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Good morning and happy Monday.
Remember when they were just for nerds? In recent months, a concerning number of malicious creators have reportedly used Meta smart glasses to secretly record themselves harassing and pranking strangers in order to post the footage online for attention and views. Internet users have even taken to calling the devices “pervert glasses.” Meta said earlier this month that it remotely disabled thousands of them after users tampered with the light that signals recording, while its Instagram subsidiary announced that users who post “harassing” videos shot with the smart glasses will be banned.
There’s now an app for the problem, too. Thirty-year-old Polish software designer Pawel Szydlowski created Zuckoff, a free smartphone app that lets users detect the location of smart glasses around them by tracking their Bluetooth signatures. Since launching last month, it has gained roughly 5,000 users, he told Business Insider. In a world where smart glasses make some people dumber, it’s just too bad stupidity doesn’t project its own unique Bluetooth signal.
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MARKETS
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Stock data as of market close on September 11, 2026.
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Mark Zuckerberg is having just about as tough a year as a centibillionaire can have. Shares of Meta are roughly flat year-to-date, lagging the broader market. The company just agreed to a landmark settlement with state attorneys general that could reshape it forever. And, worst of all, there’s yet another Aaron Sorkin-penned movie on the way.
But there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel.
Last week, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak wrote in a note to clients that the company could win a sizable piece of the $30 trillion consumer AI pie, and said the company’s share price may gain 25% by New Year’s Eve. It’s a welcome endorsement for a company that long considered an AI also-ran.
I Have Friends Everywhere
Meta’s massive capex allocations belie the fact that it has all but forfeited the AI frontier to leading labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic. But Wall Street still sees plenty of value in an AI that’s less focused on disproving mathematical impossibilities and more focused on the everyday tasks of regular folks. And by that, of course, they mostly mean shopping. In the suddenly all-important race to build a consumer AI agent, Meta’s existing family of apps and gargantuan user base give it a critical edge to “create a more personalized agent with new monetizable behaviors,” Nowak wrote. “The entry price of the product … free … is also a notable advantage that comes with scale.”
It seems Zuckerberg has finally found his muse. Not so coincidentally, Meta last week launched Muse, its consumer AI agent:
- The agent, which users interface with like a chatbot, is capable of autonomously accomplishing tasks such as sending emails, managing calendar events and booking travel accommodations. Meta is offering a free version, as well as $20- and $100-per-month subscription tiers.
- It is currently only available in the US, and is offered as both a standalone app as well as within Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service, which has 100 million monthly active users in the US.
  Not so Super: Muse is part of Zuckerberg’s goal to deliver “personal superintelligence” to Meta’s billions of users. Internally, some Meta employees see Muse as a bit of a dunce, according to a recent Reuters report. One employee flagged it as unreliable when tasked with monitoring for concert tickets, while others flagged much more serious security flaws. Meanwhile, not everyone on the rest of the internet is ready to welcome agents with open arms. Online restaurant booking service Resy, for instance, is banning users who hand their account over to AI agents. Let’s just describe their position on the matter as one of deep resyvation.
Written by Brian Boyle
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Photo via Ferrovial
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America’s infrastructure needs $9.1 trillion in investment by 2033, leaving a $3.7 trillion funding gap that public budgets alone cannot close.
To bridge that gap, states are now leaning on private capital and expertise, mostly through public-private partnerships (P3s): decades-long contracts on the roads, airports and essential infrastructure you already use, often paying more as prices rise since demand for them rarely falls.
Ferrovial operates under exactly that model, its portfolio including the New Terminal One at JFK, the largest aviation P3 in US history.
Read more.*
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When it comes to sparring with officials in DC, one company’s public relations department is Built Ford Tough.
Last week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy published a critical letter to the carmaker’s CEO, Jim Farley, in which he cited “profound concern” that Ford is “actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises.” The company spent the week firing back, arguing Duffy was angling for publicity, out of his depth and even out of step with the rest of the administration.
War of the Words
Duffy’s letter plainly says the Trump administration views Ford’s dealings with Chinese companies as a national security risk and urges executives to cut ties with them. He chastised the company’s supposed “reliance on technologies of foreign adversaries.”
Ford does license technology from Chinese battery maker CATL to make electric vehicle batteries, which Duffy flagged, but it is building those batteries in Michigan at a Ford facility that employs US workers. In fact, Ford issued a blistering response that accused Duffy of “a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines at the expense of a company that has done more for American manufacturing than virtually any other in the nation’s history.” The carmaker noted that, just days before Duffy’s letter, the White House praised the CATL project, highlighting Ford’s $3 billion investment and the 1,700 new jobs it will produce. It’s not the only inconsistency the company highlighted:
- Ford has a joint venture with Geely to make the Chinese automaker’s vehicles for the European market at its Spain plant. Duffy claimed Farley had proposed a “framework” to American officials to bring similar joint ventures to the US, but the Ford CEO told The Wall Street Journal the secretary’s recollection is “flatly wrong.”
- Duffy also criticized Ford for allegedly “delaying” the reshoring of manufacturing of Lincoln models including the Nautilus from China until 2030. In fact, Ford noted, it is coordinating with the administration on that timeline and, just last month, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised its reshoring efforts, stating Ford is going to “rock us with bringing manufacturing back to America.”
Whiplash: Ford Chief Policy Officer Steve Croley told the Detroit Free Press that Duffy’s letter surprised the company and is “not in keeping with the very positive rapport we have with the White House and the rest of the administration.” To make matters even more confusing, a day after Duffy released the letter, an official White House account tweeted that Ford is “a GREAT American company” that “has done a tremendous job on increasing investments domestically and shoring production back to the U.S.” If things keep swinging this wildly, someone is going to get carsick.
Written by Sean Craig
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Photo via The Points Guy
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When was the last time you thought about the value of your credit card points? United, Qantas and Flying Blue miles all recently slipped by at least 3%, per The Points Guy’s1 latest valuations guide, and pending legislation could put card rewards under similar pressure. If you’re saving points for your next trip, make your voice heard.
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Someone tell the president not to check the news this week.
The Federal Open Market Committee will convene tomorrow and announce Wednesday whether it plans to cut, hike or hold the federal funds rate steady, and all signs point to a hike. The last key piece of economic data the Fed saw was Friday’s Consumer Price Index update, which showed that inflation kept up its elevated pace in August with a 3.4% increase from a year ago. “Core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is closely watched by the central bank, rose 2.4%.
While the data was in line with expectations, it shows that inflation is still much too hot for the Fed’s liking. The odds of a rate hike jumped to about 87% after the report Friday morning.
Trump’s Fed Fury
This week’s Fed meeting comes shortly after President Donald Trump threatened to stop trading with some countries if there’s no interest-rate cut. But the Fed is politically independent, meaning it doesn’t need presidential approval, and it’s not likely to get it.
“The Federal Reserve’s hands are tied,” said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer of Regan Capital. A rate hike “is all but assured.”
But what comes after?
- Friday’s CPI not only solidified expectations for a Fed rate hike, but more importantly, it boosted expectations of where policy rates peak next year, which now stand near 4.5%, said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at US Bank Asset Management. Oil prices have been the primary catalyst for rising long-term bond yields and rising expectations for multiple rate hikes in the coming quarter, he added, “but stocks remain only about 1.5% below all-time highs despite negative headlines.”
- Eric Winograd, chief US economist at AllianceBernstein, said that from an economic perspective, there is “very little justification” for only one, or even only two, rate hikes. For now, he’s penciling in one additional rate hike this year.
Bond Price Blues: Treasury yields rose to multiyear highs late last week as oil prices surged, with the 10-year Treasury hitting a level not seen since 2023. In other words, the bond market may already be doing some of the Fed’s job.
Written by Mallika Mitra
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- Hit the Brakes: Rival artificial intelligence CEOs Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk made a unified call to “slow the pace” of AI development over safety concerns, which Altman cited as a reason OpenAI will not go public this year.
- Turn Over a New Salad Leaf: The record US cyclosporiasis outbreak that impacted fresh lettuce supplies and hammered fast-casual salad chains is over, the Centers for Disease Control declared Friday.
- United CEO Scott Kirby Believes America Needs “a Flag Carrier.” Now He Is Betting Regulators Will Let Him Create One. Kirby joins The CEO Signal from Semafor to discuss why airlines aren’t commodities, whether greater scale could benefit customers, and the fundamental obstacle to consolidation. Watch now.**
**Partner
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Disclaimers
*This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or invest in any security, financial instrument, investment, or service, and it is not a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell any security in any jurisdiction. It does not constitute investment, financial, legal, tax, or any other professional advice. Forecasts and third-party market, demographic, expenditure or other estimates are inherently uncertain and may not be realized. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Any figures referenced are as of the dates of the underlying sources. Industry data, demographic, and other information contained in this article has been derived from industry and other third-party sources. Ferrovial has not undertaken any independent investigation to confirm the accuracy or completeness of such data and information, some of which may be based on estimates and subjective judgments. Accordingly, Ferrovial makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of such data and information. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified professional before making any investment decision.
1https://thepointsguy.com/loyalty-programs/monthly-valuations.
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