|  | Nasdaq | 21,122.45 | |
| | S&P | 6,339.39 | |
| | Dow | 44,130.98 | |
| | 10-Year | 4.360% | |
| | Bitcoin | $116,282.77 | |
|  | Meta | $773.44 | |
| | Data is provided by |  |
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks couldn't quite manage to end July on an upswing yesterday as President Trump's tariff deadline loomed (more on that below), and they ended up falling despite the market getting a boost early in the day from Meta and Microsoft riding high off of solid earnings reports. Still, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both rose for the month.
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TRADE Last night, with a self-imposed midnight deadline looming for the end of the tariff pause, meaning countries that hadn't reached a new trade deal with the US would get turned into a pumpkin slapped with higher tariffs, President Trump rolled out new tariffs to be imposed on imports from dozens of countries—but pushed off their implementation until Aug. 7. Trump signed an order listing duty rates for various countries' imports ranging from 10% to 41%. It also said countries not included in the order would face a 10% tariff. A senior US official told Bloomberg that the rates fell into roughly three groups: 10% for countries where the US has a trade surplus, 15% for those where the US has a small trade deficit, and higher for countries with a large deficit or that didn't strike deals: - For countries that did make deals–including Japan, Britain, the EU, Indonesia, and South Korea—the order appears to reflect the tariffs that were agreed to, even though the details are still being worked out.
- Trump said he would raise tariffs on Canada to 35% from 25%, but that this would exclude any goods covered by the trade deal he brokered with Canada and Mexico during his first term.
- Earlier in the day, Trump announced that Mexico would get a 90-day reprieve from having its tariff raised to 35% in order to keep negotiating a deal.
There's no getting around them: The order imposes an additional 40% tariff on any goods deemed "transhipped," which means made in one country with components from another to avoid tariffs. China, one of the biggest targets of the trade war, is on a different negotiation schedule, with a pause that isn't up until Aug. 12 and may be further extended. Meanwhile…a federal appeals court appeared skeptical yesterday of Trump's legal power to set tariffs without congressional approval while hearing the Justice Department's appeal of a federal trade court's May ruling that struck down the tariffs (but was then halted). The issue is ultimately likely to be decided by the Supreme Court. Zoom out: By imposing sweeping tariffs, Trump is breaking with decades of global trade policy. So far, US markets have taken tariff uncertainty in stride, but economists expect it'll slow economic growth and stoke inflation later this year.—ML, AR | | |
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WORLD  Microsoft is the second company ever to be worth $4 trillion. The company that brought you Clippy has now joined Nvidia in the $4 trillion market cap club, and, like Nvidia, it has AI to thank. Microsoft hit the milestone yesterday as investors digested its earnings report, which showed 18% revenue growth. The company also reported that annual revenue from its Azure cloud computing unit jumped 34% from its previous fiscal year, taking in more than $75 billion. But as with the rest of Big Tech, investing in AI requires a lot of cash, and Microsoft said it plans to spend $30 billion on AI infrastructure next quarter.
 Apple's quarterly revenue grew by the most since December 2021. With iPhone sales up by 30% and sales in China rising 4%, Apple blew past Wall Street's expectations when it reported its Q3 earnings yesterday, as overall sales hit $94 billion, about 10% higher than in the same period a year ago. Though tariffs cost Apple $800 million, they also helped spur sales as consumers raced to buy new tech before higher prices kick in. The other member of the Magnificent Seven to report earnings yesterday, Amazon, didn't leave investors impressed. Amazon also reported better-than-expected numbers, with revenue and profit both up. But the e-commerce giant's stock fell in after-hours trading because its cloud business wasn't growing as rapidly as its rivals', leaving investors worried its AI investments weren't paying off enough.
 Figma jumps more than 250% in trading debut. Sometimes you lose a $20 billion merger opportunity but still win in the end. Design software-maker Figma's stock soared on the NYSE after it sold $1.2 billion worth of shares for $33 each in an IPO, giving it a value above the amount it had agreed to sell itself to Adobe for before the deal fell apart in 2023. The stock rose so fast that trading had to be halted for volatility. The company's success is a good sign for the tech IPO market, which had been in a lull for the past few years but has seen a few other buzzy debuts recently, like Circle and Chime.—AR
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GOVERNMENT In a death knell for social media accounts tracking the stock picks of elected representatives, a Senate committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill that would ban members of Congress and their spouses, as well as future presidents and VPs, from trading—and eventually from holding—stocks. The bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, said it was necessary to prevent lawmakers from trading on inside scoops they get on the job. Almost a fifth of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have traded stocks related to their legislative work, according to a 2022 New York Times analysis. Not everyone wants to delete their Robinhood Hawley was the only GOP lawmaker on the committee to support it. Meanwhile, all committee Democrats voted for the bill, and it even received the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi, whom Hawley originally named the bill after, in reference to her husband's stock trades, which attracted widespread scrutiny. President Trump initially backed the trading ban, but then derided Hawley for extending it to the POTUS and the VP, in a concession to Democrats. Hawley amended the bill, pushing the divestment requirement to lawmakers' next term—which would exclude Trump from its effect. Other Republicans opposed the measure because it could discourage wealthy individuals from seeking office. The public wants a ban…with polls showing that over 86% of Americans support one.—SK | | |
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ENTERTAINMENT If you can't decide what to watch, no worries, because one startup thinks the future of TV is making your own Family Guy fanfic. Amazon has just invested an undisclosed amount in an app called Showrunner, which lets users generate full 22-minute animated episodes with AI, no crafty budget needed. Fable, the company behind the app, calls it the "Netflix of AI," and bills it as a way for Hollywood to stay competitive with social media and video games. Currently, Showrunner can only generate animated, episodic stories, not intricate multi-episode arcs or live-action, so your new Sopranos ending will have to wait. The investment announcement coincides with the app's public release this week: - The app is currently free, but Fable reportedly plans to charge users $10–$40 a month for credits to generate scenes and episodes.
- Users can generate their own work from scratch, Sims-style, or build off of other users' worlds.
Fable wants Hollywood giants to join in. It's a tough pitch as the industry grapples with recent AI company lawsuits, but Fable claims to have one unnamed major studio already on board. The company also said it's in talks with Disney to fork over recognizable IP. A few years ago, Showrunner released unauthorized episodes of South Park as a test case, which snagged nearly 80 million views on X.—MM | | |
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STAT This time around, Kenny and his friends are killing it: The season 27 premiere of South Park was the Comedy Central show's most-watched premiere on linear TV since 1999 and had its best season premiere rating overall since 2022. With viewership up 68% from the previous season's premiere, the latest season opener—which featured a headline-grabbing scene of President Trump in bed with Satan—was the No. 1 cable telecast when it aired last Wednesday and drew 5.9 million viewers on Comedy Central and Paramount+ in the first three days it was available. The episode likely benefited not only from the chatter about its own irreverence but also from the corporate drama that preceded it. Last week, the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, inked a five-year, $1.5 billion global streaming deal with Paramount for the rights to stream the series following contentious negotiations. The deal arrived amid controversial moves by Paramount, like settling a suit over 60 Minutes and canceling Stephen Colbert's The Late Show, which many industry insiders interpreted as efforts to please Trump in order to ease the FCC approval of its $8 billion merger with Skydance (which it did secure). The show's premiere mentioned the controversies, which ultimately seems to have paid off for the parent company it was skewering.—AR |
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NEWS - Magazine publisher Dotdash Meredith changed its name to People Inc., reflecting its most popular title.
- Google lost its appeal of a ruling in favor of Fortnite-maker Epic Games that Google's app store functioned as an illegal monopoly. Epic declared "total victory" (cue the dancing banana), while Google said it's likely to appeal further.
- AB InBev's shares fell yesterday, after the Budweiser-brewer reported that sales volumes had fallen in China and Brazil.
- ESPN fired Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe as a commentator after he settled a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault.
- Strong storms caused flash flooding on the East Coast yesterday, disrupting flights and snarling traffic.
- Former VP Kamala Harris won't run for governor of California, but she will write a book about her presidential campaign.
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QUIZ The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew's Weekly News Quiz has been compared to waking up on time even though you forgot to set an alarm. It's that satisfying. Ace the quiz. |
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PLAY Jigsaw: Today's puzzle shows a perfect summer spot. Dive in here. Friday puzzle Here's a brain teaser that puzzle creator Jack Murtagh recently created for the Morning Brew Daily podcast. Guess the secret word from the following clues: 1. The word anagrams to a major city. 2. The word ends with a number (spelled out). 3. The word contains a silent "T." |
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ANSWER Hasten (It anagrams to "Athens.") Word of the Day Today's Word of the Day is: irreverence, meaning "showing a lack of respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously." Thanks to Stuart Berkowitz from Austin, TX, for the cheeky suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here. |
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