1 big thing: Repayment worries

Illustration of a paper airplane made of a student loan bill, dollars and a page from a calendar

2. Bonus chart: Payment reset

3. What's happening

World leaders court Elon Musk for Tesla factory

4. World leaders court Elon

Elon Musk holding his son as they make their way into the Turkish House in New York City

5. Talk shows hit pause, again

6. What they're saying

Today's newsletter is 588 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up, but nearly flat.

Biggest gainer? Tyler Technologies (+3.9%), a software provider for the public sector. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Biggest decliner? Moderna (-9.1%), the vaccine maker fell after Pfizer's CFO forecast weaker demand for COVID shots this year.

Today's newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon and copy edited by Sheryl Miller.

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Closer

Picture of a golden bell on a white background.

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Catch up on the day's biggest business stories and look ahead to important trends. Led by Hope King and Nathan Bomey.

Axios Closer

Standard

1 big thing: "FOBO" 😰

AI regulation is within sight — with an eye on preserving innovation

2. AI regulation within sight

Illustration of a roll of red tape in a tape dispenser. 

3. Advice for uncertainty

4. The UAW's surgical strike

5. What else is happening

6. Delta tests loyalty

Today's newsletter is 657 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 1.2%.

Biggest gainer? Southwest Airlines (+2.6%), following CEO Robert Jordan's comments that the company has made investments to help manage winter operations.

Biggest decliner? Nucor Corp. (-6.1%), the steelmaker, issued a profit warning.

1 big thing: The UAW's "righteous" cause

Illustration of a hand holding a "UAW" protest sign in the shape of a Christian cross

2. Charted: Instacart's down-round IPO

4. Disney attacking by land and sea

A cruise ship with fireworks exploding and crowds cheering.

5. Settling for a field goal

6. What they're saying 

Tuesday. 🤑 Sadly, we here at Closer missed out on the FanDuel bet below.

Today's newsletter is 699 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 0.2%.

Biggest gainer? Enphase Energy (+4.2%), the energy technology company, bounced back after falling in yesterday's session following a Citi stock downgrade.

Biggest decliner? Intel Corp. (-4.3%), the chipmaker's CFO warned analysts of excess data center chip inventories.

🔥 Join Axios for our next News Shapers event tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

Hope and Sophia Cai will interview Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and White House deputy national security adviser for international economics Mike Pyle on the road ahead for the 2024 election, takeaways from the G20 summit, international economic policy and other big news stories of the day.

Register to join in person or virtually here.

1 big thing: About that rate cut...

Photo illustration of two Jerome Powell's facing each other

2. Bonus chart: Yield spike

4. Amazon enters consumer AI race

5. Culture exchange

Today's newsletter is 608 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 0.9%.

Biggest gainer? Textron (+4.9%), the aircraft maker and defense company, announced a new deal between Textron Aviation and NetJets.

Biggest decliner? Zebra Technologies (-6.5%), the automation equipment company, received a downgrade from Morgan Stanley analysts.

💻 Axios Pro is out with a new AI policy whitepaper — the legislation, lawmakers and companies to watch right now. Download it here.

1 big thing: Succession 

Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch talking to each other in casual clothing while walking.

2. Charted: Less chewing

4. FTC targets a PE roll-up

Illustration of a gavel hovering over a block with an image of a red cross.

5. Opportunity TikToked

Today's newsletter is 698 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 1.6%.

Biggest gainer? FedEx (+4.5%), a day after beating expectations on earnings in its latest quarter.

Biggest decliner? Alexandria Real Estate Equities (-8.3%), the REIT, as real estate stocks fell across the board following yesterday's Fed rates decision.

🔥 Reid Hoffman will be part of the Axios BFD event in New York on Oct. 12 to join our discussion of AI investments. Request your invitation.

National

Global leaders want Elon Musk to build Tesla factories in their home countries even as upstarts and legacy carmakers chip away at the company's EV dominance.

Why it matters: The company has a goal to sell 20 million cars a year by 2030, up from about 1.3 million as of last year. In order to hit that goal, Musk has said that Tesla will need about a dozen factories.

Driving the news: Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan asked Musk to build one in Turkey during a meeting in New York on Sunday. 

Saudi Arabia is reportedly in very early talks with Tesla about a manufacturing center, according to WSJ. (Musk tweeted that the report was "utterly false.")

Earlier this summer, Musk said that India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was pushing for Tesla to make a "significant investment" in the country.

Leaders in France, Italy and Spain have also been trying to attract Tesla as EV sales boom in the EU.

What to watch: Tesla currently manufactures in the U.S., China and Germany.

In March, plans for a new plant in Mexico were announced.

Musk in May said he would likely pick a new factory location by the end of the year. 

Go deeper: Tesla to start advertising more

Musk has said he needs more factories to reach Tesla's EV goals, and wants to pick a new location by the end of the year.

Elon Musk prepares to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in New York Sunday. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Tesla

Global leaders want Elon Musk to build <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Tesla factories" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/22/tesla-europe-factory-germany" data-vars-content-id="244cbf0e-13de-4660-b613-f6d64aebd338" data-vars-headline="World leaders court Elon Musk for Tesla factory" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/22/tesla-europe-factory-germany" target="_self">Tesla factories</a> in their home countries even as upstarts and legacy carmakers chip away at the company&#x27;s EV dominance.Why it matters: The company has a goal to sell 20 million cars a year by 2030, up from about 1.3 million as of last year. In order to hit that goal, Musk has said that Tesla will need about <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="a dozen" data-vars-click-url="https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-shareholders-expected-to-clear-path-to-3-for-1-stock-split-11659605400?mod=article_inline" data-vars-content-id="244cbf0e-13de-4660-b613-f6d64aebd338" data-vars-headline="World leaders court Elon Musk for Tesla factory" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-shareholders-expected-to-clear-path-to-3-for-1-stock-split-11659605400?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">a dozen</a> factories.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Ominous forecasts about the impact of climate change serve as the backdrop for the world — led by U.S. lawmakers and companies — to debate big action on the problem, which could upend energy systems and our way of life.

Energy & Environment

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Axios AI+

Amazon held its annual fall event to show off the company's latest smart speakers, displays and tablets. But the company's plans to bolster its voice assistant Alexa using generative AI was arguably the biggest news of the day.

Why it matters: The popularity of Alexa helps boost the company’s hardware strategy and e-commerce business. The Alexa changes will also help demonstrate just how well — or not — Amazon’s generative AI capabilities are keeping pace with Google and other rivals.

Driving the news: Alexa will soon be able to understand body language, including gestures and eye contact through devices such as the recently launched Fire Max 11 tablets.

The platform will also soon be able to understand and express more human conversational norms, including the use of phrases such as "uh huh."

Alexa will also be able to respond to prompts for tasks like providing ideas for a date night or writing a poem.

What they're saying: "For many years now, we've been steadfast in our vision about ambient intelligence ... how customers interact with technology around them," Amazon's head of devices Dave Limp, who will step down later this year, said on stage.

The company saw a need for a "superhuman assistant who is there when you need it, and disappears when you don't, and is always working on your behalf in the background. ... With generative AI [a superhuman assistant] is now within reach."

Ina's thought bubble: The key is whether Amazon can deliver on the promise to use AI to make Alexa more modern, relevant and useful.

The big picture: Amazon is already building its own custom chips for AI and training its own models as it looks to expand its already massive cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services. 

CEO Andy Jassy has also taken care to note this year that "every single one" of Amazon's businesses has "multiple generative AI initiatives" to help the company become "more cost effective and streamlined."

 Amazon wants Alexa to bring AI into the home

Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky spreads his AI bets

Amazon enters consumer AI race with new devices, updated Alexa

The popularity of Alexa helps boost the company’s hardware strategy and e-commerce business.

man standing in front of a screen with an image collage of Amazon devices

Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.com Inc., speaks during the Amazon Devices and Services event at the HQ2 campus in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Artificial intelligence

<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Amazon" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/12/amazon-buy-with-prime-logistics-as-a-service" data-vars-content-id="b33dce0f-830d-4185-a130-62991bb846f1" data-vars-headline="Amazon enters consumer AI race with new devices, updated Alexa" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/12/amazon-buy-with-prime-logistics-as-a-service" target="_self">Amazon</a> held its annual fall event to show off the company&#x27;s latest smart speakers, displays and tablets. But the company&#x27;s plans to bolster its voice assistant Alexa using generative AI was arguably the biggest news of the day.Why it matters: The popularity of Alexa helps boost the company’s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="hardware strategy" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/26/amazon-alexa-ai-home" data-vars-content-id="b33dce0f-830d-4185-a130-62991bb846f1" data-vars-headline="Amazon enters consumer AI race with new devices, updated Alexa" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/26/amazon-alexa-ai-home" target="_self">hardware strategy</a> and e-commerce business. The Alexa changes will also help demonstrate just how well — or not — Amazon’s generative AI capabilities are keeping pace with Google and other rivals.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

The resumption of student loan payments may not have the economic impact that some are fearing.

Why it matters: Retailers have been worried about a pullback in spending as due dates draw near. But the broader picture still points to a strong American consumer.

State of play: We're less than two weeks away from October, when federal student loan repayments will start coming due.

More than 43 million Americans have federal student loan debt.

Retail execs are fearful that as average payments of $200–$300 a month are made, they could miss out on over $100 billion worth of sales over the next year.

Yes, but: Even as excess savings have been dwindling and credit card balances have been on the rise, "more comprehensive measures of household finances remain unambiguously strong," including cash on hand and a surge in home equity, Sam Ro, author of the TKer newsletter, recently wrote.

Others expect any impact on spending to be muted.

What they're saying: There will likely be some slowing spending growth toward the end of the year due to the resumed payments hitting "certain households' ability to consume, but we do not think the end to the payment pause will be widespread enough to have a significant effect on overall U.S. household spending," Wells Fargo senior economist Tim Quinlan and his team wrote in a June note.

By the numbers: The amount of money saved during the hiatus is an almost negligible share of consumer spending — between 0.4% and 0.6% — on an annual basis, Quinlan estimates, per a WSJ report published over the weekend.

What to watch: "[Y]ounger Americans — those more likely to be impacted by student loans — are more likely to buy less apparel, beauty and skin care products and alcohol," when they have to make spending cuts, Jack Mackinnon, senior director of cultural insights at consumer research firm Collage Group, told Modern Retail.

"They also plan to shift to cheaper brands for groceries and home care like cleaning and laundry."

 Thought bubble: Retail's woes may not translate into larger economic concerns.

A contained reduction in demand could actually help the Fed's fight to bring down inflation — perhaps helping policy makers stick a soft landing.

Go deeper: Student loan interest starts again Sept. 1. Here's what to know

Student loan interest starts again Sept. 1. Here's what to know

Student loan repayment worries may be overblown

Retailers fear a pullback in spending, but the broader macro picture still points to a strong American consumer.

Retail

Tech Policy

AI regulation is within sight but it could have less of a limiting effect on innovation than some have feared.

Why it matters: Regulation can make it hard for all but the biggest companies to grow, confined by industry rules that are shaped at times by incumbents.

Big banks, for example, have only gotten bigger since the Dodd-Frank Act.

Internet privacy rules introduced through GDPR had an impact on dealmaking.

Yet, but: Big Tech's plea for AI regulation this week was met with agreement in D.C. and awareness that there should be a level playing field.

"Open source democratizes access to these tools," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the Senate's AI Insight forum Wednesday. 

There was also acknowledgment by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a meeting with Axios that future forums on AI would feature smaller firms as the government works to encourage innovation.

💭 Our thought bubble, via Ryan: Raising compliance costs can help the biggest players, but because AI tools are being developed so quickly, it will be hard to predict how patterns from past regulatory enforcement may apply to innovation in the future.

Go deeper: Exclusive survey: Experts favor new U.S. agency to govern AI

Exclusive survey: Experts favor new U.S. agency to govern AI

Regulation can make it hard for all but the biggest companies to grow, confined by industry rules that are shaped at times by incumbents.

Big Tech

Mark Zuckerberg and Maya Wiley on Capitol Hill

AI regulation is within sight but it could have less of a limiting effect on <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="innovation" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/27/us-china-squander-ai-lead" data-vars-content-id="e0dc88f7-a818-4012-855b-eb2186a0b57a" data-vars-headline="AI regulation is within sight — with an eye on preserving innovation" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/27/us-china-squander-ai-lead" target="_self">innovation</a> than some have feared.Why it matters: Regulation can make it hard for all but the biggest companies to grow, confined by industry rules that are shaped at times by incumbents.

Julie Sweet is the 55-year-old CEO and chair of Accenture — the largest IT consulting company in the world by workforce.

Why she matters: Sweet leads more than 730,000 people across 49 countries in roles that — because of Accenture's strength in strategy and consulting — ultimately drive how other companies harness change.

Sweet is focused on doubling the number of Accenture employees whose primary skills are in AI and data — from 40,000 to 80,000 over the next three years through hiring, training and acquisitions, as part of a $3 billion investment.

Axios' Hope King talked with Sweet from her home office in Bethesda, Md., via Microsoft Teams on Aug. 24:

1. What one sentence describes your leadership style?

"My leadership philosophy is: Lead with excellence, confidence and humility."

Humbleness, Sweet says, is a trait she can spot in managers based on how they invest in their teams and how they ask questions.

2. What's the most misunderstood aspect of what the job of a CEO entails?

People who work for her often think they need more "authority" to get things done.

"And I say: 'I could give you that authority and you'll never be CEO.' ... You don't lead successfully because ... you can tell people what to do."

A CEO of a large company needs systems that don't require them to dictate every move: "CEOs cannot lead by command and control."

3. How do you call out someone who isn't considering others?

"Ask questions: 'Have you thought about this?' 'Have you spoken to so and so?' Rarely are you going to be persuasive by simply calling someone out."

4. What's the one book — business, philosophical or cultural — that most shaped or reflects your leadership?

"The Wisdom of the Bullfrog" by Adm. William McRaven, which she recently read and highly recommends.

During volatile times, it's easy to play it too safe, Sweet says. The book is filled with lessons on being fearless and prepared.

5. You've talked about how critical it is to remain calm in stressful environments. How do you maintain that state of mind?

"Go hard at what you can change. Where people get wrapped around the axle" is obsessing about what they can't change.

6. What's one thing you do outside of work that helps you perform optimally at work?

7. Why do you think it's so important for companies to shift their HR thinking and workforce management away from job roles to skills?

Accenture built a proprietary database to track the skills of its employees five years ago. Companies can't reskill their workforces if they don't understand their employees' skills, she says.

Holding "education sessions" for herself and her leadership team to learn directly from outside companies and from Accenture's own experts.

9. What is one social or economic trend that you think more people should be paying attention to?

Based on her Accenture research + her experience with her teenage daughters, "a lot of companies are behind" on social commerce — buying within TikTok and other social media platforms.

10. Women always get asked about work-life balance. So let me flip that: How would you describe the level of support you get from your husband?

🤫 1 fun thing: What's one corporate jargon term that you hate?

"'Differentiation.' ... It can sometimes become a mask for being able to actually articulate what makes you different."

More from this interview series: Brooks Brothers CEO Ken Ohashi ... Recent Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer ... Expedia CEO Peter Kern.

Axios Finish Line: Lead like Accenture CEO Julie Sweet

Sweet is leading the world's largest IT consulting company at a time when businesses are eager to understand AI.

Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Accenture

CEOs

Julie Sweet is the 55-year-old CEO and chair of Accenture — the largest IT consulting company in the world by workforce.<ul><li>Why she matters: Sweet leads more than 730,000 people across 49 countries in roles that — because of Accenture&#x27;s strength in <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="strategy and consulting" data-vars-click-url="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/consulting-index" data-vars-content-id="ed8665a4-51b0-46a1-944c-4dc005ff81fe" data-vars-headline="Axios Finish Line: Lead like Accenture CEO Julie Sweet" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/consulting-index" target="_blank">strategy and consulting</a> — ultimately drive how other companies harness change.</li></ul>

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Hope King

Stories

Amazon enters consumer AI race with new devices, updated Alexa

World leaders court Elon Musk for Tesla factory

Student loan repayment worries may be overblown

AI regulation is within sight — with an eye on preserving innovation

Axios Finish Line: Lead like Accenture CEO Julie Sweet

Newsletter editions

📺 Succession at Fox

🔧 The Fed's not done

🙏 UAW's "righteous" cause

🎓 Retail fears overblown

😨 AI drives "FOBO"