Weekend roundup

Here’s what you missed while you were living your best life:

• 🍺 Heineken’s shares slid after H1 results missed forecasts. An expected boost from summer sporting events failed to materialize. The brewer also took a $948 million impairment related to its Chinese partner.

• 🍿 Deadpool & Wolverine had the biggest R-Rated box office opening ever. The movie pulled in more than $200 million over the weekend. The second and third highest-grossing R-rated debuts? Deadpool and Deadpool 2.

• 🪥 Philips shares jumped on higher Q2 sales. Comparable group sales rose 2% to $4.88 billion, as North America demand held up.

Featured weekend story

Apple delays rollout of new AI features

Apple’s new AI features will come to the iPhone and iPad later than expected, missing the launch of its next operating systems.

Bloomberg reports ($) the company will begin rolling out Apple Intelligence in October. That means they won’t arrive in time for the iOS and iPadOS 18 releases planned for September.

Apple Intelligence includes a range of new features, including prioritizing notifications, web page and voice note summaries, writing tools, and a revamp of Siri and ChatGPT integration.

The new release plan means the first iPhone 16 models due for release later this year may also come without new AI features. They would likely get them as a software update weeks later.

The stakes are high for Apple. It’s betting big on AI, so it needs the consumer release to go smoothly. In an unusual move, the company is making Apple Intelligence available to software developers for testing as soon as this week.

What to watch this week

European stocks and US equity futures started the week higher, and Treasury yields fell, ahead of a busy week of central bank decisions. Investors are positioning for dovish guidance, if not actual rate cuts.

Indices at 12:00 AM (ET)

Here are your upcoming market events:

• 🏛️ Central bank decisions. Jerome Powell is expected to set the stage for a September rate cut at Wednesday’s Fed meeting. Investors are more divided over whether the BoE will loosen policy on Thursday. And there’s speculation around a hike at the BoJ meeting on Wednesday.

• 📱 US tech earnings. Microsoft reports on Tuesday, followed by Meta on Wednesday, and Apple and Amazon on Thursday. Weak numbers from Alphabet and others triggered a selloff in US stocks last week – the S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered their worst day since late 2022 on Wednesday.

• 💼 Jobs day. Did the US labor market continue to cool in July? Economists think 177,000 jobs were added, down from 206,000 in June. That narrative will be key to a September rate cut.

Off-balance sheet items

Here’s what we’re reading this week:

• 👟 Why the world’s greatest athletes don’t get paid like it (The Hustle). The Olympic decathlon crowns the ‘world’s greatest athlete.’ But you’d never know it from the salaries.

• 💻️ Why tech bros are turning to Trump (BBC). Donald Trump, whose time in office made him a pariah to many in the business world, has found new champions among tech leaders as his path back to the White House takes shape.

• 🛏️ What’s the least amount of sleep you need to get? (TIME) Imagine what else you could do with the hours you spend unconscious each night. But if you’re trying to claw back more of your personal time, sacrificing sleep is not where to start.

Chart of the week

The bottom line

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