• Markets: Stocks closed mixed yesterday, with only the Nasdaq eking out a win. Investors warily eyed the Middle East, with oil rising after US–Iran tensions escalated (more on that in a minute).
• Stock spotlight: SpaceX continued its fall back to Earth yesterday, dropping below its IPO opening price despite becoming part of the Nasdaq 100 this week, which usually provides a bump.

IS IT CROWDED IN HERE?

Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Antonio Bordunovi/Getty Images

It’s 2019: You’re gushing about Avengers: Endgame, and a little computer chip company, Nvidia, has pretty cheap stock. Since then, Marvel hasn’t made a good movie, but Nvidia’s stock shot up like a Giant Sky Beam. Yet recently, it’s back at 2019 levels after a nearly $1 trillion loss in market value in less than two months, according to Bloomberg.

From the end of 2022 through last year, Nvidia’s stock price jumped over 1,100%, as its powerful GPUs became the clearest early winners of the AI boom. Even though the tech giant is still delivering stellar earnings, and it doesn’t seem like an AI bubble has popped:

• After hitting an all-time high in May, the stock fell 16% and hasn’t been able to get itself back up.
• Since the start of the year, Nvidia has only risen 5.6%. This pales in comparison to the performance of indexes it used to lap, like the S&P 500’s 9.6% gain this year and the Nasdaq 100’s 16% rise.

The biggest reason: competition

It’s not that investors no longer see AI infrastructure as valuable; it’s that they see a ton of opportunities as very valuable. Some investors are ditching Nvidia and parking their money in other chipmakers or in other companies selling highly lucrative memory and storage:

• The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index has skyrocketed 74% this year.
• Nvidia’s rivals, like Advanced Micro Devices and startup SambaNova, have scored huge investments from investors hoping to catch the next Nvidia on its way up.
• High-bandwidth memory chipmaker Micron’s stock has gained 229% since the start of the year, after jumping 239% last year.

Big picture: Nvidia is still the chip to beat—it had a 97% chokehold on the server GPU market last year, per data from Bloomberg Intelligence. But everyone is coming for its crown: Even major Nvidia customers like Alphabet and Amazon are starting to develop their own chips. Chinese AI company DeepSeek is also in the process of making its own AI chip, according to Reuters.—MM

      

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World

Tour de headlines

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🇮🇷 US launches new strikes after Trump calls the Iran ceasefire “over.” The US conducted additional strikes in Iran yesterday, following harsh words from President Trump. Branding Iran’s leadership “scum” and “liars,” President Trump told reporters yesterday at a NATO summit in Turkey that he believed the US’ ceasefire deal with Iran was “over” and said that negotiations were “a waste of time.” He also threatened the resumption of a naval blockade of Iran’s ships. His remarks came after the US carried out strikes in Iran in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week. His initial statements sent oil prices soaring, but later in the day, before the new strikes began, Trump said he didn’t think the war was “going to start again” and that “anything that happens is going to be over very quickly.”—AR

🏛️ Graham Platner drops out of Maine Senate race, denies sexual assault allegation. The Democratic hopeful posted a video message to X, in which he said the move was “most certainly not” an admission of guilt, but a necessary step because “the political establishment” was using the allegations “to put structural pressure on us.” State election rules specify that Platner would need to drop out by July 13 for the state’s Democratic party to replace him on the ballot. The Democrats are seeking to unseat longtime Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, in the general election this November, as it’s one of the party’s few avenues for regaining the majority in the Senate. The Maine Democratic Party is planning to host a nominating convention, but has not yet released details.—HVL

📺 The Pitt and Hacks helped HBO Max lead the Emmy nominations. The nominations for the award show that puts the E in EGOT were announced yesterday, and HBO and its streamer HBO Max led the pack with 25 nominations for The Pitt and 24 for Hacks, securing a total of 122 nods. It was a good day for other streamers, too: Netflix snagged 111 nominations and Apple TV got 89, its most ever. For broadcast networks, ABC sat atop the list with 40 nominations. The awards show will be held on September 14, hosted by Olivia Benson Mariska Hargitay.—AR

TAKE YOUR PIC

Nick Iluzada

Meta this week unveiled Muse, its AI image generator. It works a lot like all the others, except with a problematic feature that’s resulted in backlash: Muse allows anyone using it to manipulate pictures of any Instagram user with a public profile unless they actively opt out.

Muse was designed to appeal to advertisers devoid of an art department. But it will also be rolled out through the Meta AI app, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram for anyone else.

Since the creepiest person you know can grab a pic off anyone’s public profile and use it to create an AI image just by tagging the account, it’s reminding people of Meta’s history of lax privacy standards:

• In 2019, Meta paid a $5 billion fine over its role in allowing Cambridge Analytica to access the data of millions of Facebook users ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.
• Two years later, Facebook shut down its facial recognition system after facing lawsuits over its collection of biometric data.

To opt out on Instagram, you can set your profile to private or find the “sharing and reuse” tab in your settings and toggle off “allow people to use your content on Instagram and with AI features on Meta,” although some users may not have those tabs available yet.—DL

      

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BOARDING GROUP NEVER

Dursun Aydemir/Getty Images

You shall not pass through Europe without waiting in line to provide biometrics, despite protest from top travel officials. This week, the EU rejected calls from the aviation industry to suspend new fingerprinting and facial recognition border controls that have led to hourslong disruptions at some European airports.

ICYMI: The new Entry/Exit System (EES), which launched in April, requires all 25 EU members (plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) to collect biometrics from noncitizens upon entry and confirm their identities upon departure.

But the confusing system is making some would-be visitors reconsider traveling to Europe:

• With airports reporting insufficient border control staffing, vacation hot spots like Spain and Italy have been plagued by delays and missed connecting flights.
• Nearly every day this summer, airports in Rome have had to partially suspend the system’s biometric collection, which can be done for only six hours at a time.

Though EU officials admitted that EES is “not perfect,” they said the benefits outweigh the costs—about 44,500 travelers have been turned away at the border under the new system. The second-most-common reason for denied entry was overstaying 90 days of visitation, a violation that dual-nationality passengers previously could evade by using multiple passports.—ML

      

MOLLY EXPLAINS THE INTERNET

Don’t microwave these gel toys

Jim Franco/Getty Images

The online world can be a beautiful yet confusing series of tubes. On Thursdays, the Brew’s Molly Liebergall untangles them for you.

Not microwaving a chemical-filled squishy toy may sound obvious, but then again, so did “Don’t eat Tide Pods.” The latest dangerous internet trend is called the “NeeDoh challenge,” a nonsensical call to throw your NeeDoh—a popular gel-filled squishy toy—in the microwave to make it more pliable.

PSA: Do not do that. Heating the toys can cause them to explode, sending scalding goo everywhere—so this has happened after NeeDohs were left in hot cars, too. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received about a half dozen reports of kids needing emergency treatment after their NeeDohs exploded. Hospitals have treated several children and teens who suffered second- or third-degree burns.

Damage control: NeeDoh added a warning to its packaging, and its parent company is working with social media companies to “remove influential content containing NeeDoh product misuse,” its president said.—ML

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News

What else is brewing

• Federal Reserve officials were split in June over what to do with interest rates, with some offering reasons for hikes and others favoring cuts, according to meeting minutes released yesterday.
• Blue Origin, the rocket company helmed by Jeff Bezos (in case you were confused about which billionaire’s space company it was), is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion valuation in its first outside funding round.
• Apple struck a $30 billion deal with Broadcom for US-made chips.
• Delta introduced Basic Business fares for a fancier front-of-plane experience without the full cost—or perks—of traditional business class.
• A federal judge ordered President Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll the $5 million (plus interest) he was told to pay her after a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump appealed, but the court denied his request to stay the release of the money.
• OpenAI will widely release its latest models today after the government lifted restrictions. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s latest Grok model came out yesterday.
• Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff have separated after almost three years of marriage, but you’re still allowed to listen to Lana Del Rey’s “Margaret.”

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• One career coach’s method for finding a new job.
• Don’t want to fly? These routes will take you on an unforgettable US road trip.
• Go-to recipes for when it’s too hot to cook.
• The wallet that says “I have my life together,” even if you don’t.**

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Play

Brew Mini: Today’s little puzzle is called “Troubleshooting,” but it does not require you to turn off your computer and turn it back on. Play the Mini here.

Three Headlines and a Lie

Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than a quick call with your mom. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Camels are becoming more combative, it may be due to pop music
2. Two banks agreed to merge. They can’t agree on how to make chili.
3. Elon Musk is feuding with Tom Holland over The Odyssey. No, not that Tom Holland.
4. To beat the heat, the wealthy are building snow rooms

Answer

We made up the one about the aggressive camels.

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: pliable, meaning “supple enough to bend freely without breaking.” Thanks to Tonya from Minneapolis for being flexible with the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.