Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t slacking off during his final summer on the job.

On Wednesday, the iPhone maker formally announced a long-discussed $30 billion chip supply agreement with Broadcom, one of the biggest US manufacturing deals in company history. Apple shares climbed nearly 1% on the news, bringing it closer to reclaiming the crown for biggest US company by market cap.

Off to the Races

Nvidia’s lead has narrowed to about $300 billion this week amid an extended selloff in which the chips king has shed roughly $1 trillion in value since an all-time peak in mid-May. The remarkable slide, which Nvidia reversed somewhat with a 3% gain on Wednesday, has coincided with a broader market rethink of the artificial intelligence trade; semiconductors are largely out, white-hot memory and storage chips are in.

And so is Apple, whose shares have climbed more than 15% this year (exceeding the 9% gain of the broader S&P 500) as investors reward the company’s patient and cost-conscious approach to the AI era. The Broadcom deal also closes the loop of a Cook era perhaps best defined by the company’s bold and fruitful embrace of Chinese manufacturing. Now, in a new world of harder trade barriers, the Broadcom partnership kicks off an age of reshoring as the company vows to invest $600 billion in US manufacturing through the next four years:

• In particular, Broadcom will supply custom radio connectivity chips and components for various Apple devices. The deal, set to run through 2031, includes a $1.5 billion expansion of a Broadcom facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, which is now expected to produce 15 billion chips and support hundreds of jobs.
• Apple is simultaneously looking to reshore the primary logic chips powering its devices. It has already committed to buy chips from TSMC’s forthcoming Arizona chip fab, as well as from Intel.

“Apple has been working with the administration and businesses across the US to help create an end-to-end silicon supply chain in America, and today’s announcement advances those efforts,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Not Out Yet: That’s not to say the company has completely abandoned its China-based supply chain. In fact, Apple has been lobbying Washington for clearance of memory-chip purchases from Chinese firm CXMT, which was blacklisted by the Pentagon, the Financial Times reported last month. The plea comes as Apple has raised prices on many of its key devices due to an AI-related crunch on memory and storage.

The premium side of the airplane curtain is getting cut up into more classes than ancient Rome as airlines seek to squeeze extra dollars out of travelers’ budgets.

Delta, which is reporting earnings before the bell tomorrow, is introducing three new ticket types: two basic versions of business and first class fares, along with another option closer to the main cabin. Basic Business and First Basic tickets are geared toward fliers who want a bigger seat near the front of the plane and not much else. The tickets will be cheaper than their premium counterparts but come with trade-offs including no lounge access and no seat selection. There are also added fees for changing or canceling flights, similar to Basic Economy fares. Basic Business will be offered for lie-flat seats on long-haul flights while First Basic will be available for shorter domestic flights that typically don’t have business class.

Delta’s move mirrors what rival airlines are doing, creating more upsells to tempt travelers who want to upgrade from their knees hitting the back of the seat in front of them but don’t want to splurge on the full first-class experience.

We’re Not Soarin’, Not Flyin’

The travel industry’s struggling to spread its wings during a $40 billion downturn. US tourism missed out on more than $16 billion last year and is heading down the runway toward an additional $21 billion deficit this year, Tourism Economics estimated.

Stateside travel has hit turbulence, too:

• Several surveys have found that Americans plan to travel less this summer than usual. Facing high fare costs, some vacationers are trading down and looking for ways to take a summer vacay on a budget (road trips, national parks). Airlines like Delta are leaning into the newfound frugality, betting that higher spenders may be more willing to trade down by skipping the lounge than by giving up their lie-flat seats.
• United pushed the multi-tier strategy into premium cabins this spring, announcing Polaris Base tickets that let fliers splurge on premium seats but save a few (hundred) dollars by skipping out on perks like accumulating miles.

Cruising Altitude: Over the years, major airlines have created different tiers of their economy class to capture customers who may want to spend on extra legroom or a window seat. But budget travel isn’t where the money’s at. As budget airlines see their planes turning tarmacs into yellow graveyards (ahem, Spirit), carriers are increasingly counting on champagne-sippers to lift their profits.

Sometimes, markets can be a harsher judge than the fashion police.

Levi Strauss & Co. reported top- and bottom-line figures Wednesday that beat Wall Street’s second-quarter forecasts, hiked its earnings guidance and increased its dividend. Shares in the jeansmaker nonetheless fell 5% in after-hours trading. With demand for denim steady, why did investors react like it’s cheap rayon?

Denim Doubters

Under CEO Michelle Gass, who took the top job in 2024, Levi Strauss has pursued a multifaceted turnaround, pivoting to a higher-margin, direct-to-consumer model to offset reliance on wholesalers. This has included moving Levi’s distribution to a combination of owned and third-party locations from a purely owned-and-operated setup, something that will lead to the closure of a Kentucky distribution center, and the loss of some 300 jobs, next month. Most importantly, it’s working: DTC grew 10.5% in the company’s 2025 fiscal year, and 11% year-over-year in this year’s second-quarter results reported Wednesday.

It’s also gaining broader momentum: Companywide, revenue climbed 3% in Gass’ first year, then 4% in 2025 to $6.3 billion. In the most recent quarter, sales rose 8% to $1.6 billion, and profit of $87 million increased 30% from a year ago. All of these things bested analyst expectations, but the price of success is that investors start to expect more:

• Levi’s raised its sales growth forecast for the fiscal year ending November 29 to 7.0% to 7.5%, up from 5.5% to 6.5% previously.
• The company expects earnings of roughly $1.46 to $1.52 per share, with a $1.49 midpoint just below the $1.51 forecast from analysts surveyed by FactSet. That narrow miss was enough to send the stock careening, with investors making like Richard Blackwell on a bad morning.

Riding Higher: Levi’s hiked its quarterly dividend by 14% to 16 cents per share, or 64 cents a year, delivering an annual yield of about 2.6% based on the stock’s Wednesday closing price of $24.37. That’s better than the S&P 500’s roughly 1% and within the Goldilocks range that financial advisors consider relatively stable.