|  | Nasdaq | 21,314.95 | |
| | S&P | 6,411.37 | |
|  | Dow | 44,922.27 | |
| | 10-Year | 4.302% | |
| | Bitcoin | $113,541.45 | |
| | Nvidia | $175.64 | |
| | Data is provided by |  |
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: "As Nvidia goes, so goes the stock market" will be taught in economics courses for generations. The tech stock had a rare down day after investors decided to sell shares of chipmakers ahead of Jerome Powell's speech on monetary policy in Jackson Hole later this week. That alone dragged down the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq.
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STOCKS Like a bad wedding DJ's hand on the volume button the second a Pitbull song comes on, Wall Street analysts are cranking up earnings estimates at record speeds this quarter. Q2 earnings from companies in the S&P 500 are doing wildly better than expected, with aggregate earnings per share up 11% compared to the same time last year. Things seem…good? Wall Street analysts are bumping up estimates at the fastest rates in about four years, according to Citigroup data. Roughly 58% of companies in the S&P 500 increased their full-year guidance during the quarter. That's double the number compared to last quarter, when companies were slashing or completely pulling forecasts over tariff concerns. Reasons for the boost When the bar is on the floor, it's pretty easy to surpass it. Plus, tariffs are still just a bogeyman for many companies, which haven't yet felt their full effect. Some have offset levies by relying on pre-tariff stockpiles and supplier negotiations. But most economists say that companies—and consumers—won't feel the full weight until the second half of the year. The earnings data set is also kinda limited: 1) not every company in the index has reported Q2 earnings yet and 2) the S&P 500 in general is mostly being propped up by huge tech companies that are capitalizing on a massive AI bubble boom: - A weaker US dollar has helped push sales growth outside of the US for larger companies, according to Goldman Sachs.
Big picture: The summer rally might have analysts running to their computers to toss some more zeros and plus signs in their reports, but even the CEOs sharing better-than-expected earnings are getting nervous. McDonald's execs, for instance, reported a solid Q2 earlier this month but warned its lower-income customers were retreating—a red flag for the economy. Looking ahead…Walmart and Target are expected to report earnings later this week, which will paint a better picture of the current state of retail.—MM | | |
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WORLD  Nexstar buys Tegna, creating local TV juggernaut. The biggest player in local US TV stations is getting even bigger after it agreed to purchase rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, the companies announced yesterday. The deal would give Nexstar control of 265 stations across 44 states and Washington, DC, which CEO Perry Sook argued is necessary to compete with the tech giants. But critics worry the consolidation will stifle competition and commandeer local programming, and it's likely to spark regulatory scrutiny. The deal has to be approved by the FCC, whose chair, Brendan Carr, has signaled an openness to relax existing limits on how much broadcasters can own.
🪵 Home Depot is raising some prices due to tariffs. After previously saying it didn't plan to hike prices as a result of tariffs, the home-improvement giant said things have changed, and it will now impose "modest price movement in some categories." CFO Richard McPhail told the Wall Street Journal that tariffs on certain imported goods are "significantly higher" today than they were during the last quarter. Home Depot gets slightly less than half of its products from suppliers outside the US and has said it's trying to ensure it doesn't get more than 10% of its inventory from any single country. Shares were up ~3% yesterday.  The Air Canada strike is over. Flights resumed last night after the airline reached a deal with the union representing its flight attendants to end a three-day work stoppage that had grounded Canada's flag carrier. Nearly 3,000 flights were canceled after more than 10,500 flight attendants walked off the job last week following months of unsuccessful contract negotiations, arguing they were not compensated fairly. The two sides did not divulge the details of their agreement, but Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said the company's offer attempted to satisfy the union's demands over unpaid work. It's likely to take a few days before the airline's operations return to normal.—AE
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TRAVEL People paying $209/year to feel superior to plebes waiting in line at airport security for Clear Plus will no longer have to interact with a TSA officer before going to scan their bags at select airports. The company that seeks to expedite the security process debuted a time-saving facial recognition gate at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport yesterday. DC's Reagan National and Seattle-Tacoma are also getting the biometric gates later this month, and Clear plans to bring them to at least 30 airports, according to The Points Guy, ahead of the World Cup. Here's how it works: - The gate verifies that the traveler's face matches their ID and boarding pass—which Clear CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker said takes less than six seconds—before they proceed to security.
- Clear says TSA still controls the gate and that the company doesn't have access to watchlists or the ability to override TSA gate decisions.
Reducing World Cup chaos The pilot program aims to streamline US airports in anticipation of a mad rush during the 2026 World Cup and America's 250th birthday next year. Some foreigners can now skip the line, too, after Clear recently expanded its services to citizens of the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand traveling in the US. Big picture: Biometric scanning is becoming increasingly common in airports around the world. It's already an option in 15 US airports for travelers with TSA PreCheck flying on American, Delta, Alaska, or United, according to the Wall Street Journal.—SK | | |
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DATA Eight Sleep, a company that makes "sleep fitness" tech and boasts about its customers including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, announced it has raised $100 million in new funding as it attempts to reach a wider audience of nonbillionaires who want AI to analyze their biometrics while unconscious. How do you sleep at night? That's the question Eight Sleep says it can answer. Its most popular product is the Pod, a mattress cover that collects data, adjusts temperatures, and costs up to $5,099. In addition to courting rich people desperate to know what their bodies were doing while dreaming about a hot dog chasing them through their middle-school hallway: - The company will push to make the Pod medically prescribable.
- CEO Matteo Franceschetti told Axios that Eight Sleep will file two applications with the FDA for medical device classifications for sleep apnea and menopause.
There are also plans to open physical retail locations and expand into China in 2026. In an interview for TechCrunch, Eight Sleep co-founder Alexandra Zatarain said the Chinese market has a growing interest in prioritizing sleep and overall wellness. Bottom line: About 35% of adults in the US report getting insufficient sleep, and interest in health and longevity is on the rise. "Our audience is still someone who's spending $3,000 on a high-tech device to help them sleep better, but they are normal people," Zatarain said, specifying doctors, dancers, and teachers.—DL | | |
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STAT Tennis hasn't had this much controversy since Aaron "The Bad Boy of Tennis" Williams and Charles Poole played the longest match in history. To encourage tennis's biggest stars to participate in the mixed doubles tournament at this year's US Open, the US Tennis Association: - Increased the prize from $200,000 to $1 million.
- Reduced the field from 32 pairs to 16.
- Made sets the first to four games (not six).
- Moved the tourney to before the singles championship (as opposed to during it).
The changes appear to have had the desired effect, with superstars like Carlos Alcaraz, Emma Raducanu, Novak Djokovic, and Iga Świątek participating in the event for the first time. But doubles specialists' jimmies are understandably rustled, arguing the changes are demeaning to their craft. "It would be like if, at the Olympics, they didn't let the actual high jumpers participate, and instead had basketball players compete in the high jump because it's more 'interesting,'" one of last year's winners, Sara Errani, told the Associated Press.—AE |
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NEWS - Israel said it will respond by Friday to a Gaza ceasefire plan that Hamas reportedly agreed to earlier this week.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he believes AI is in a bubble and that investors are "overexcited" about the technology.
- Chamath Palihapitiya, the former Facebook executive once known as the "SPAC King," is returning after three years with a new blank-check vehicle.
- Robinhood is launching prediction markets for college football and the NFL "in the coming days."
- YouTube is making a pitch to host the Oscars once the ceremony's contract with ABC expires in 2028, Bloomberg reported.
- The Duffer Brothers, who created Stranger Things, are parting ways with Netflix and signing an exclusive deal to make projects for Paramount.
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RECS  Stroll: A weirder everyday walking shoe.**
Drink: A Michelin-listed restaurant in the UK is launching a whole menu of bottled water. Relax: Free online tools that can help when you're feeling anxious. Watch: Rich Eisen hosted ESPN's SportsCenter for the first time in 22 years. Your travel mood: See what vibe you give when you're on the road. Answer a few quick questions in our driver personality quiz, see your results, and get some savvy travel tips. Start here.* *A message from our sponsor. **This is a product recommendation from our writers. When you buy through this link, Morning Brew may earn a commission. |
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PLAY Word Search: Time to flex those muscles and hit the gym in today's puzzle. Try it here. News station trivia With MSNBC becoming MS NOW (My Source News Opinion World), let's see how well you know other TV station initialisms. We'll give you a network, and you have to figure out what it stands for. - CNN
- PBS
- QVC
- HGTV
- AMC
- TMZ
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ANSWER - Cable News Network
- Public Broadcasting Service
- Quality Value Convenience
- Home & Garden Television
- American Movie Classics
- Thirty-mile zone (read more about that here)
Word of the Day Today's Word of the Day is: commandeer, meaning "officially take possession or control of something." Thanks to Emily from Scranton, PA, for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here. |
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✳︎ A Note From EnergyX This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX's Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.energyx.com/. |
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