July 27, 2026

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Hello there. Police are looking for two men who sneaked up to the top of the Seattle Space Needle with parachutes on, flipped over a glass wall, and floated down the 605 feet to the ground before disappearing. This happened around 8:50pm local time on Friday night. The most bizarre part for us is how anyone has that kind of energy to spare at the end of the workweek.

—Holly Van Leuven, Brendan Cosgrove, Neal Freyman

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

The tech world weighing in on open-weight AI models
Oil prices receding as early trading began
The high-end boat company becoming a purpose trust

Markets: Year-to-Date

Nasdaq

24,975.82

+7.46%

S&P

7,411.98

+8.28%

Dow

51,947.25

+8.08%

10-Year

4.679%

+51.6 bps

Bitcoin

$65,216.33

-25.47%

AstraZeneca

$169.26

-6.98%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 12:00am ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: After a rough couple of weeks, investors have their fingers crossed as they await blockbuster earnings and a rate decision from the Federal Reserve (more on both of those later).
Stock spotlight: AstraZeneca reports its second-quarter earnings today after announcing earlier this month that one of its heart disease drugs failed a late-stage trial.

weight, what?

Tech companies take stand on open-weight AI access

Jensen Huang in front of an Nvidia backdrop

Jensen Huang joined X and then posted an open letter. Philip Fong/Getty Images

Just a few days ago, the most heated debates about the merits of an open-weight class belonged to MMA enthusiasts. But after an open letter was released on Friday by more than 20 tech companies, open-weight AI models have become front and center in the discourse.

For context: Open-weight AI models let users download and edit them, and run them locally. By contrast, the most popular US large language models are closed and proprietary, like Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 series.

Why do we they care about this?

Any connotation the public had with open-weight AI models was probably negative (at least before Denny’s intervened). Popular Chinese AI models, like those made by DeepSeek as well as newcomer Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI, are open-weight.

The letter didn’t mention China…but it did enumerate the benefits of open-weight models despite bad press, including by extending access “to the AI economy.” AI will become scalable to use for billions of everyday tasks at “factories, hospitals, farms, classrooms, and main street businesses,” but only with the help of low-cost, open-weight models, the letter said.

It also admitted there are risks with open models, like modifications being made to them beyond the creator’s control.

Signer scrutiny

Nvidia and Microsoft were the heaviest hitters on the open letter. Another of the initial signers was Hugging Face, which was hacked by a proprietary OpenAI model after it went rogue…and it defended itself using an open-weight Chinese model after Anthropic’s Fable 5 couldn’t tell if Hugging Face was the hacker or not.

The signers of the letter rose to 50 after Jensen Huang posted it on X. But those still don’t include Anthropic, Amazon, or xAI. (OpenAI signed after the letter gained traction.)

Zoom out: The tech companies used the letter to urge the US government to avoid “premature restrictions on open models that stifle competition or drive innovation overseas,” following interventions it’s made in domestic AI companies.—HVL

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World

Tour de headlines

An oil refinery in Greece. Nurphoto/Getty Images

🛢️ Oil prices fell after US, Iran halted attacks. As early trading began yesterday, oil prices further receded from the two-month high they set last week. It was also the second day that the US and Iran refrained from launching strikes at each other’s targets. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told Fox News Sunday that President Trump paused strikes in order to give talks “some space.” A senior Iranian official told Reuters yesterday that Iran would pause its strikes as long as the US does so. The source also said, “The prevailing view is that the pause is tactical rather than genuine.” US officials speaking anonymously with multiple media outlets have said that the US was risking munitions depletion.

🌏 Iran and Ukraine wars overlap with Caspian Sea attacks, “adversary alignment.” On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s military “achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea,” hitting “vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.” Iran said the attacks killed one sailor and left others injured. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on X that Ukraine’s attacks “CANNOT GO UNANSWERED.” Also on Saturday, Zelensky said that he would share evidence with the US that Russia was sharing its satellite intelligence of US military bases with Iran. Earlier in the week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “There’s definitely adversary alignment” regarding Iran and Russia, although President Trump disagreed.

🥬Cyclospora outbreak is changing Americans’ eating habits, CBS poll finds. As if arugula didn’t already need a pretty good publicist, a new poll conducted by CBS News/YouGov found that 4 in 10 Americans are buying or eating less produce because of the parasitic outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce in nine states. Most Americans are also following news about the outbreak somewhat closely, per the survey—almost as many as are following coverage of the Iran war. CBS News/YouGov found that respondents’ confidence in the FDA’s ability to solve the problem is mixed, and largely falls along party lines, with Republicans more optimistic. Separately, CBS News reported that staff and program cuts at the FDA may have contributed to the situation.—HVL

witness projection

Lured in by the siren call of Imax 70mm

A reel of Imax 70mm film in Belgium. Hendrik Devriendt/Getty Images

Turns out, the best way to experience an epic poem might be on an enormous screen with water-cooled xenon bulbs blasting roughly 18K-resolution images onto it.

At least that’s how Christopher Nolan intended for people to watch his new blockbuster The Odyssey, the first feature film shot entirely with Imax 70mm film cameras. And when you get direction from Chris Nolan, you take it, even if it means driving hundreds of miles.

Imax-maxxing: Per the New York Times, Florida resident Zach Weible took a car, bus, and train nearly 300 miles to see The Odyssey as it was made to be watched: on a giant, near-square Imax 70mm theater screen (the massive size varies by theater but adheres to the 1.43:1 aspect ratio to capture the full image). But there are only 25 of those in the US, forcing many epic-curious cinephiles to hit the road. Other screens, even other standard Imax screens, cut the top and bottom of the picture off.

Imax 70mm tickets are 81% more expensive, according to EntTelligence, but they’re still hard to get, even with 3am showings. Sorry, Odysseus, but that’s a tough trip home.

Because of that demand, Imax might need to send Nolan a gift basket:

Some $140 million of The Odyssey’s global ticket sales have come from Imax theaters (including non-70mm screens) in its first two weekends.
It has sold 10,000+ Imax-themed popcorn buckets linked to The Odyssey.
Its stock is up more than 60% in the past year.

Wide shot: After two weekends, The Odyssey has made $639.6 million globally, including $284.4 million at the domestic box office.—BC

reader poll

Have you made a special effort to see ‘The Odyssey’ in Imax 70mm?

Yes, I already saw it.
Yes, I have tickets for an upcoming 70mm showing.
No, it’s just not feasible for me.
No, and I am Imaxed out on this discourse.

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calendar

The week ahead

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A supersized earnings week: About one-third of the S&P 500 will report earnings this week, but things get especially magnificent on Wednesday with Microsoft and Meta, and on Thursday with Apple and Amazon. SK Hynix, Coca-Cola, Boeing, Corning, UPS, and Ford will all deliver results tomorrow, while Qualcomm, Starbucks, and Chipotle report on Wednesday. ExxonMobil and Chevron will put oil prices in the spotlight on Friday.

Steady as she goes?: Like Sam Neill in front of a Tyrannosaurus rex, the Federal Reserve is expected to stand still this week. The central bank has held interest rates steady following the last four meetings, and most analysts expect more of the same on Wednesday. But the data picture is far from clear, and new-ish Fed Chair Kevin Warsh isn’t offering any hints, so a rate hike isn’t completely off the table. Still, most analysts don’t expect a rate increase until September. Meanwhile, the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, will be released on Thursday.

IPO…Mike’s Way: Sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s is on the verge of what’s expected to be the US’ second-biggest restaurant IPO ever this Thursday. The sub shop, which was acquired by private equity firm Blackstone last year, plans to list its shares under the symbol JMKE. The IPO could push the sandwich chain’s initial market cap close to $8 billion, which is a ton of bread/cheddar/lettuce/bacon, no matter how you slice it.

But wait, there’s more:

Funeral services for GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham will take place in Washington, DC, tomorrow and in his home state of South Carolina on Wednesday.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, starring Tom Holland and Zendaya, premieres in theaters on Friday.

Brendan’s Got Good News

Business owner gives away boatloads of money

A Grady-White boat at a boat show in 2024

A Grady-White boat at an expo in 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Mondays are bad enough, so the Brew’s own Brendan Cosgrove scoured the internet for a positive news story to help you start the week off right.

The only successful businessman who doesn’t want a 200-foot yacht might be the one who owned a boat company.

Eddie Smith, 83, spent decades building the high-end fishing boat company Grady-White into a business worth around $400 million. He knows its monetary value, because that’s about how much he was offered when he went to sell it while navigating the deaths of his wife and son, his only heir.

But he turned down that barge full of money, deciding instead to draw inspiration from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard—Smith recently transferred the company’s voting stock to a purpose trust (which will allow it to remain independent) and the rest of the company’s shares were used to create and fund a new nonprofit. He will still receive a yearly salary and will stay on as Grady-White’s chief executive emeritus. He told the New York Times that he took this tack because, “This company has a soul, and I didn’t want to lose that.”—BC

News

What else is brewing

India’s Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party declared “Cockroaches won!” after the nation’s education minister resigned following civic protests by the party across the country.
The Pentagon’s official Iran war death toll no longer lists the four troops killed during this month’s renewed fighting.
German special forces shot and killed the main suspect in a car-ramming attack on a Pride festival in Berlin that left one person dead and 29 others injured on Saturday.
DeepSeek has told some would-be investors it will not close deals with them, according to Bloomberg, following the viral leak of alleged comments made by its CEO around a prior funding round.
Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia won the Tour de France yesterday, becoming the fifth cyclist in history to win five Tours.

recs

The case for why athletes (including amateurs) need sugar and carbs in their diets.
A viral app can help detect smart glasses near you using Bluetooth.
All the movies and TV shows announced at San Diego Comic-Con this year.
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Is your car insurance getting expensive? This free tool can help you find better options—and save you up to $600 a year. You’re welcome.*

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Play

Turntable: Your center letter this week is R, surrounded by A, W, D, K, Y, and L. Can you make 25 words from those? Play Turntable here.

Scotch trivia

Happy National Scotch Day! To celebrate, we’re going to give you a list of strange-sounding names. You have to determine whether it’s a single-malt scotch or a location in Middle-earth from The Lord of the Rings.

Ered Luin
Caol Ila
Baranduin
Rhûn
Edradour
Strathisla

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Answer

Place in Middle-earth
Scotch
Place in Middle-earth
Place in Middle-earth
Scotch
Scotch

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: enumerate, meaning “to list.” Thanks to Jill Monticue from Bonner Springs, KS, for spelling out a good suggestion for us. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✳︎ A Note From Frontieras

This is a paid advertisement for Frontieras’ Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.frontieras.com/.

Reservation of the ticker symbol is not a guarantee that we will be listed on the Nasdaq. Listing on the Nasdaq is subject to approvals.

Under Regulation A+, a company has the ability to change its share price by up to 20%, without requalifying the offering with the SEC.

Written by Holly Van Leuven , Brendan Cosgrove, and Neal Freyman

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