⚡ MARKET RECAP → Stocks fell Friday as producer price index data came in (way) hotter than expected, fueling inflation concerns.

📦 PRODUCER PRICES STAY STICKY → January PPI rose 0.3% and remains elevated year over year, driven largely by services costs, reinforcing the Fed’s cautious stance and complicating expectations for rate cuts even as headline consumer inflation has cooled.

🎥 PARAMOUNT CALLS ITS BID SUPERIOR → Paramount and Skydance are urging Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders to reject Netflix’s (NFLX) takeover, claiming their merger proposal offers stronger long-term upside and strategic scale — turning the media M&A battle into a high-stakes decision between certainty and potential.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for free here.

For the week beginning March 2, 2026

🎬 Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) just got a fresh plot twist in its streaming saga. Paramount Global and Skydance told WBD shareholders their proposal to merge the companies is “superior” to Netflix’s (NFLX) agreed deal to acquire WBD’s studios and streaming assets. Paramount argues its structure delivers more long-term upside and strategic flexibility versus Netflix’s largely cash-and-stock transaction.

💼 The fight is about value — and leverage. Netflix’s deal offers certainty and immediate liquidity, while Paramount-Skydance is pitching operational synergies, stronger scale in film and TV, and more upside participation for shareholders. WBD’s board is weighing which path creates more durable shareholder value as activist pressure and market volatility hover in the background.

📊 Investors are gaming out the endgame. Shares in WBD and Paramount have swung on each headline, reflecting uncertainty around regulatory approval, financing conditions, and potential counterbids. The bigger takeaway: legacy media is consolidating aggressively in a world where scale is survival and streaming economics remain brutally competitive.

🏭 January’s producer prices came in hotter than hoped. The Producer Price Index rose 0.3% on the month and about 2.9% from a year earlier, signaling that pipeline inflation pressures haven’t fully cooled even as consumer inflation trends have moderated. Core PPI — excluding food and energy — also ticked up, underscoring that underlying cost pressures remain persistent.

📦 Services are doing the heavy lifting again. Much like CPI, the stickiness is concentrated in services categories, while goods inflation has largely normalized. That matters because service inflation tends to be slower-moving — and more closely tied to wages — which keeps the Federal Reserve cautious about declaring victory.

📊 For markets, this muddies the rate-cut timeline. A firm PPI reading doesn’t guarantee pass-through to consumers, but it reinforces the “higher-for-longer” narrative just as investors were leaning toward mid-2026 rate cuts. Bond yields nudged higher, equities wobbled, and the data adds another layer of complexity to the soft-landing story.

WBD employees fear coming wave of job losses as Paramount tops Netflix’s bid to acquire company (CNBC)

Michael Burry sees Nvidia ‘purchase commitment’ parallel to Cisco at dot-com bubble top (CNBC)

There’s a ‘bearish-to-bullish’ reversal happening in this mid-cap biotech stock, says Carter Worth (CNBC)

_{^{Investment advisory services provided by ML Wealth LLC. Investment Accounts Are Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • Investments May Lose Value. For important information and disclosures relating to the MoneyLion Investment Account, see Investment FAQs, Form ADV Brochure, and moneylion.com/investing. Funded managed investing accounts are subject to a monthly account fee of $1 (for accounts valued up to $5,000), $3 (for accounts valued over $5,000, and up to $25,000), or $5 (for accounts valued over $25,000).}}

<sub><sup>This advertising email was sent to you because you have a MoneyLion account. If you would like to unsubscribe, please do so using this link. We respect your right to privacy. Please do not reply to this email with sensitive information, such as an account number, Social Security number, date of birth, bank account information, PIN, password, or Online ID. The security and confidentiality of your personal information is important to us. If you have any questions or want to read more, please visit our Help Center.

MoneyLion and Pathward do not provide, nor do they guarantee, any third-party product, service, information, or recommendation. The third parties providing these products or services are solely responsible for them, as well as all other content on their websites. MoneyLion is not liable for any third party’s failure with regard to those advertised products, services, and benefits. These advertised products and services may not be FDIC insured or bank-guaranteed, and may be subject to a different privacy policy than MoneyLion’s. You should check individual offers, products, and services to become familiar with any applicable restrictions or conditions that may apply. MoneyLion may receive compensation from third parties for referring you to the third party, their products or to their website.

The influencer, creator and other content provided in the MoneyLion App (“Content”) is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. All Content is intended to be of a general nature, does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity, and may not constitute a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed. MoneyLion is not a fiduciary by virtue of any person’s use of or reliance on the Content. You should consult an appropriate professional if you require any legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice. Terms and Conditions for our subscriber referral can be found here.</sup></sub>