for @axios.com www.axios.com/2025/08/26/t...

I want to talk to you about your kids’ K-12 new school AI policies this year. For an @axios.com story. Please share this most with anyone. I’m at Megan.Morrone@Axios

New at Axios: Google debuts its Ai-infused Pixel 10 lineup as it looks to get a boost before Apple’s iPhone launch.

Data out this morning from the BLS shows import prices of edible vegetables have risen more than 5% in the last two months.

The White House is now scoring companies and trade associations on their loyalty to the administration's priorities, starting with support for the BBB. Uber, DoorDash, Delta, United, AT&T, Cisco, and trade groups for steel and airlines among those topping the list. www.axios.com/2025/08/15/w...

ICYMI, the eye-popper in today's PPI: a 39% rise in wholesale fresh vegetable prices. It's the largest month-on-month increase ever recorded in the summer (data to 1947), and one of the ten largest ever, regardless of season. With the estimable @alexjamesfitz.com www.axios.com/2025/08/14/i...

The solicitor general of the United States says Social Security and Medicare could collapse if Trump's tariffs are struck down by a court — claiming the gov't would have to repay money it hasn't been paid from deals it hasn't finalized. www.axios.com/2025/08/11/s...

Where you ask matters as much as what you ask. Truth Social's new AI search tool, powered by Perplexity, appears to use a limited set of sources - Fox News, Epoch Times, Washington Times - to answer queries. The same questions on Perplexity's site use more sources. www.axios.com/2025/08/06/t...

“.. While you can quibble with this or that estimate or figure, the order of magnitudes make it pretty clear that AI itself is not enough to buoy the economy, sales, or earnings ahead ..” @axios.com www.axios.com/newsletters/...

No one, and I mean no one, hits nails on heads all day long like the estimable Zach Basu. Read this and in 500 words you'll understand the entire world of the last week.

Commerce Sec. Lutnick insists the August 1 tariff deadline is real, no TACOs — and he projects they could generate $700 billion to $1 trillion a year in revenue, perhaps the highest figure yet from the administration. www.axios.com/2025/07/27/t...

Sec. Lutnick with a number of #timestamp comments on trade this morning: * Baseline tariff rates will be 10%, not higher * Aug. 1 is a hard deadline for new tariffs * The USMCA will be renegotiated next year www.axios.com/2025/07/20/t...

If I told you one year ago that a future president was going to: * Impose 30% tariffs on the largest US trading partners * Threaten to fire the Fed chair * Provide weapons for a war against Russia And stocks would close HIGHER on the news, would you have believed me?

Oh so it's gonna be that kind of week huh

Big @neilirwin.bsky.social scoop for @axios.com — the Federal Reserve has asked its inspector general to look into its $2.5 billion HQ renovation project, which has suddenly become a possible lever for the Trump administration to oust chair Jerome Powell. www.axios.com/2025/07/14/t...

NEW: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, bristling at Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's warning of a looming white-collar apocalypse, tells Axios that AI will create vastly more and superior jobs. “I don't know why AI companies are trying to scare us.”

🚨 Trump threatens EU, Mexico with 30% tariff rates The intrigue: Canada gets a higher tariff than Mexico over fentanyl flows, even though fentanyl seizures at the Mexican border are 20x the Canadian border. www.axios.com/2025/07/12/t...

Elon Musk spent more than $250 million getting Donald Trump elected last year. His public, real-time blow-up with Trump today has just cost him somewhere north of $11 billion. www.axios.com/2025/06/05/t...