Anthropic's Mythos model spent hours probing some of the most sensitive computer systems in the US government during a controlled test with intelligence agencies, and found vulnerabilities faster than human analysts typically could. Nobody exploited anything; this was a supervised drill, not a breach. But it matters because it's the clearest public proof yet that AI has crossed from "useful research tool" to "operational national security asset." The bigger story here isn't the test itself. It's that the same speed advantage which makes Mythos a powerful defender could make an equivalent model, in the wrong hands, an equally fast attacker. Read full story →

The must read articles that are moving the business landscape today.

The Strait of Hormuz reopened, and the oil that had been stuck behind it is now arriving all at once. Tankers delayed during the crisis are unloading large volumes of crude, and that sudden flood is pushing prices down and erasing much of the risk premium traders had built into oil since the disruption began. For businesses that watch fuel costs closely, this is the rare good-news version of a supply shock: there's just a lot more oil moving than the market expected this week. Read full story →

JPMorgan raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 7,800, citing strong earnings, a resilient economy, and real profit growth flowing from AI investment. It's the bank joining a growing chorus of Wall Street optimists. The catch, which JPMorgan said itself, is that valuations are getting stretched and a lot of that optimism is concentrated in a small handful of AI-linked stocks. Translation for anyone running a business: the broader market mood is sunny, but the foundation under it is narrower than the headline number suggests. Read full story →

Amazon's Prime Day kicked off with $8.3 billion in US online spending on day one alone, beating Adobe's forecast and pushing the four-day total estimate to $26.3 billion, up 9% from last year. Walmart and Target's competing sales are riding the same wave. For a consumer that's supposedly cautious about spending, this is a pretty loud signal that people will still open their wallets when the discount is right, particularly on electronics, appliances, and everyday essentials. Read full story →

OpenAI revealed Jalapeño, a custom AI chip built with Broadcom designed to run inference tasks like generating ChatGPT responses, with Broadcom claiming performance on par with Nvidia and Google's chips and roughly 50% lower cost. The move is OpenAI's attempt to stop depending so heavily on Nvidia and start controlling its own infrastructure costs. For any business built on top of AI tools, this is the early sign of a price war that could eventually trickle down into what you pay to use them. Read full story →

A daily score of business conditions (scored out of 100), with a breakdown of what’s driving it.

The Daily Business Index climbed to 53.0 today, moving back above the neutral 50 mark after Tuesday's semiconductor-driven scare. South Korea's stock market clawed back ground after Samsung announced a huge share buyback, oil kept falling on easing Middle East shipping tensions, and US stocks steadied themselves ahead of the day's biggest event: Micron's earnings. The chipmaker didn't disappoint, posting revenue and guidance well above expectations and sending other chip stocks higher after hours — a strong signal that the AI boom's appetite for memory chips hasn't faded, even after a rough couple of days.

The one story from the archives worth remembering today, so you can spot the pattern before everyone else does.

A year ago this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell testified before the House Financial Services Committee that the US economy remained on solid footing, with low unemployment and inflation running above target but cooling. He flagged tariffs as the wildcard that could still push prices higher later in the year. A year on, with markets cheering AI-driven earnings and oil prices easing, that "solid but watchful" tone reads less like caution and more like the calm before several genuinely turbulent months.

The one piece of business jargon demystified today, so you can nod along with confidence.

What it means: It's the extra price baked into something — oil, a stock, a bond — because buyers are nervous about a specific danger, like a war disrupting supply. Once that danger fades, the premium tends to evaporate fast, which is exactly what's happening to oil prices now that the Strait of Hormuz is moving cargo again.