Hey Nutters. ☕️

Meta launches cheaper AI glasses, IBM gets a surprise Wall Street upgrade, Zuckerberg takes aim at prediction markets, and SpaceX investors learn that rockets don't always go up forever.

Let's dive in. 👇

Meta ($META) is making its biggest wearable AI push yet.

The company just unveiled Meta Glasses, a new line of AI-powered smart glasses built in partnership with EssilorLuxottica and powered by Meta's latest Muse Spark AI system right out of the box.

And unlike previous smart-glasses launches that leaned heavily on premium fashion branding, Meta is now attacking the market from both ends: premium and affordable.

The goal? Own the AI wearable category before competitors can catch up.

The new lineup includes:

👓 Meta Adventurer

⚡ Meta Fury

💎 Meta Glasses by Kylie

Across the collection, users can choose from 26 different frame, lens, and color combinations.

The standout product is the Kylie edition, priced at $399, featuring:

✨ An embedded gemstone

🔔 Custom startup chime

🎤 Optional Meta AI voice powered by Kylie Jenner

The standard models start at just $299, making them significantly more accessible than many competing smart wearables.

While the hardware itself isn't dramatically different from previous generations, Meta's biggest upgrade sits inside the frames.

The glasses run on Muse Spark AI, which promises:

🧠 Smarter conversational responses

🌎 Real-time translation

🗺️ Turn-by-turn navigation

👀 Better visual understanding of surroundings

📸 Enhanced contextual awareness

The long-term vision is simple:

Instead of pulling out a phone and opening an app, users simply ask their glasses.

Meta wants AI to become ambient.

Meta already controls roughly 80% of the smart-glasses market, largely thanks to the success of its Ray-Ban partnership.

But management isn't satisfied with being early.

They're trying to build a two-tier ecosystem:

🕶️ Ray-Ban Meta → Premium lifestyle product

💰 Meta Glasses → Affordable mass-market option

It's the same strategy Apple used with the iPhone and Apple Watch: premium products for enthusiasts and lower-priced options for everyone else.

The bigger objective is keeping rivals—especially Google—from gaining meaningful share in what could become the next major consumer-computing platform.

Smartphones aren't disappearing tomorrow.

But Meta is betting that AI wearables become the next major hardware category of the decade.

By lowering prices while expanding features, the company is trying to make sure that when consumers finally embrace AI glasses, they're wearing Meta's.

And with an estimated 80% market share already in hand, Meta isn't playing defense anymore.

It's trying to end the game before competitors even get on the field.

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JPMorgan upgraded IBM to Overweight and lifted its price target to $291, citing the company's increasingly profitable software business as the primary growth driver.

The upgrade comes as IBM continues transforming itself from a traditional hardware company into a software and AI platform provider. Analysts highlighted stronger recurring revenue, expanding margins, and improving free cash flow as evidence that the turnaround is gaining traction.

The timing was notable. IBM also joined OpenAI's cybersecurity partner program and expanded its agentic-AI partnership with ServiceNow, reinforcing investor confidence that "Big Blue" may finally be finding its place in the AI economy.

New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh has removed forward guidance from the Fed's communications playbook, leaving markets with fewer clues about future rate decisions.

The result?

📈 Treasury yields climbed.

📈 Rate-hike expectations increased.

📈 Futures markets now price roughly a 70% probability of a September rate hike.

Investors hoping for rate cuts this year are finding themselves increasingly disappointed as inflation remains sticky and policymakers keep emphasizing data dependency.

AMC Entertainment announced a roughly $200 million equity offering aimed at helping the company retire a portion of its 2027 debt obligations.

While reducing debt is generally positive, investors focused on the dilution.

Shares plunged after the announcement as the market digested another round of share issuance from a company that has repeatedly tapped equity markets to survive.

AMC plans to use part of the proceeds to redeem approximately $125.5 million of senior notes due in 2027.

After one of the most anticipated IPOs in market history, SpaceX shares have entered their first meaningful pullback.

The stock has now fallen for four consecutive sessions and sits more than 26% below its post-IPO closing high of $201.80.

Shares are also trading below the initial $150 opening price from the June 12 debut.

While many long-term investors remain bullish on Starlink, Starship, and SpaceX's broader AI ambitions, the decline is a reminder that even the hottest IPOs rarely move in a straight line.

Reports suggest Meta is quietly building a prediction-markets platform internally known as Arena.

The product would operate independently from Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger and allow users to trade on future events.

The rumor alone sent shares of DraftKings and Robinhood lower as investors worried Meta could leverage its massive user base to enter another lucrative digital-finance category.

If launched successfully, Arena could become one of Meta's most surprising product bets yet.

Electric scooter and e-bike company Lime filed an updated IPO registration statement with the SEC.

The company is seeking to raise up to $180.9 million at a valuation approaching $1.8 billion.

Existing shareholders, including CEO Wayne Ting and company co-founders, are expected to sell a portion of their holdings as part of the offering.

The filing suggests investors may once again get a chance to bet on urban mobility after years of private-market experimentation.

Anthropic unveiled Claude Tag, an always-on AI assistant built directly into Slack.

Users can simply tag @Claude inside conversations to:

📝 Summarize discussions

🔍 Provide insights

📋 Complete assigned tasks

🤝 Collaborate alongside human teams

The feature is launching in beta for Claude Enterprise and Claude Team customers.

Anthropic's goal is clear: make AI less like a chatbot and more like a coworker.

According to S&P Global's latest flash PMI survey, factory job cuts in the United States have reached their highest level since 2009, excluding the extraordinary disruptions caused by COVID.

Manufacturers continue facing weaker demand, elevated borrowing costs, and growing uncertainty surrounding trade policy.

The data serves as another reminder that while AI and technology continue booming, large portions of the traditional economy remain under pressure.

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Thanks for reading Cash Nut! 🥜

See you tomorrow with more business, markets, AI, and the stories moving money around the world.