The only newsletter a CFO actually has time to read.

Today’s edition: the Fed blinks, AI myths crack, cyber costs quietly inflate everything, and CFO moves spark governance debates.

Is the Fed engineering a soft landing with fewer tools left… or setting up CFOs for a longer stretch of capital discipline?

The Federal Reserve trimmed rates by 25 basis points last week. The bigger signal was not the cut. It was the forecast.

Fed officials now expect only one cut in 2026, despite a cooling labor market and slowing hiring.

Inflation remains sticky enough that policymakers are clearly worried about moving too fast.

There were dissents.

There was hedging.

There was very little confidence.

For CFOs, this locks in uncertainty.

Debt refinancing decisions just got harder. Capex timing matters more.

Waiting for aggressive easing may turn into a costly mistake.

Is this a temporary pause before growth resumes… or the early sign of a longer productivity and demand reset?

New BLS data shows job openings hitting a five-month high. Hiring, meanwhile, continues to cool.

That disconnect matters.

It suggests companies want optionality without commitment.

Postings stay up.

Offers stay tight.

Wage pressure lingers without real momentum.

This is not a strong labor market. It is a cautious one.

Many founders still assume revenue equals valuation. CFOs know better.

Matteo Turi FCCA (CFO, board director, and advisor on $500M+ in capital raises) has built a practical framework that explains what investors actually underwrite: transferable value.

His High Valuation Code breaks valuation down into three levers CFOs can influence directly:

The framework is built from real transactions across SaaS, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure; not startup folklore.

If you’re advising founders, preparing for capital raises, or thinking beyond top-line growth, it’s worth reviewing.

👉 Explore the High Valuation Code

Are layoffs just the blunt tool for firms that failed to design AI strategy properly?

EY dropped data that cuts against the loudest AI narrative.

Most firms are not using AI to cut headcount. They are using it to grow.

Leaders are prioritizing productivity, speed, and margin expansion over workforce reduction.

The idea that AI equals mass layoffs turns out to be lazy thinking.

For CFOs, this reframes the ROI question.

AI is not a cost-cutting lever. It is a growth multiplier if deployed correctly.

Does federal AI control reduce compliance risk… or introduce a bigger political wildcard CFOs cannot model?

President Trump pledged an executive order aimed at overriding the patchwork of state-level AI regulations.

The goal is federal consistency.

The reality is near-term chaos.

Companies investing heavily in AI now face moving targets around compliance, data usage, and liability.

Planning horizons just shortened.

Meta is pivoting away from open-source AI toward monetized, proprietary models.

This signals where AI economics are heading.

Free experimentation is giving way to margin protection.

For CFOs, this changes long-term cost assumptions.

Vendor lock-in risk rises.

Internal build vs buy debates get louder.

Is open-source AI already dead for enterprises… or just temporarily unfashionable?

Is AI pricing optimization smart finance… or a reputational risk CFOs are underestimating?

A new study found Instacart’s AI-driven pricing can raise prices by up to 20 percent for the same item, depending on user behavior.

Algorithmic pricing is no longer theoretical.

It is happening quietly, and consumers are starting to notice.

Margins improve. Trust erodes.

Cyberattacks are forcing small firms to raise prices, according to new data.

The reason is simple.

Cybersecurity spend is no longer discretionary.

Insurance premiums are up.

Breach response costs are brutal.

The bill gets passed downstream.

Cyber is now inflationary.

Should cyber spend be treated like insurance… or like a permanent cost of doing business that needs pricing power to survive?

Tesla’s CFO unloaded more than $19 million in shares during a year marked by falling profits, shareholder pressure, and a public CEO pay fight.

Legally fine. Optically loud.

Markets notice insider behavior, especially during turbulence.

Is this rational diversification… or a confidence signal investors are right to question?

Exxon’s CFO is retiring due to health issues, passing the baton at a capital-intensive moment for the energy giant.

MoneyGram tapped a Wells Fargo executive as CFO as it pushes deeper into digital transformation.

Is this the start of a real reinvention… or another attempt to modernize without breaking legacy gravity?

Highly leveraged M&A is returning.

Warner. EA. Big checks. Bigger balance sheets.

Are companies front-running a tighter future… or walking straight into the next leverage hangover?

Yttrium prices surged over 4,400 percent outside China this year.

This affects manufacturing, energy, defense, and national supply chains.

Strategic materials are becoming financial variables.

Is this a temporary distortion… or the beginning of a new input cost regime CFOs must price around?

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