August 12, 2026

The Appetizer

“I get that this is sort of a big bet across the industry.”

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the company’s massive artificial intelligence spending push during the Q2 2026 earnings call.

Now, on to the numbers. Drum roll, please …

• $360 million: The U.S. opening weekend ticket sales for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, making it the highest-grossing U.S. domestic opening weekend of all time.
• $4.99: The price of a Costco rotisserie chicken, which made a New York Times list of 25 objects that reveal something special about what it means to be an American today.
• 1.5%: The annualized growth in U.S. GDP in the second quarter of 2026.
• 19.9%: The percentage of total U.S. influencer marketing spending that will go toward nano influencers (accounts with fewer than 5,000 followers), increasing from 3.1% in 2021.
• $450 billion: The change in market value that Microsoft added in a single day after its earnings beat, the largest one-day dollar gain for any U.S. company ever.
• -11.04%: The July return for the S&P 500 Momentum USD Index, its worst monthly performance since the Great Financial Crisis.

Dig In
Reading Between the Lines

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its late-July meeting, and markets responded the way they often do these days: with a little drama. Investors spent a few days worrying that rate cuts might be further away than hoped, only to watch the Dow and S&P 500 climb back to record highs on strong earnings and lower oil prices. Wall Street now seems capable of moving through all five stages of grief in a single week.

The bigger story isn’t the rate. It’s the narration. The Fed has stopped offering forward guidance, the gentle hints about what comes next that markets leaned on for years. The statement is shorter, projections are scarcer, and the internal debate is out in the open, described by the Chair as a “family fight” he invited.

That changes the job. When the Fed stops telling the story, investors have to read it themselves, in yields, oil, and earnings, and prices get jumpier while everyone recalibrates. Longer-term Treasury yields have drifted higher, which looks a lot like charging rent on the uncertainty.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a market relearning to think for itself, and this month’s Jackson Hole gathering is the next pop quiz. For the deeper dive, see our latest Sight|Lines.

Weekly Specials

The world’s third-smallest country is officially changing its name from Nauru to Naoero, embracing the Indigenous spelling of its name. If you’ve been grinding Sporcle geography quizzes, congratulations, it’s time to unlearn another answer. Geography teachers everywhere are already preparing the updated flashcards.

Apparently, saying “Google it” is starting to sound ... dated. Younger generations are increasingly saying “search it up” instead, reflecting a world where Google isn’t the only search engine anymore. It’s the linguistic equivalent of accidentally calling every game console “Nintendo.”

A new ranking evaluated cities based on emotional well-being, physical health, financial stability, community connections, and environmental quality to identify where residents are happiest. Fremont, California, claimed the top spot, followed by Bismarck, North Dakota, and Scottsdale, Arizona. The takeaway? Happiness isn’t just about great weather. Strong communities, good health, and financial security matter just as much.

Corporate Lunch

Tim Cook is stepping down on September 1 after 15 years leading Apple, handing the CEO job to hardware chief John Ternus and moving to executive chairman. Safe to say ... they let him Cook.

Spotify passed 300 million premium subscribers and is building AI tools that let users make remixes and covers using real artists’ voices. Time to dust off your GarageBand skills, for better or worse.

McDonald’s is streamlining its value strategy after too many overlapping deals muddied the message and strained restaurant operations, weighing on U.S. sales. Turns out the hardest decision at McDonald’s isn’t fries or nuggets, it’s which coupon to use.

Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, reportedly has roughly $8 billion left after starting July near $30 billion. For something named Situational Awareness ... they really didn’t see that coming.