Axios

U.S. consumer spending gained steam from June to July, helping push the personal saving rate down to 2.9% last month.

Why it matters: The savings rate — the amount of money people are putting away as a percentage of disposable income — dropped to its lowest level since June 2022.

Tens of thousands of people will watch a giant wooden figure burn to ash in the middle of a Nevada desert tomorrow.

Zoom in: Billionaires, investors and tech tycoons are typically among those gathered for the annual tradition that symbolizes self-reinvention, as Burning Man — an arts and musical festival celebrating self-expression — draws to a close this weekend.

• Over the years, the "you kind of have to be there yourself to understand" gathering has attracted Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Ray Dalio among others.

What they're saying: "Curiouser & Curiouser," taken from Alice in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" is this year's theme — but really, it could be the theme any year.

Hope's thought bubble: It's always fun to see serious people let (very) loose.

Dick's Sporting Goods, the country's largest supplier of athletic equipment, is responding to a likely cyberattack, according to a recent public filing.

Why it matters: The company has hundreds of stores across the U.S., and it's unclear what, if any, data was stolen as part of the incident.

Add cyberattacks to the long list of headaches that travelers have to brace for heading into a busy Labor Day weekend.

Why it matters: System outages and service delays are now a normal part of the flying experience, between last month's CrowdStrike outage and last weekend's cyberattack on Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

We have done plenty of hand-wringing here about the various risks to the economy. In particular, a recession could arrive, or inflation could reignite. But that was decisively not what was happening in July.

Why it matters: New data on incomes, consumer spending and inflation in mid-summer point to an economy in happy balance.

This week, Australia became one of a growing group of countries that give workers the "right to disconnect" — they don't have to respond to after-hours messages or calls from the boss unless it's an emergency.

Why it matters: The always-on work culture that's taken root among knowledge workers can lead to unhealthy levels of stress, harming people's lives outside the office.

Intel has asked Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to evaluate strategic options that could include a sale or spinoff of its manufacturing unit, as first reported by Bloomberg.

Why it matters: Intel isn't just one of America's oldest chipmakers, but it's also a key national security asset. CEO Pat Gelsinger desperately needs to right the ship, even if that requires a drastic course correction.

Want a career in America's fastest-growing field? Head to the Dakotas or Colorado, and look for jobs in wind energy.

Why it matters: Wind turbine service technician is the hottest job in the country, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with 60% growth projected between 2023-2033.

The long winter for the consumer electronics industry might finally be yielding to spring.

• Best Buy today reported revenue and earnings that exceeded expectations — and the company raised its profit forecast.
• The industry is showing "better stabilization," CEO Corie Barry said on an earnings call.

Zoom out: Consumer electronics sales had turned south after booming early in the pandemic, when consumers were spending exuberantly on physical items.

Apple and Nvidia have both discussed joining a new funding round for OpenAI, according to reports.

Catch up fast: The WSJ reported yesterday that OpenAI was in talks to raise new funding at a valuation north of $100 billion, led by a $1 billion investment from existing backer Thrive Capital, with Microsoft also returning.

Zoom in: Apple has ties to OpenAI, naming it as the first official partner for its coming Apple Intelligence system, which will bring AI features to its iPhone and other products, both Bloomberg and WSJ noted.

• Both Apple and Nvidia declined to comment to Axios.

💭 Hope's thought bubble: You've got the three biggest companies in terms of market cap interested in the same startup for one main reason: FOMO, the fear of missing out on understanding the workings of OpenAI's technology and of the potential upside of a business that Sam Altman may one day take public.

Mounting pressure to show whose capital-intensive AI offerings are going to drive the market has sparked a public beef between software providers.

Driving the news: "This is not Copilot," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said yesterday on an earnings call, taking a shot at the AI-powered assistants that Microsoft has added to nearly all of its products.

• "So many customers are so disappointed in what they bought from Microsoft Copilot because they're not getting the accuracy and the response that they want," he said.
• Shots fired.

Context: By "this," Benioff was referring to Agentforce, Salesforce's generative-AI-based platform that it's readying for a formal launch.

Dollar stores are down in the dumps, struggling with strategic and operational breakdowns.

Why it matters: Traditionally a refuge for customers fleeing higher prices, the nation's leading dollar store chains are losing ground to big-box competitors.

The average 401(k) account balance, at $127,100, is still below its 2021 highs — but there are now half a million Americans with more than $1 million in their 401(k) accounts just at Fidelity alone.

Why it matters: It's a sign of how the wealthy benefit disproportionately from tax breaks on retirement savings.

Here's what's new on Hulu, Netflix, BET+, Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Peacock.

What we're watching: A new season of "Only Murders in the Building," a Greek mythology series set in the modern world and a film based on a family's alleged experiences with demonic possession.

Wyoming is all set to launch a stablecoin that will — if all goes to plan — help to fund education in the state.

Why it matters: An actual U.S. state getting directly into the cryptocurrency business is a real vote of confidence in the future of digital ledger technology.

The big picture: Stablecoins are thought of as the most successful blockchain product to date.

• They're a huge topic in the payments space. For large, global transactions, their time to final settlement is attractive.
• Their collective market capitalization is $169 billion.

How it works: Wyoming's version — which doesn't have a final name or ticker yet — will be backed by actual dollars, fairly short-term U.S. Treasuries and related repurchase agreements.

Look at a place that suffered intensively from industrial decline earlier this century as imports from China displaced parts of U.S. manufacturing, and you're likely to find somewhere that's disproportionately benefiting from the wave of investments now underway.

Why it matters: That's exactly the outcome the Biden administration intended to achieve with the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and CHIPS and Science Act, which together are meant to ultimately trigger trillions in investment.

Truth Social's parent company has spent most of 2024 trading sky-high, despite generating less revenue than some individual Substacks.

• But lately it's slid toward the soured SPAC pack.

Why it matters: Former President Trump holds nearly 115 million shares, and is allowed to begin selling late next month.