• Markets: The S&P 500 hit a record high yesterday as investors parsed signals from the White House that a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz was imminent (more on that later). Elsewhere, Wayfair soared after it said that you’re buying a lot of bed frames and decorative trays again following a post-pandemic slowdown.

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Unsplash

SpaceX’s first earnings report since it went public in June wasn’t out of this world, but it was better than experts predicted. Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite, and AI company’s Q2 revenue jumped 92% over the same time frame last year.

Shares of the company fell in post-close trading immediately after the announcement, likely a response to high reported expenditures, despite all three segments of the company posting better-than-expected revenue. Via StreetAccount:

• Connectivity ($4.29 billion) was the company’s only profitable arm, with Starlink’s satellite service generating $1.66 billion in operating income.
• The Space and AI businesses exceeded expectations, but Space had operating losses of $542 million, and AI wound up $1.26 billion in the red.

SpaceX had $18.4 billion in capital expenditures during Q2, with nearly $16 billion of that spending in AI. The company has said it will take years for AI spending to bring a return on investment.

More stock volatility incoming?

SpaceX stock has been on a wild ride since its mid-June IPO. They debuted at $135, reached a high of $225, plummeted to a low of $108 to close last week, but ticked up over the first two days of this week to finish at $125.33 yesterday before the after-hours sell-off.

Starting tomorrow, early investors looking to cash out are eligible to sell ~900 million shares—more than double what’s currently available in the market—worth more than $100 billion. And that’s just the beginning:

• After the company reports its Q3 earnings in November, another 1.3 billion shares will be eligible to be sold.
• Musk owns ~6.4 billion shares, and while it’s unlikely he will unload them when eligible next June, even selling off a portion could hurt the stock price.

Elon’s take: The SpaceX CEO boasted about the company’s potential in AI infrastructure compared with rivals, telling analysts it’s like “the New York Yankees going in and playing a Little League team.” He also said he wants to go full Bond villain and put a mass accelerator on the moon to launch satellites from the lunar surface. “I know that sounds totally nuts,” he said.—DL

      

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World

Tour de headlines

AFP/Getty Images

📈 S&P 500 hits all-time high on Iran optimism. Stocks ended Tuesday at their highest point ever after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that the US could reach a deal with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz “today or tomorrow.” As of market close, no deal had been made, but Bessent’s comments were still enough to convince investors that one was coming. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said a deal could be reached “very shortly.” Qatar, which has served as a mediator between the US and Iran, said draft language of an agreement was being circulated among the parties yesterday.

🗳️ El-Sayed narrowly wins Michigan’s divisive Senate Democratic primary. In a race that was much closer than expected, Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, defeated Rep. Haley Stevens to become the Wolverine State’s Democratic nominee for Senate in November’s general election, NBC News projected. Several recent polls had El-Sayed winning by double digits, but as of 5:30am local time this morning, El-Sayed was leading by only about 1 point, with more than 95% of the vote counted. Still, pundits see it as a major victory for the party’s left flank over an establishment candidate. El-Sayed will now face Republican Mike Rogers in November.

🍿 Ellison defends Paramount-Warner deal in NYT op-ed. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison wants you to know that he’s going to take very good care of CNN. In an essay for the New York Times, the media magnate claimed that the antitrust lawsuit that’s seeking to stop Paramount’s proposed takeover of rival Warner Bros. Discovery is not actually driven by regulatory concerns. “The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN,” Ellison wrote. He explained that he has voted for candidates of both political parties, holds both conservative and liberal positions, and believes in journalistic independence. Ellison, who is the son of Oracle co-founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison, has been accused of making politically-motivated changes to CBS News and its flagship program, 60 Minutes.—AE

NOT LOVIN’ IT

Icicles are seen on McDonald's restaurant logo sign

McDonald’s earnings last quarter were like a carton of soggy fries for investors, as it struggled to woo lower-income Americans with bargains. The company reported yesterday that its US same-store sales grew 0.8% in Q2, down from 3.9% in Q1 and lower than the 1.06% analysts expected.

The Golden Arches blamed the stateside growth slowdown on the poor execution of sound strategy, and announced yesterday that it’s replacing its longtime US business head Joe Erlinger with its COO Skye Anderson.

It’s the chef, not the ingredients

The chain was banking on World Cup and KPop Demon Hunters meal discounts, as well as an updated under-$3 menu to juice sales. But:

• McD’s now says it launched too many promotions at once, straining restaurants and driving up customer wait times.
• Many franchisees didn’t offer the under-$3 menu. Some actually raised prices. Meanwhile, the chain nixed certain in-app promotions and its popular Buy One, Get One for $1 deal.

Foot traffic fell last quarter—though customers spent more on average, partially due to a new specialty drinks lineup.

To turn things around…McDonald’s says it’s bringing back more in-app deals and refocusing on marketing time-tested promotions like Extra Value Meals. It’s also working to upgrade its menu and revamp store designs.—SK

      

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Niv Bavarsky

Hope you have an obscure profile song ready that you’ve been sitting on since the 2008 housing crisis. The current owners of Myspace said in a recent documentary that they have plans to relaunch the OG social media platform (again).

Will Myspace return to its DIY coding glory? Chris and Tim Vanderhook, who bought the site alongside Black Snake Moan star Justin Timberlake for $35 million in 2011, didn’t give a specific timeline or any details about what THE new Myspace would look like. The Vanderhooks have already tried revamping the site, releasing a music-focused version in 2013.

If you missed that…well, so did everyone else:

• The pair said they lost about $150 million on the failed redesign.
• As soon as the deal was finalized, they said advertisers left the platform in droves for Facebook.

Emo millennials are still hopeful. Originally founded in 2003, the site is credited with helping to launch the careers of musicians like Adele, Lily Allen, and the Arctic Monkeys. At its heyday in 2006, Myspace was the most-visited website in the US, making up almost 5% of all browser traffic. Co-founders Tom Anderson (you’ve seen his pic) and Chris DeWolfe sold the company to NewsCorp in 2005 for $580 million.—MM

      

Reader Poll

Sam’s stock of the week

Palantir is raking in an “otherworldly” amount of cash

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

On Wednesdays, the Brew’s Sam Klebanov highlights a fascinating stock, commodity, or other asset that’s worth your attention.

Palantir is celebrating a civilization-shifting bonanza, as its philosopher-turned-CEO Alex Karp might put it. Shares of the US government’s favorite shadowy data firm soared 29% yesterday after it reported skyrocketing sales in the last quarter:

• Palantir’s Q2 revenue jumped 93% from the year before to $1.9 billion, and its quarterly profit of $1.1 billion was equivalent to its revenue in Q2 of 2025.
• Its commercial revenue also grew 28% from the previous quarter.

Karp attributed Palantir’s burgeoning corporate customer base to a “revolt” against AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, which he says “capture the means of production” of their corporate customers by lifting their data and using it to train models. (OpenAI and Anthropic deny doing this.) He contrasted it with Palantir’s approach of building AI systems that let customers keep their IP in-house.

But…Palantir’s stock is still down ~5% since the start of the year amid fears that the AI spending boom might lose steam.—SK

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News

What else is brewing

• Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, was approved by the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote to become attorney general after agreeing to kill the Trump administration’s controversial “anti-weaponization fund.”
• A suspect has been arrested and charged with intentionally setting the biggest of three ongoing wildfires near Spokane, Washington.
• Spotify said it hit 300 million premium subscribers, “a milestone no audio streaming service has ever reached.”
• New Jersey sued Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant abuses its market power to mistreat independent delivery drivers in the state, which Amazon denied.
• Bending Spoons, the Italian tech conglomerate that bought AOL and Vimeo, acquired spreadsheet platform Airtable for $1.28 billion yesterday in its first deal since going public last month.
• Procter & Gamble is buying the supplement brand Thorne for $3.8 billion, CNBC reported.

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• How to help your pets avoid venomous snakes.
• The oldest college in every state.
• Draw any shape, and hear what it would sound like as a drum.
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Play

Word Search: Our puzzle this week asks you to identify extreme sports. Crack open a Red Bull and play the Word Search here.

Car trivia

What does this list represent?

1. Hyundai Elantra (21,732)
2. Honda Accord (17,797)
3. Hyundai Sonata (17,687)
4. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (16,764)
5. Honda Civic (12,725)
6. Kia Optima (11,521)
7. Ford F150 (10,102)
8. Toyota Camry (9,833)
9. Honda CR-V (9,809)
10. Nissan Altima (8,445)

Answer

The most stolen vehicles in the US last year

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: burgeoning, meaning “growing or developing quickly.” Thanks to Georgia from the Pacific Northwest for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.