Metas Threads is on a roll.
The social networking app is now home to more than 400 million monthly active users, Meta shared with Fast Company on Tuesday. Thats 50 million more than just a few months ago, and a long way from the 175 million it had around its first birthday last summer.
Launched in July 2023 with a record-breaking 100 million signups in its first days, Threads quickly positioned itself as Metas best shot at challenging Elon Musks X.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, made no secret of his ambitions back then, setting a goal of one billion users. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasnt nailed it,” he wrote at the time. “Hopefully we will.
Todays numbers suggest that bet is paying off, although that one billion goal is still a bit far away.
Neck and neck on mobile
A big part of the story now is just how close Threads is getting to X when it comes to daily use on phones.
Data from Similarweb shows that Threads had 115.1 million daily active mobile users in Junethats up a whopping 128% from last year. X still has the edge at 132 million, but its sliding, with daily actives down more than 15% year over year.
In the U.S., the gaps even smaller: 15.3 million daily mobile users for Threads versus 22.9 million for X, according to Similarweb.
X does not regularly share user data and did not respond to a request for more details about its current user base.
On the web? Thats where Threads is still lagging. X is pulled in 145.8 million daily visits in June compared to just 6.9 million for Threads. Bluesky, the smaller rival in this race, is even closer to Threads in web traffic than you might expectthough its daily mobile audience is tiny by comparison.
Finding its own vibe
Threads isnt trying to be a carbon copy of X. Meta says 63% of posts are text-only, and people who use Threads every day follow less than half the same accounts they do on Instagram.
That means new communities are springing upfrom Bookthreads for literature fans to basketball and music hubswith a friendlier, less combative tone than you might find on some other platforms.
The apps also been adding features fast: trending topics, live sports scores, a developer API for automated posts, and deeper connections to the fediverse so people can interact with Mastodon users and other decentralized networks.
Why now?
Threads momentum comes at a time when X is dealing with advertiser skepticism and growing competition from smaller players like Bluesky.
Social media as a whole is also more fragmented than ever, with different groups heading to Discord, LinkedIn, Reddit, or just group chats.
While four hundred million users is still a long way from Zuckerbergs billion-user dream, with mobile usage nearly matching Xs, Threads isnt just chasing anymore. Its catching up.
U.S. inflation was unchanged in July as rising prices for some imported goods were balanced by falling gas and grocery prices, leaving overall prices modestly higher than a year ago.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in July from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the same as the previous month and up from a post-pandemic low of 2.3% in April. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 3.1%, up from 2.9% in June. Both figures are above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
The new numbers suggest that slowing rent increases and cheaper gas are offsetting some impacts of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Many businesses are also likely still absorbing much of the cost of the duties. Tuesday’s figures probably reflect some impact from the 10% universal tariff Trump imposed in April, as well as higher duties on countries such as China and Canada.
Brian Bethune, an economist at Boston College, said that overall U.S. tariffs calculated as the amount of duties paid by U.S. companies divided by overall imports has reached 10%, the highest in decades, and will likely keep rising for months.
Those cost increases will be passed on to the consumer in some way, shape, or form, Bethune said. Some companies could return to shrinkflation, he added, in which they reduce the package size of a good while keeping the price the same.
And companies that are absorbing tariff costs, which would cut into their profit margins, are less likely to hire new employees, he said.
The Federal Reserve may now be in a difficult spot.
Hiring slowed sharply in the spring, after Trump announced tariffs in April. The stalling out of job gains has boosted financial market expectations for an interest rate cut by the central bank at its next meeting in September, and some Fed officials have raised concerns about the health of the job market. A rate cut by the Fed often, but not always, lowers borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and business loans.
Economists are divided over how Fed officials will read the data in the coming months. Some argued that the worsening jobs picture will outweigh lingering inflation concerns and lead the Fed to cut at its next meeting in September. Yet some say that with core inflation notably above 2% and rising, the Fed will postpone that decision.
Chair Jerome Powell has warned that worsening inflation could keep the Fed on the sidelines a stance that has enraged Trump, who has defied traditional norms of central bank independence and demanded lower borrowing costs.
On Tuesday, Trump attacked Powell again for not cutting rates and suggested he would allow a lawsuit against the Fed to proceed because of the rising costs of its extensive building renovation. It wasn’t clear what lawsuit he was referring to.
On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.2% in July, down from 0.3% the previous month, while core prices ticked up 0.3%, a bit faster than the 0.2% in June.
Gas prices fell 2.2% from June to July and have plunged 9.5% from a year earlier, the government’s report said. Grocery prices slipped 0.1% last month, though they are still 2.2% higher than a year ago.
Tariffs appeared to raise the cost of some imported items: Shoe prices jumped 1.4% from June to July, though they are still just 0.9% more expensive than a year ago. The cost of furniture leapt 0.9% in July and is 3.2% higher than a year earlier.
Coffee costs nearly 15% more than a year earlier, mostly because of troubled harvests overseas, though steep duties on imports from Brazil could push those prices higher in the coming months. Nearly all U.S. coffee is imported.
Tuesday’s data arrives at a highly-charged moment for the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which collects and publishes the inflation data. Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, then the head of BLS, after the Aug. 1 jobs report also showed sharply lower hiring for May and June than had previously been reported.
The president posted on social media Monday that he has picked E.J. Antoni, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a frequent critic of the jobs report, to replace McEntarfer.
Adding to the turmoil at BLS is a government hiring freeze that has forced it to cut back on the data it collects for each inflation report, the agency has said. UBS economist Alan Detmeister estimates that BLS is now collecting about 18% fewer price quotes for the inflation report than it did earlier this year. He thinks the report will produce more volatile results, though averaged out over time, still reliable.
Smaller companies are trying to avoid raising prices and some have turned to novel ways of raising funds.
Clothing maker Princess Awesome, which designs matching clothes for children and adults, has seen its costs jump 15% to 20% because of the tariffs. The company has joined a lawsuit seeking to block the duties. Rebecca Melsky, CEO and co-founder of the firm, says it is prohibitively expensive to make the cotton blend fabrics it uses in the United States.
For now, the company has instituted a tip jar on its website where it asks customers to help defray the cost of goods.
We have not across the board raised prices because of the tariffs — yet, she said.
Trump has insisted that overseas manufacturers will pay the tariffs by reducing their prices to offset the duties. Yet the pre-tariff prices of imports haven’t fallen much since the levies were put in place.
Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that foreign manufacturers have absorbed just 14% of the duties through June, while 22% has been paid by consumers and 64% by U.S. companies. Yet the economists expect that by this fall consumers will bear two-thirds of the burden, while foreign exporters pay a quarter and U.S. companies handle less than a tenth.
Many large corporations are raising prices, including apparel makers Ralph Lauren and Under Armour, and eyewear company Warby Parker. Most of those increases weren’t in place for Tuesday’s inflation report.
Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, maker of Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper, said late last month that it would lift prices in August on about a quarter of its products by mid-single-digit percentages. Walmart has also raised prices.
And cosmetics maker e.l.f. Beauty, which makes amajority of its products in China, said on Wednesday that it had raised prices by a dollar on its entire product assortment as of Aug. 1 because of tariff costs, the third price hike in its 21-year history.
Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
Associated Press Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed to this report.
Delivery drones are so fast they can zip a pint of ice cream to a customer’s driveway before it melts.Yet the long-promised technology has been slow to take off in the United States. More than six years after the Federal Aviation Administration approved commercial home deliveries with drones, the service mostly has been confined to a few suburbs and rural areas.That could soon change. The FAA proposed a new rule last week that would make it easier for companies to fly drones outside of an operator’s line of sight and therefore over longer distances. A handful of companies do that now, but they had to obtain waivers and certification as an air carrier to deliver packages.While the rule is intended to streamline the process, authorized retailers and drone companies that have tested fulfilling orders from the sky say they plan to make drone-based deliveries available to millions more U.S. households.
Walmart’s multistate expansion
Walmart and Wing, a drone company owned by Google parent Alphabet, currently provide deliveries from 18 Walmart stores in the Dallas area. By next summer, they expect to expand to 100 Walmart stores in Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida.After launching its Prime Air delivery service in College Station, Texas, in late 2022, Amazon received FAA permission last year to operate autonomous drones that fly beyond a pilot’s line of sight. The e-commerce company has since expand its drone delivery program to suburban Phoenix and has plans to offer the service in Dallas, San Antonio, Texas, and Kansas City.The concept of drone delivery has been around for well over a decade. Drone maker Zipline, which works with Walmart in Arkansas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, began making deliveries to hospitals in Rwanda in 2016. Israel-based Flytrex, one of the drone companies DoorDash works with to carry out orders, launched drone delivery to households in Iceland in 2017.But Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said drone delivery has been in “treading water mode” in the U.S. for years, with service providers afraid to scale up because the regulatory framework wasn’t in place.“You want to be at the right moment where there’s an overlap between the customer demand, the partner demand, the technical readiness and the regulatory readiness,” Woodworth said. “I think that we’re reaching that planetary alignment right now.”
Flying ice cream and eggs
DoorDash, which works with both Wing and Flytrex, tested drone drop-offs in rural Virginia and greater Dallas before announcing an expansion into Charlotte. Getting takeout food this way may sound futuristic, but it’s starting to feel normal in suburban Brisbane, Australia, where DoorDash has employed delivery drones for several years, said Harrison Shih, who leads the company’s drone program.“It comes so fast and it’s something flying into your neighborhood, but it really does seem like part of everyday life,” Shih said.Even though delivery drones are still considered novel, the cargo they carry can be pretty mundane. Walmart said the top items from the more than 150,000 drone deliveries the nation’s largest retailer has completed since 2021 include ice cream, eggs and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.Unlike traditional delivery, where one driver may have a truck full of packages, drones generally deliver one small order at a time. Wing’s drones can carry packages weighing up to 2.5 pounds. They can travel up to 12 miles round trip. One pilot can oversee up to 32 drones.Zipline has a drone that can carry up to 4 pounds and fly 120 miles round trip. Some drones, like Amazon’s, can carry heavier packages.Once an order is placed, it’s packaged for flight and attached to a drone at a launch site. The drone automatically finds a route that avoids obstacles. A pilot observes as the aircraft flies to its destinations and lowers its cargo to the ground with retractable cords.
Risks and rewards of commercial drones
Shakiba Enayati, an assistant professor of supply chain and analytics at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, researches ways that drones could speed the delivery of critical health supplies like donated organs and blood samples. The unmanned aircraft offer some advantages as a transport method, such as reduced emissions and improved access to goods for rural residents, Enayati said.But she also sees plenty of obstacles. Right now, it costs around $13.50 per delivery to carry a package by drone versus $2 for a traditional vehicle, Enayati said. Drones need well-trained employees to oversee them and can have a hard time in certain weather.Drones also can have mid-air collisions or tumble from the sky. But people have accepted the risk of road accidents because they know the advantages of driving, Enayati said. She thinks the same thing could happen with drones, especially as improved technology reduces the chance for errors.Woodworth added that U.S. airspace is tightly controlled, and companies need to demonstrate to the FAA that their drones are safe and reliable before they are cleared to fly. Even under the proposed new rules, the FAA would set detailed requirements for drone operators.“That’s why it takes so long to build a business in the space. But I think it leads to everybody fundamentally building higher quality things,” Woodworth said.Others worry that drones may potentially replace human delivery drivers. Shih thinks that’s unlikely. One of DoorDash’s most popular items is 24-packs of water, Shih said, which aren’t realistic for existing drones to ferry.“I believe that drone delivery can be fairly ubiquitous and can cover a lot of things. We just don’t think its probable today that it’ll carry a 40-pound bag of dog food to you,” Shih said.
The view from the ground in Texas
DoorDash said that in the areas where it offers drone deliveries, orders requiring the services of human delivery drivers also increase.That’s been the experience of John Kim, the owner of PurePoke restaurant in Frisco, Texas. Kim signed on to offer drone deliveries through DoorDash last year. He doesn’t know what percentage of his DoorDash customers are choosing the service instead of regular delivery, but his overall DoorDash orders are up 15% this year.Kim said he’s heard no complaints from drone delivery customers.“It’s very stable, maybe even better than some of the drivers that toss it in the back with all the other orders,” Kim said.For some, drones can simply be a nuisance. When the FAA asked for public comments on Amazon’s request to expand deliveries in College Station, numerous residents expressed concern that drones with cameras violated their privacy. Amazon says its drones use cameras and sensors to navigate and avoid obstacles but may record overhead videos of people while completing a delivery.Other residents complained about noise.“It sounds like a giant nagging mosquito,” one respondent wrote. Amazon has since released a quieter drone.But others love the service. Janet Toth of Frisco, Texas, said she saw drone deliveries in Korea years ago and wondered why the U.S. didn’t have them. So she was thrilled when DoorDash began providing drone delivery in her neighborhood.Toth now orders drone delivery a few times a month. Her 9-year-old daughter Julep said friends often come over to watch the drone.“I love to go outside, wave at the drone, say ‘Thank you’ and get the food,” Julep Toth said.
AP Video Journalist Kendria LaFleur contributed from Frisco, Texas.
Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Business Writer
Why do so many of us struggle to save?Saving for the future can be difficult because of a cognitive bias known as hyperbolic discounting: our tendency to place greater weight on immediate satisfaction, even if focusing on the long term will have a greater payoff. This bias is why, when you get a raise, you may consider getting a new carincurring a higher monthly paymentinstead of sacking away more money each month for retirement and perhaps getting to retire several years earlier.Feeling stressed about finances can also get you off track with your savings. While some people respond to financial stress by saving more, others respond by spending more in order to regain feelings of control.Unfortunately, these shortsighted decisions on spending versus saving can have large effects on our ability to achieve our future goals, because of the enormous power of compound interest. So, let’s talk about what you can do to keep saving when you feel the urge to give up.
1) Perform a goals audit
Sit down and list what you are saving for. If needed, you can use techniques geared toward helping people find and articulate their financial goals.Then, consider how you might pair up your goals to boost your savings motivation. Research suggests the most motivating financial goals may be those relating to security (for example, retirement) or self-actualization (such as opening a business or contributing to charities). Consider how you may link some of your shorter-term goals to these bigger goals.For instance, you may decide to couple your “savings for home repairs” with your desire to “donate to charity” by committing to donate the excess you saved for repairs to your favorite nonprofit. By ensuring your goals are well-articulated and meaningful, you can always come back to them for a dose of motivation when you feel yourself wavering.
2) Assess what you can (and should) save
When we are feeling stressed by finances, we may convince ourselves that all our current spending is more of a priority than our saving. So, start by doing a comprehensive review of your budget.How much money comes in each month, how much goes out, and where does it go? If you don’t find a monthly surplus, that indicates you may need to go through your spending and decide where you can spend less.I recommend giving yourself a reality check by calculating how much you need to save each month to achieve your goal in the time you want to. It’s especially eye-opening to calculate how saving more or less each month can affect your ability to retire.Remember, it’s OK if you cannot save as much in this season of your life as you’d like. But by saving what you can and coming back to this practice when your circumstances change, you can still make serious progress toward your goals.
3) Take it out of your hands
Now, make your commitment as easy as possible by automating the process. If you have to decide every month to transfer money into your IRA or savings, the chances are that it won’t happen at some point. You’ll forget, put it off, or maybe decide that this is the month for a treat instead.Research suggests that automating savings can help people save more than they otherwise would, so taking the time to automate your savings now can help you stick with your plan for monthsor yearsto come.
This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-financeDanielle Labotka, Ph.D., is a behavioral scientist at Morningstar.
Danielle Labotka of Morningstar
Look what you made her do Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”Swift announced the album on her website shortly after a countdown timer expired at 12:12 a.m. Tuesday. No release date was announced, but her site said vinyl editions of the album would ship before Oct. 13.Fans have long theorized that Swift’s 12th album would soon arrive. On Monday, Taylor Nation an official branch of the pop superstar’s marketing team posted a TikTok slide show of 12 images with the caption “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era'” Swift is seen wearing orange in every image.A special limited vinyl edition of the album will be released in “Portofino orange glitter,” according to a pre-order page on her site. A special cassette edition is also available for pre-order.Sensing a pattern, eagle-eyed fans noticed that 12 minutes earlier, the popular “New Heights” podcast posted a tease for Wednesday. The show, hosted by Swift’s boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce alongside his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce, posted an orange image on social media with a mysterious silhouette, many believing to be Swift.The podcast announced early early Tuesday that Swift would would appear on “New Heights” and a teaser video posted about her appearance showed her pulling the album from a briefcase. The actual album artwork, just as it is on her website, is blurred.“The Life of a Showgirl” follows last year’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her record-breaking tour, which raked in over $2.2 billion across two years and five continents, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.The album is also her first release since Swift regained control over her entire body of work. In May, that pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings originally released through Big Machine Records from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music. The project was instigated by Hybe America CEO Scooter Braun’s purchase and sale of her early catalog and represents Swift’s effort to control her own songs and how they’re used. Previous “Taylor’s Version” releases have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new “from the vault” music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work.So far, there have been four rerecorded albums, beginning with “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021. All four have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.Swift’s last rerecording, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history.
Maria Sherman, AP Music Writer
President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law will result in less income for the poorest Americans while sending money to the richest, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Monday.The CBO estimates that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts. Overall, American households will see more income from the tax cuts in the legislation, including middle income households, but the largest benefit will go to the top 10% of earners.The CBO’s report comes as lawmakers are away from Washington, many taking their messages about the bill to voters. Republicans muscled the legislation deemed “the big, beautiful bill” by Trump through Congress in July. Democrats all vehemently opposed the legislation, warning that its tax cuts and spending priorities would come at the expense of vital government aid programs and a ballooning national debt.“This really is a big, beautiful bill for billionaires, but for the poor and the working class in this country, you are actually poorer,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, in an MSNBC interview on Monday.Changes to eligibility for government food assistance under the law will impact millions of Americans, the CBO found. Roughly 2.4 million people won’t be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under new work requirements for many recipients. Low-income Americans could also see their income reduced through further restrictions on food aid and other types of assistance included in the law.Already, more than 10 million Americans are expected to lose health insurance by 2034 due to changes to Medicaid under the law.Following release of the report, Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he took issue with CBO’s methodology, repeating criticism he has made in the past.“CBO has a troubled track record of getting its estimates incorrect and, like Democrats, is biased in favor of more federal spending and higher taxes,” Smith said on social media. “Don’t buy it.”Republicans have been eager to sell the upsides of the legislation arguing that the tax cuts will spur economic growth while they are on a monthlong summer break from Washington. But those who have held townhalls in their home districts have often been greeted by an earful from voters and activists.“Tax the rich,” the crowd in Lincoln, Neb. chanted last week as Republican Rep. Michael Flood attempted to defend the bill.Still, Trump has been undeterred.“President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is putting America First like never before, delivering huge savings for hardworking families, boosting our economy, and securing our borders,” said White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson in a statement last week.
Stephen Groves, Associated Press
Heads up, Elon?
AST SpaceMobile, a Texas-based startup that designs and manufactures satellites with aims of challenging companies like SpaceX, saw its stock price shoot closer to the moon after it announced second-quarter earnings on Monday.
The catalyst appears to be that the companys plan to deploy as many as five dozen satellites into orbit by next year is actually taking flight, and is fully funded, per AST’s earnings report.
We are confirming our fully-funded plan to deploy 45 to 60 satellites into orbit by 2026 to support continuous service in the US, Europe, Japan, and other strategic markets, including the U.S. Government,” Abel Avellan, founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We also have planned orbital launches every one to two months on average during 2025 and 2026.”
At the same time, the company reported widening losses of $99.4 million for the second quarter of 2025, compared to $72.6 million for the same period last year.
Shares in AST SpaceMobile Inc (Nasdaq: ASTS) were up almost 13% in premarket trading on Tuesday as of this writing.
Half dozen satellites already in orbit
The company currently has six satellites in orbit, Avellan added, so the deployment of dozens more would signify a huge increase in its current presence in space.
Its goal is to create a space-based cellular broadband network to rival SpaceX’s Starlink, which could help connect smartphones and computers to the internet in areas where terrestrial coverage gaps exist.
We are on target to complete 40 satellites equivalent of microns by early 2026 to support full voice, data, and video space-based cellular broadband services, Avellan said.
Starlink is only one of several potential rivals in this space, however. For instance, Apple is currently backing Globalstar, while Amazon has Project Kuiper.
In all, it seems that space is about to get less emptyat least in orbit, where numerous companies are competing for an advantage.
The credit card rewards market has become a high-stakes battleground in 2025, with issuers rolling out new benefits and revamped product lines to attract or retain affluent, travel-focused customers.
In some cases, though, the upgrades come with dramatic fee hikes. In recent weeks, JPMorgan Chase announced a substantial overhaul of its Chase Sapphire Reserve offering, including a fee increase from $550 to $795 per year and the launch of a business version of the card.
American Express has signaled a major refresh of its Platinum Card by years end, including upgrades to its Centurion Lounges and a new Sidecar fast-format lounge concept in Las Vegas.
Citi, meanwhile, has reentered the ultra-premium market with the $595 Strata Elite Card, boasting a $1,500 estimated annual value through hotel, travel, and lifestyle credits.
Against this backdrop, Capital One is taking a markedly different approach: extending new travel benefits to customers of its no-annual-fee rewards cards.
Expanding benefits without raising fees
Starting August 12, new cardholders of Capital Ones VentureOne, Quicksilver, and Savor products will receive a $100 Capital One Travel creditthe first time the bank has offered a travel credit on these no-fee cards.
That comes in addition to existing sign-up bonuses: 20,000 miles for VentureOne or $200 cash back for Quicksilver and Savor after spending $500 in the first three months.
The move is paired with a large expansion of the Capital One Travel platform, which now offers access to more than 500,000 vacation rental properties and 180,000-plus bookable activities and excursions. Those can be reserved directly through Capital One Travel, earning cardholders 5x rewards on bookings. The curated experiences range from wine tours in Napa, California, to private boat charters in the Caribbeansignaling a push toward personalized, experiential travel.
All three cards now also include complimentary Five Star status with the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program. Perks include access to a wider selection of vehicles, complimentary upgrades when available, and the ability to bypass the rental counter at select locations.
A contrarian strategy in the rewards arms race
While competitors are focusing on the upper end of the marketand justifying triple-digit annual fees with expanded lounge access, premium status perks, and lifestyle creditsCapital Ones latest move targets a broader swath of consumers: those who value travel benefits but arent willing to commit to high annual fees.
By offering benefits traditionally reserved for higher-tier products, the bank can entice casual travelers to book through its proprietary platform, increasing transaction volume and cross-selling opportunities without the friction of an annual fee.
This could be especially relevant as inflation and economic uncertainty make consumers, including those who travel regularly, more cost-conscious. According to a 2024 JD Power report, more than 60% of rewards cardholders cited no annual fee as a top priority when considering a new card, while still ranking travel perks among the most desired benefits.
Competitive implications
Capital Ones timing is notable. Chases Sapphire Reserve fee hike may prompt some cardholders to reevaluate whether theyre fully utilizing their premium benefits. Amexs forthcoming Platinum refresh and Citis Strata Elite launch are both aimed squarely at high-spending travelers, potentially leaving an opening for Capital One to appeal to consumers who are priced out of the premium tier.
By expanding its no-fee travel offerings while maintaining premium-like features, Capital One is betting that it can capture spend from travelers who are increasingly strategic about card benefitsand less inclined to pay $600 to $800 per year for access.
The Perseid meteor shower, known for its plentiful meteors and bright fireballs that blaze across the night sky, will peak tonight, August 12 to 13, 2025. The moon will be bright, but you’ll still be able to see a stunning display in dark areas.
Heres what to know about this skywatching event, and how you can catch the show.
Why the Perseids are popular
The Perseids always make for an impressive show. Skywatchers in dark areas can observe around 50 meteors per hour at the showers peak. This includes both traditional meteors that leave vibrant streaks in their wakes, as well as the occasional bright fireball of color and light.
This isnt necessarily the most active meteor shower (the Geminids and Quadrantids vie for that honor), but because the Perseids occur during warm summer nights in the Northern Hemisphere, they are very popular. The meteor shower is also visible from parts of the Southern Hemisphere, but the view is diminished.
The moon will be bright
Unfortunately, the moon will be in its waning gibbous phase, rising during the late evening, which will hamper views of the Perseid meteor shower. The moons brightness means that to see any significant number of meteors, you should travel to the darkest sky possible. Even at a dark sky site, you will likely see fewer than the 50 meteors per hour estimated at the showers peak.
When is the best time to see the meteor shower?
The radiant, or the point in the sky from which the shower appears to originate, is the Perseus constellation, which will be low in Northern Hemisphere skies in the evening.
That means that the ideal time to see the shower is in the predawn hours, between 3 and 5 a.m. local time, when Perseus has risen higher in the night sky.
Where does the Perseid meteor shower come from?
While the Perseids are named after their radiant, they dont actually come from the Perseus constellation. Instead, they are the product of the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which has an orbital period of 133 years.
When comets travel through our solar system around the sun, they leave a trail of dust and debris in their wake. When Earth travels through these trails, that is what produces meteor showers, which is why they are relatively reliable nighttime events every year.
This year, Earth travels through 109P/Swift-Tuttles trail from July 17 through August 24. The peak, though, is when Earth travels through the core of that trail, which produces the most brilliant and concentrated meteor showers of the entire event. With a keen eye, it is possible to continue to see the occasional Perseid meteor in the night sky through the end of August.
Ford is recalling more than 103,000 F-150 pickup trucks in the U.S. over axle bolts that may break and result in vehicle rollaways or a loss of drive power, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday.
A broken axle bolt can damage axle hub splines components that transfer power from the axle to the wheels and help them rotate.
Damaged splines can cause vehicles to roll away when in park without the parking brake engaged or result in a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash, the U.S. auto safety authority said.
The report said that if the rear axle bolt becomes loose, customers may report a clicking noise. If the bolt breaks, they may hear a rattling noise.
As a remedy, dealers will replace the rear axle shaft assemblies, free of charge.
The recall affects Ford’s F-150 models between 2023 and 2025. NHTSA estimates about 1% of the vehicles have the defect.
Harshita Meenaktshi and Aishwarya Jain, Reuters
