More than 100 top economic leaders from around the world are huffing mountain air together at the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to drop hints today about how hard and fast the US central bank will ease record-high interest rates.

Now that inflation and the labor market have cooled off…economists are about as sure as they can be that the Fed will issue the first of many rate cuts at its next meeting in September. They became more confident this week after new data showed that the US has recently added nearly 30% fewer jobs than previously thought.

The question now is whether a quarter-point reduction to the current 23-year-high interest rate of 5.25%–5.5% is enough. You can count on Powell to provide zero concrete answers and instead give economists just enough to maybe infer his next move:

• Since inflation is largely under control, more of the speech may focus on the labor market. If Powell mentions this week’s jobs report revision, Citigroup thinks it could mean that a half-point cut is on the table. The bank’s economists forecast that size reduction for both September and November’s Fed meetings.
• JPow will also likely celebrate how far we’ve come in the past two years: Inflation is down from 9.1% to 2.9%, while consumer spending has remained strong overall.

Looking ahead…there’s a whole ’nother jobs report and more economic data coming out before the next interest rate meeting taking place on Sept. 17 and 18. Powell is more likely to make a cut larger than a quarter-point if employment numbers continue to weaken.—ML

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Harris closes out the DNC. Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic party’s nomination for president, making history as the first Black and Asian woman to lead a major party’s ticket. In a 45-minute speech, Harris spoke about her middle-class upbringing and her experience as a prosecutor to explain why she’d be the better choice than opponent Donald Trump to “chart a new way forward” for the country. Despite rumors swirling online, neither Taylor Swift nor Beyoncé made an appearance as a special musical guest. Up next on the election calendar: Harris and Trump will debate in Philadelphia on Sept. 10.

Home sales rose for the first time in five months. Closed sales of previously owned homes ticked up 1.3% in July, with many of the gains coming in the Northeast, CNBC reported. Analysts were quick to point out that sales were still sluggish (down 2.5% compared with the same period last year), but a win’s a win. The boost in home sales was helped by better mortgage rates, which are finally easing toward less outlandish levels: The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to 6.6% this week, its lowest rate in 15 months and down from a high of 7.8% last year. Experts predict an even sharper drop could be coming soon.

Apple users in Europe are free to delete the App Store. In order to comply with an EU law, Apple said an upcoming software update will allow European iPhone users to return preinstalled apps like Safari and the App Store from whence they came. They’ll also be able to replace the standard Apple messaging and phone apps with options from third-party companies. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which largely went into effect in 2023, aims to give smaller companies a fair shot in advertising, app stores, and other sectors dominated by “gatekeepers” like Apple and Alphabet.

Peloton has increased cadence and turned down resistance on its endurance ride to profitability. In its earnings report released yesterday, the company revealed positive cash flow for the second straight quarter and its first year over year revenue growth since 2021.

Spin up: Peloton met its moment during the pandemic, and its stock price landed at an all-time high in January 2021. But by December of that year, Mr. Big died after getting off his Bike+, and just like that, demand for at-home workout solutions faded along with the company’s reputation. In 2022, its founder and CEO departed the role, and the company clipped in to a turnaround plan.

It’s starting to work. Peloton’s goals since then have been to increase profitability and reduce focus on revenue growth. Trimming overhead, scaling back hardware sales, and driving subscribers to its $12–$44 monthly membership offerings have been key. The stock closed up 35% yesterday.

Peloton is also tapping into current trends, like strength training at the gym. Its new standalone Peloton Strength+ app offers guided workout videos tailored to a gym setting. And those who still have the bike at home can now read Kindle books while pedaling to nowhere.—HVL

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Lionsgate must be feeling like the headquarters of Slopalopolis. The movie studio issued an apology and pulled the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming fever-dream epic fantasy film Megalopolis mere hours after its release yesterday, when a viewer found it used fabricated quotes attributed to famous film critics.

The first 38 seconds of the trailer show quotes allegedly from film critics’ negative reviews of Coppola’s iconic movies, seemingly to make the point that the director is a genius so ahead of his time that critics cannot see his brilliance at first. But it turns out the quotes are fake, as first reported by Vulture:

• The words attributed to legendary film critics Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael calling The Godfather “a sloppy, self-indulgent movie” and “diminished by its artsiness” don’t appear in their OG reviews.
• One quote, portrayed as Roger Ebert’s critique of Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, was actually from Ebert’s review of the 1989 Batman, per the Independent.

Seems about right. A bizarre and inexplicable public misstep is almost too fitting for Coppola’s self-financed $120 million film, which looks so unhinged that it makes The Room seem normal. Though it received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, one critic called it “a folly of such gargantuan proportions” (really). There’s also been controversy over Coppola’s alleged inappropriate conduct on set.—CC

What the experts said was going to happen when the Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action is pretty much what happened at MIT. The school said its class of 2028—the first to be admitted to the elite institution since SCOTUS overturned the divisive practice in college admissions last year—is much less diverse than usual.

About 16% of the class is Black, Hispanic, Native American, or Pacific Islander, down from the recent 25% baseline, the New York Times reported. Black enrollment fell from 15% in the previous class to 5%, while Asian American enrollment grew from 40% to 47%. President Sally Kornbluth said the 2028 class is “outstanding” but admitted that it does not bring “the same degree of broad racial and ethnic diversity that the MIT community has worked together to achieve over the past several decades.”

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