The Lemonade Times Vol. 31

✅ "How to Read a Report Card, Part 2: The Balance Sheet" — What a company OWNS and OWES! 📊

✅ "When the Government Hits the Gas" — Fiscal stimulus, from the New Deal to COVID! 🏛️

✅ "The mRNA Rollercoaster" — Meet Moderna, from COVID hero to cancer breakthrough! 💉

✅ "Yields Up, Stocks Wobble" — A bumpy week saved by bargain hunters!

🍋 Hi, Lemonade Squad! It's Summer! 👋

What a bumpy, exciting week! Interest rates on government bonds JUMPED, which made stocks wobble. But bargain hunters swooped in on Friday to save the day! Today in Stock 101, we continue our "report card" series with Part 2: the balance sheet (what a company OWNS and OWES). Then in Econ 101, we'll learn how governments boost the economy by SPENDING, with amazing examples from history! And in Lemonade Picks, we're meeting Moderna, the mRNA company on a wild rollercoaster ride. Let's go!

This week was all about BONDS and interest rates. Let's break it down!

📈 Bond Yields Jumped!

The big story: Treasury yields (the interest rates on U.S. government bonds) climbed this week. The 30-year bond yield hit its highest level in nearly 20 years! 😮

Why does this matter for stocks? When bond yields rise, two things happen. Borrowing money gets more expensive for companies, and safe bonds start looking more attractive than risky stocks. So when yields go UP, stocks often go DOWN. That's exactly what happened for part of this week.

🏛️ The Government Steps In

Here's something interesting. The U.S. government's debt just passed a jaw-dropping $40 TRILLION! Investors got nervous about all that borrowing, which helped push yields up.

To calm things down, the Treasury Department (the government's money manager) announced it would DOUBLE its bond "buybacks," buying back old bonds to steady the market. It helped a little, but yields stayed high.

📉 Thursday's Slide, Friday's Save

On Thursday, stocks dropped as yields rose, oil prices climbed, and retail giant Walmart reported weaker sales. 😟

But on Friday, BARGAIN HUNTERS came to the rescue! Investors who saw lower prices as a chance to buy jumped in. The Dow bounced back more than 500 points! This is a great example of "buying the dip."

📊 Weekly Wrap-Up

Even with Friday's bounce, all three major indexes finished the week LOWER, snapping the S&P 500's three-week winning streak. A reminder that markets don't go straight up forever!

Welcome back to our series on reading a company's "report card"! Last week, we learned the income statement (did the company make money over time?). Today, meet its important partner: the balance sheet!

Here's the easiest way to understand the difference:

Both are super useful, but they tell different stories!

A balance sheet has three pieces. Let's use YOUR lemonade stand!

1. Assets 💰 (what you OWN) Everything valuable the company has: cash, equipment, supplies. 🍋 Your stand has $50 cash + a $30 pitcher and supplies = $80 in assets.

2. Liabilities 🧾 (what you OWE) All the money the company must pay back: loans, bills. 🍋 You borrowed $20 from Mom to buy lemons. That's $20 in liabilities.

3. Equity 🌟 (what's REALLY yours) What's left after you subtract what you owe from what you own. 🍋 $80 assets − $20 liabilities = $60 equity. That $60 is truly YOURS!

There's a famous equation that ALWAYS has to balance:

Assets = Liabilities + Equity

In our example: $80 = $20 + $60. It balances! ✅ That's why it's called a balance sheet. The two sides always match, like a perfectly balanced seesaw!

The balance sheet is like a health checkup for a company! It reveals things the income statement can't:

Here's a cool example connecting to today's Lemonade Pick. A company can be LOSING money on its income statement, but still SURVIVE for years if its balance sheet is packed with cash! (More on that when we meet Moderna below!)

We've talked a LOT about the Federal Reserve, which controls interest rates. But there's a WHOLE other way the government can help the economy: by SPENDING money! This is called fiscal stimulus, and it has a fascinating history.

Think of the economy like a car with two helpers:

Today we're learning about that second pedal: fiscal stimulus, when the government hits the gas by spending MORE money to boost the economy!

When times are tough (like a recession), the government can:

The idea: more money flowing around means people spend more, businesses grow, and jobs come back. It's like giving the economy a shot of energy! ⚡

The U.S. has used fiscal stimulus during its biggest challenges:

🏗️ The New Deal (1930s) During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched huge government programs. The government built roads, dams, bridges, and parks, and hired MILLIONS of people who had lost their jobs. Some of those bridges and parks are STILL used today!

🪖 World War II (1940s) Massive government spending during the war finally pulled America all the way out of the Depression.

💉 The COVID Pandemic (2020-2021) When COVID hit, the government sent stimulus checks to families AND funded vaccine research through a program called "Operation Warp Speed." Guess which company got funding to help make a vaccine? Moderna, our Lemonade Pick today! 💡

Fiscal stimulus sounds great, but there's a catch. When the government spends more than it collects in taxes, it has to BORROW the difference. That adds to the national debt.

Remember this week's market news? U.S. debt just passed $40 trillion, and investors got nervous about all that borrowing! Too much stimulus can also cause inflation. That's why grown-ups DEBATE how much stimulus is the right amount. There's no easy answer!

This week's pick has one of the WILDEST stories in the stock market. Meet Moderna!

Ticker: MRNA | Traded on: Nasdaq | Market Cap: ~$57.94 BILLION

Moderna's whole company is built on a technology called mRNA (messenger RNA). In fact, the name comes from it: moderna, from "modified RNA!"

Here's the simple idea. Traditional vaccines put a weak version of a germ into your body. But mRNA vaccines are cleverer. They send your body a set of INSTRUCTIONS that teach your cells to fight a disease, without using the germ itself. It's like sending a recipe instead of the finished dish! 🍳

Moderna was founded in 2010 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For almost 10 years, it was a quiet company working on its mRNA idea. Most people had never heard of it.

Then COVID hit in 2020. Moderna used its mRNA technology to create one of the world's first COVID vaccines in RECORD time! The company became world famous, and its sales EXPLODED to over $19 billion in 2022!

But here's where the rollercoaster drops. Once most people got their COVID shots, demand FELL off a cliff. Moderna's sales crashed from $19 billion (2022) all the way down to about $1.9 billion (2025)!

The stock, which once soared above $400, tumbled below $30. This is a PERFECT example of the danger of relying on ONE product. When COVID demand faded, Moderna had a big problem. 😰

Here's the connection to today's Stock 101! Even though Moderna started LOSING money (its income statement looked scary), it had saved up a HUGE pile of cash from the COVID years. Its strong BALANCE SHEET let it survive and keep researching new medicines! See why the balance sheet matters?

And now, the exciting part! Just this week (August 2026), Moderna and its partner Merck announced their experimental cancer vaccine passed a big test in fighting melanoma (a type of skin cancer)!

Investors went WILD. The stock soared about 177% in a SINGLE DAY! 🚀 Then it dropped 25% the next day as excitement cooled. Talk about a rollercoaster! Moderna is also working on flu vaccines, RSV vaccines, and more.

Moderna is a thrilling company, but VERY risky:

Five questions! How many can you get right?

Q1: What does a balance sheet show?

Q2: What is the famous balance sheet equation?

Q3: What is "fiscal stimulus"?

Q4: During the Great Depression, what did the New Deal do?

Q5: Why did Moderna's sales crash after 2022?

🕵️‍♀️ Check Your Answers!

Scroll down to see if you are a Wall Street Wizard.

Noah, INCREDIBLE question! You just spotted one of the most important ideas in all of investing. 🌟

You're totally right. Moderna's income statement (last week's lesson!) looks scary right now. It's spending more than it's earning. So how does it survive?

The answer is the BALANCE SHEET (this week's lesson)!

Remember how the balance sheet shows what a company OWNS? Well, during the COVID years, Moderna made SO much money that it saved up a giant pile of cash. Think of it like a squirrel storing acorns for winter! 🐿️

So even though Moderna is "losing money" each quarter right now, it has a huge savings cushion to live on while it develops new medicines (like that exciting cancer vaccine!).

Here's the key insight:

A company can lose money for a while AND be totally fine, IF it has a strong balance sheet. But a company losing money with NO savings? That's in real danger!

This is exactly why we're learning to read BOTH parts of the report card. One number never tells the whole story. You need the full picture! Great thinking, Noah. You're connecting the dots like a pro! 🎓

Mission 1 — Your Own Balance Sheet 📸 Make a balance sheet for YOURSELF! List your ASSETS (toys, savings, bike). List your LIABILITIES (do you owe anyone money?). Subtract to find your EQUITY (net worth!).

Mission 2 — Stimulus Detective 🏛️ Ask a grown-up if they remember getting a "stimulus check" during COVID, or if they've seen a road or park built by the government. That's fiscal stimulus in action!

Mission 3 — Recipe vs. Dish 🍳 Moderna's mRNA works like sending a "recipe" instead of a finished dish. Explain to a family member how an mRNA vaccine teaches your body, using the recipe idea. Teaching someone is the best way to learn!

Summer's Reflection: This week we learned to read the balance sheet, a company's financial health snapshot! We explored fiscal stimulus, from the New Deal to COVID vaccines. And we met Moderna, the mRNA rollercoaster with a strong cash cushion and an exciting cancer breakthrough!

The big lesson? See the whole picture. A company losing money looks scary, until you check its balance sheet. A wild market week looks scary, until you remember bargain hunters and history. President Roosevelt reminded a frightened nation that panic itself is often the real danger.

Whether you're reading a report card or watching the market wobble, don't panic. Look at the FULL story, stay calm, and think long term. That's how smart investors (and smart kids!) do it. See you next week for Part 3 of our report card series! 🍋

📌 This newsletter is for learning only. Investing always carries risk. Always ask a trusted adult before making any money decisions!

Until next time, Summer 🍋