|  | Nasdaq | 21,129.67 | |
|  | S&P | 6,362.90 | |
| | Dow | 44,461.28 | |
| | 10-Year | 4.376% | |
| | Bitcoin | $117,186.05 | |
| | Copper | $4.54 | |
| | Data is provided by |  |
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks started yesterday hot, then cooled off, before rebounding a bit toward the end of the day to cap off a topsy-turvy Wednesday in which the Fed held interest rates steady. Investors also reacted to President Trump slapping India and Brazil with new tariffs and tech companies reporting impressive earnings. Meanwhile, copper tanked after Trump imposed a 50% tax on the metal.
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ECONOMY Like your dad's no-pizza-unless-you-win rule, Jerome Powell is holding firm on interest rates, even amid persistent whining. The Fed chair announced yesterday that the central bank voted for the fifth time in a row to keep interest rates where they are: between 4.25% and 4.5%. But for the first time since 1993, there were two dissenters. Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman voted against the other nine voting members. Waller and Bowman, whom Trump appointed during his first term, wanted a quarter-point cut and have publicly advocated alongside the president to slash rates. How is the economy doing? The Fed's press release about the decision was pretty much copy + pasted from June's meeting with some light edits. Powell noted low unemployment, a solid labor market, and stubborn inflation rates hovering around 2.1%. He's also worried about tariff uncertainty, saying it's still too early to predict how they will affect the economy. Most companies have managed to hold off on imposing big price increases as they work through the stockpiles of goods they grabbed at the first utterance of the word "tariff." - There was some (loaded) good news today: GDP jumped 3% from April through June, beating economists' expectations of 2.3%
- But the asterisks on that increase have flashing lights/flare guns shooting off around it. Imports were sent into a freefall, private investments dropped, and consumer spending was still meh.
Trump wanted a different decision. The Fed's announcement comes a week after Powell gave President Trump a tense tour of the central bank's building renovations. The president has lodged insults at the Fed chair for months and has threatened to fire him if he didn't lower interest rates. Looking ahead…while it's rare to have more than one dissenting vote, analysts have suggested that Bowman and Waller are really working to push Powell and other board members to cut rates in September, the next time the group meets.—MM | | |
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WORLD  Trump made several new tariff announcements. The big red tariff button on the Oval Office desk was smashed multiple times yesterday as President Trump revealed a slew of new trade policies. First, he slapped a 25% tariff on India, plus a "penalty" for the country buying energy and military equipment from Russia. He later hit Brazil with an added 40% tax, partly in retaliation for what he claims is a "witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro. Trump ended the day by slapping a 50% tariff on all copper imports and then revoking the de minimis exception, which exempts packages worth less than $800 from tariffs, for all countries (he had suspended the provision for packages just from China and Hong Kong in May). The president also said he will not extend tomorrow's deadline for his reciprocal tariffs to restart on countries that have not made new trade deals with the US.
 Microsoft cloud revenue is soaring. The House that Gates Built is as strong as ever, reporting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue that demolished Wall Street's expectations, thanks to big-time growth in cloud computing. Microsoft's cloud unit, which includes the Azure platform, generated nearly $30 billion in revenue last quarter, up by 26% from the same period a year ago. Azure produced more than $75 billion in fiscal 2025, Microsoft said—the first time the tech giant has disclosed Azure's numbers. Microsoft shares were up 20% prior to yesterday's earnings report and then jumped another 7% in after-hours trading.
 High Noon recalled some vodka seltzer drinks mislabeled as Celsius. In what amounts to a "Who's on First?" routine for drinks you'd find at a post-senior prom party at the Jersey Shore, High Noon announced it was voluntarily recalling its Beach Variety 12-packs after its supplier accidentally labeled them as Celsius energy drinks, which do not contain alcohol. "Consumption of the liquid in these cans will result in unintentional alcohol ingestion," the company said. The mislabeled packs were sent to stores in New York, Florida, Michigan, Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin between July 21 and July 23. You either die a spiked seltzer or live long enough to see yourself become Four Loko.—AE
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BIG TECH Meta's chief executive chain-wearer asked everybody for one simple favor yesterday: Look deep into my eyes. In a new letter read aloud on X, Mark Zuckerberg said that "developing superintelligence is now in sight." The ambitious announcement came hours before the company surprised investors, who were expecting Meta to report its slowest profit growth in two years, with a Q2 revenue beat. Meta stock soared almost 10% after hours on the news of 22% revenue growth. Locking in: Earlier in the day, Zuck said Meta will be hardcore focusing on superintelligence, which most AI leaders are pursuing alongside large-language models. Zuck said he envisions a future where everyone can have "a personal superintelligence," ideally built into smart glasses, "that helps you achieve your goals." To make the dream a reality, Meta has gone on an expensive talent-poaching spree in recent weeks: - Meta has hired ~50 top AI scientists, including OpenAI's ChatGPT co-creator, for its new superintelligence lab, according to the Financial Times.
- At least one offer was for $1+ billion over several years, Wired reported this week.
Zoom out: Zuck is working to reassure investors that Meta's multibillion-dollar AI spend is worth it after its latest model underperformed against rivals. The company recently upped its capital expenditures forecast for the year, so Zuck will likely continue to ask for investor trust.—ML | | |
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EDUCATION OpenAI has the answer for students using ChatGPT for, well, the answers. The company has launched Study Mode, a new version of the chatbot that strives to educate by withholding information until the user works through a problem. Since studies have found that when ChatGPT is used to cheat it can erode critical thinking skills, OpenAI is attempting to burnish its reputation and join the AI education battleground with a tool available to all users that was created in collaboration with educators and scientists: - Study Mode uses the Socratic method, asking questions and offering hints to dispense the knowledge being sought, essentially acting like an IRL teacher.
- If the user says, "Give me the answer, nerd," ChatGPT will show a backbone in Study Mode and refuse.
However: There's nothing stopping a student from switching to regular ChatGPT and getting the correct answer, except maybe adult supervision or immense guilt. Is this the future? OpenAI joins the likes of Khanmigo, the AI-powered tutor from Khan Academy that boasted 700,000 users in the US during the last school year. And Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn believes AI will become the primary educator as teachers become more focused on childcare.—DL | | |
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STAT The earthquake that struck Russia's Far East this week is tied for the sixth biggest ever, according to the USGS. It was also the strongest quake since the devastating Tohoku, Japan, earthquake in 2011. The magnitude 8.8 quake triggered tsunami warnings in Russia, Japan, Hawaii, and as far as the US West Coast. Remarkably, there were no deaths, major injuries, or extensive damage reported. That was likely for a few reasons: Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is sparsely populated, and early warning systems have improved around the world in the last few decades. One expert told the BBC that it's also possible that models miscalculated the quake's depth, which affects the size of the resulting tsunami waves.—AE |
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Together With This is Iowa Think you know Iowa? Yeah, yeah, Iowa's got some corn. They've also got a whole lot more to offer, like real career growth, affordable living, and tons of weekend activities (yes, really). We asked the pros at This Is Iowa about what makes the state such a great place for young professionals. See what Iowa's really like. |
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NEWS - TikTok is officially rolling out its community fact-checking feature, Footnotes, to US users.
- Palo Alto Networks, a leading US cybersecurity company, is buying Israeli security provider CyberArk for $25 billion, CNBC reported.
- Amazon is paying the New York Times at least $20 million a year to license its content to train its AI models, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- YouTube loosened its profanity rules, now allowing creators to swear within the first seven seconds of a video and still get monetized.
- Oreo and Reese's are combining for two new absurdly delicious treats in a rare team-up of two rival snack companies.
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PLAY Brew Mini: You'll have quite the tale to tell if you can complete today's Mini. Try it out here. Three Headlines and a Lie Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than leftover pizza lasting after 10am. Can you spot the odd one out? - The 10-year fight to save the sexiest bakery in the country
- Joey Chestnut wins first banana dog eating contest during Savannah Bananas game
- Reddit and Discord's UK age verification can be defeated by Death Stranding's photo mode
- The criminal enterprise run by monkeys
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ANSWER We made up the one about the sexy bakery. Word of the Day Today's Word of the Day is: burnish, meaning "to polish." Thanks to Peter from Tuckahoe, NY, and several others for the scintillating suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here. |
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✢ A Note From Pacaso This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso's Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving the ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the Nasdaq is subject to approvals. ✳︎ A Note From Noom Based upon third-party randomized control trial comparing outcomes of 302 Noom participants and 298 control arm participants for 30 months. |
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