Hey Snackers,
The sound of the summer isn’t from an emerging artist or a music legend, nor is it even really a song. It’s a sound bite of a TV ad in which a British voice announces: “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday.” The clip has now been used in over 2.2 million videos on TikTok, mostly, ironically, to highlight vacation nightmares. Google Search traffic for “jet2” has spiked 500% in the US this summer as Americans are wondering what the heck Jet2 even is.
Stocks were mixed Thursday, under some pressure after a weak 30-year Treasury auction and fresh trade noise as President Trump announced plans for new chip tariffs. The S&P 500 slipped 0.08%, but closed well off session lows. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq 100 reversed off lows of the day to finish 0.32% up. The Russell 2000 fell 0.30%.
🧠 How well did you follow this week’s news? Take our Snacks Seven Quiz to find out. Here’s the first question:
Earlier this week, which celebrity did Trump refer to as “NO LONGER HOT” on Truth Social?
Apple’s winning $100 billion bet to avoid tariffs
On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook went to the White House, 24-karat gold and glass statue in hand (smart, because as we’ve highlighted, Trump loves gold things), to announce the company’s $100 billion American manufacturing program. The plan boosts US production of more iPhone parts and also includes agreements with a number of American companies like Texas Instruments, Applied Materials, and Corning.
“For the first time ever, every single new iPhone and every single new Apple Watch sold anywhere in the world will contain cover glass made in Kentucky,” Cook said.
When asked about making the whole iPhone in the US — something analysts have said is impossible without raising the price substantially — Cook punted, saying, “There’s a lot of content in there from the United States.”
But even if Apple products are not 100% made in the USA, Cook’s effort was enough for Trump to give Apple an exemption from the 100% chip tariff others may face if they don’t shift production to the US.
Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives lauded Cook’s play, calling it a “good strategic poker move” by the CEO, though he also noted Apple’s remaining challenges.
Cook’s maneuver was also cheered by Bank of America, which raised its price target for Apple on the news.
The Takeaway
It’s not just Apple benefiting from Trump’s exemption: TSMC, Nvidia, Micron, and other companies that have made similar pledges to invest in US manufacturing also rose yesterday. On the other hand, Trump’s attention can sink chip stocks, too: Intel got shellacked yesterday after a letter from Senator Tom Cotton said Intel’s “CEO’s Ties to China are Concerning,” leading the president to suggest that said CEO should resign.
While Big Tech flails amid market uncertainty, Biotech is building
The news cycle is a mess. Inflation, interest rates, and tariffs dominate the headlines — but while the market panics, Cytonics is building.
They’ve already treated over 10,000 patients with their first-generation biologic therapy for osteoarthritis. Now, their next-gen drug, CYT-108, is preparing to enter Phase 2 trials — and may become the first disease-modifying therapy for OA.
This is your chance to invest before Big Pharma catches on. No institutional gatekeeping. No market timing required. Just real science, real patients, and a $393 osteoarthritis billion market ripe for disruption.1
Just 3 weeks remain to get in on Cytonics as an early investor.2
Image note: The minimum investment is $500.
OpenAI releases its long-awaited flagship model, GPT-5
It was only three years ago that ChatGPT was first released to the world, and it’s been a dizzying race ever since, costing AI startups and Big Tech companies hundreds of billions of dollars to rapidly train and upgrade their ever-larger language models.
Fast-forward to yesterday: OpenAI released its latest flagship large language model, GPT-5, on a livestream that was well over an hour long. As is common with AI releases and their many hard-to-remember names, CEO Sam Altman debuted not one, not two, but four flavors of the new model.
First off, what’s new? OpenAI said that “improving factuality” was a priority for GPT-5, and hallucinations have been reduced. Researchers also highlighted work to reduce the ability of ChatGPT to deceive its user, saying that the new model is “significantly less deceptive.” There are new features for ChatGPT as well, including (*checks transcript*) customizing the colors of the chat interface.
Why do we note a relatively… lame and unimportant feature? To address the bigger elephant in the AI room: these AI models aren’t making the leaps and bounds in progress they once were. Last year, researchers started seeing smaller and smaller gains when training their giant models, and talk of an AI “plateau” started to emerge. But tech companies have already pledged hundreds of billions in capital expenditures to build jumbo and mega-super-jumbo data centers in anticipation of training bigger and bigger models.
The Takeaway
The release of GPT-5 may mark the end of the first explosive wave of generative AI and the start of a new era where gains are measured in different ways. This is why OpenAI’s president stressed that the company is now focused on “real-world application” over benchmarks: because if generative AI is hitting a plateau, investors who have piled into the AI trade may question if all this money being spent by Big Tech and AI startups will ever turn profitable.
The Best Thing We Read Today
Hertz says its AI-powered damage scanners are supposed to enhance your customer experience…
…but the scanners, created by tech company UVeye, have been found to charge renters steep fees for seemingly minor (or even nonexistent) dings. One customer told us he got charged $195 for a dent that looked like he “crashed into an ant.”
Yesterday's Big Daily Movers
Crocs sank despite a Q2 beat as its cloudy outlook spooked Wall Street
Celsius surged after blowing past analysts’ expectations for sales
Eli Lilly dropped after it reported disappointing trial results for its next-gen weight-loss pill, while competitor Novo Nordisk spiked on the news
Sunrun shares shone after a big Q2 earnings beat and record energy storage demand
What Else We're Snackin'
Bitcoin’s price rose amid excitement that crypto will be allowed in retirement accounts
Sony reported that the PS5’s total lifetime sales hit 80.3 million units, though it’s still far below the bestselling PlayStation of all time
The high-stakes, cutthroat, billion-dollar industry of… supercute dogs?
Why you’re going to see a lot more swimming pools in strip malls
Snack Fact Of The Day
Shopify is now Canada’s most valuable public company.
Today's Events
Earnings expected from Under Armour, Fubo, Tempus, Canopy Growth, and Wendy’s
1 The estimated global osteoarthritis (OA) market = TNF-alpha global sales x [ratio of OA prevalence to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) prevalence]. OA is 9x more common than RA. OA estimated market = $43B x 9 = $393B.
2 This is a paid advertisement for Cytonics Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks on the Cytonics StartEngine page.
Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities.