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August’s jobs report could cement a September rate hike. (0:17) Broadcom earnings give another look at the AI spending. (1:24) John Ternus takes the reins from Tim Cook at Apple. (1:56)

The following is an abridged transcript:

This week brings the August jobs report, which could be crucial for the Federal Reserve’s next move.

Following what traders saw as a hawkish Jackson Hole speech from new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, odds of a quarter-point September rate hike have jumped to 57% from 40%, with an 18% chance of another hike in October.

Economists expect a modest rise in August nonfarm payrolls of 55K, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.1%.

Wells Fargo economists say alternative indicators “suggest job growth has stabilized, rather than continuing to deteriorate.”

“Hiring measures from regional Fed surveys have improved in recent months, small business hiring plans have perked back up, and job openings have leveled off. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims remain near multi-decade lows, underscoring that layoffs are still contained.”

SA Analyst Damir Tokic expects a strong August jobs report to “cement” a quarter-point rate hike.

“Warsh clearly stated in his Jackson Hole speech that the labor market is strong, as the unemployment rate at 4.1% is very low by historical standards,” he said. “The main implication for monetary policy is that the labor market is fine, thus, the focus shifts entirely to inflation.”

On the earnings front, Broadcom (AVGO) will give further insight into AI spending when it reports Wednesday. Analysts expect EPS of $3.24 on revenue of $29.4B.

SA analyst Dustin Quasney says the stock faces elevated near-term downside risk ahead of earnings due to high expectations set by Nvidia’s recent results.

For those long the stock, he recommends covered calls that prioritize downside protection.

Here’s how the rest of the earnings calendar shapes up:

On Tuesday, Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Dell (DELL), and Medtronic (MDT) report.

Snowflake (SNOW) weighs in on Wednesday.

Ciena (CIEN) and Zscaler (ZS) are up Thursday.

Also this week, on Tuesday, John Ternus will step into the role of Apple (AAPL) CEO, taking over from Tim Cook, aka Tim Apple, who has led the tech giant since 2011. Cook will move into the role of executive chairman.

SA analyst Envision Research says they are confident the new leadership will preserve the company’s “well-established earning power and shareholder return mechanisms.”

They also see “additional opportunities for Ternus to capitalize on the vast installed (customer) base and to continue growing the base with his deep understanding of the company’s various hardware lineups.”

And Tesla (TSLA) plans to hold an invite-only Cybercab launch event Thursday in Austin, Texas, that will also be livestreamed.

The compact two-seater is designed without a steering wheel or pedals, with fully autonomous passenger transport as its sole purpose. Reports indicate riders may be able to request a Cybercab through Tesla’s existing Robotaxi app in Austin as early as next week.

In the news this weekend, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang is a notable omission from Time Magazine’s newly released list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence for 2026.

On a list featuring SpaceX (SPCX) CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI (OPENAI) CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic (ANTHRO) CEO Dario Amodei, Huang’s absence raised eyebrows.

Huang was included in the three previous TIME100 AI editions.

And for income investors, Northrop Grumman (NOC) goes ex-dividend Monday, paying out on Sept. 16.

Nike (NKE) and McDonald’s (MCD) go ex-dividend Tuesday. Nike pays out on Oct. 1, and McDonald’s pays out on Sept. 16.

Qualcomm (QCOM) goes ex-dividend Thursday, with a Sept. 24 payout date.

Apple is preparing to unveil its first foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at a Sept. 9 event, and mounting leaks suggest the standard Pro models could actually outperform the pricier foldable device, widely expected to be called the iPhone Ultra, in several meaningful ways.

Apple confirmed its fall product event this week with a media invitation carrying the tagline “Surprise and shine,” alongside rumors that the company will unveil three flagship devices this September rather than the usual four-model iPhone lineup: the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the company’s long-rumored foldable. Reports suggest the base iPhone 18 and a lower-cost iPhone 18e will instead arrive in spring 2027, a departure from Apple’s traditional September release pattern.

The first advantage centers on the camera. According to a report from 9to5Mac, the iPhone 18 Pro line is expected to gain a variable-aperture main camera, a feature that would let users manually adjust how much light reaches the sensor, potentially improving Portrait mode results and offering greater control over depth of field along with meaningful gains in low-light photography. Multiple outlets, including the technology site Gotechtor, have reported that the foldable iPhone is not expected to receive the same hardware, largely because the components required for variable aperture are believed to be too large to fit inside the device’s notably thin body.

A second advantage involves optical zoom. Current reports indicate the foldable iPhone will ship with only two rear cameras, a main sensor and an ultrawide lens, while the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are expected to retain a dedicated telephoto lens as part of their triple-camera systems. That would leave Apple’s most expensive iPhone without true optical zoom capability, a notable gap for a flagship-priced device that could push buyers who prioritize zoom photography toward the standard Pro models instead.

Battery life represents a third area where the Pro line is expected to have an edge. According to 9to5Mac, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is rumored to receive a physical battery roughly 10% larger than the one in the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it is expected to benefit further from efficiency improvements tied to Apple’s new A20 Pro chip and its in-house C2 modem. While regulatory filings suggest the foldable iPhone should still offer solid battery performance for its category, most reports agree the Pro Max’s combination of a larger physical battery and chip-level efficiency gains should make it the longest-lasting iPhone Apple has ever released, a benchmark the foldable’s unique thin-and-light form factor makes difficult to match.

A fourth potential advantage involves biometric security. Multiple outlets, including Tom’s Guide, have reported that the foldable iPhone may forgo Face ID entirely in favor of Touch ID built into its power button, a design choice likely driven by the challenge of fitting Face ID’s sensor array into such a thin device. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, by contrast, are expected to retain Face ID, preserving the more familiar unlocking and authentication experience current iPhone Pro owners are accustomed to.

Raw processing performance provides a fifth point of separation. According to Tom’s Guide, the foldable iPhone is rumored to use a standard A20 chip rather than the more powerful A20 Pro variant found in the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, even though both chips are expected to be built on the same advanced 2-nanometer manufacturing process, which industry reports suggest could deliver roughly a 15% improvement in processing speed and a 20% boost in efficiency compared with the current generation.

These reported trade-offs come as the foldable iPhone is expected to command a substantially higher price than the Pro lineup, with multiple outlets estimating a starting price near 2,000 dollars, nearly double what the iPhone 17 Pro Max currently costs. Design-wise, the foldable is rumored to open in a book-style format with a titanium frame, an outer display measuring roughly 5.3 to 5.5 inches, and an inner display around 7.6 to 7.8 inches when unfolded, aiming for an iPad-like 4:3 aspect ratio and a display Apple hopes will be nearly free of the visible crease common to other foldable phones on the market.

Apple has not confirmed any of these specifications ahead of its Sept. 9 event, and the company’s official presentation remains the only source that will resolve the current wave of speculation. For consumers weighing whether the novelty of a folding screen justifies the foldable’s expected premium, however, current leaks suggest the more traditional iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could actually deliver stronger cameras, longer battery life, familiar biometric security and faster raw performance, at a considerably lower price than Apple’s most ambitious device to date.

A new randomized clinical trial from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that a ketogenic diet outperformed two other widely recommended eating plans at reversing prediabetes and reducing fat buildup in the liver, even when all three diets produced identical amounts of weight loss.

The study, published Aug. 27 in the journal Cell Metabolism, compared a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet against a high-carbohydrate, low-fat, plant-forward diet and a Mediterranean diet that balanced the two approaches. Researchers randomly assigned 55 adults with what they described as metabolically unhealthy obesity, meaning obesity accompanied by prediabetes and fatty liver disease, to follow one of the three diets for approximately five months. Participants received all of their food throughout the study and met weekly with a study dietitian to support adherence to their assigned plan.

Across all three diet groups, participants lost a comparable amount of weight, shedding roughly 10% of their starting body weight, and saw insulin sensitivity in their muscle cells improve by about 50% from baseline. According to the study’s senior author, Dr. Samuel Klein, the Danforth Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science at WashU Medicine, that consistency suggests weight loss itself, rather than the specific balance of fat and carbohydrates used to achieve it, was the key driver behind the improvement in muscle insulin sensitivity. “For patients with obesity, prediabetes and fatty liver disease, weight loss induced by a very low-carbohydrate diet provides additional therapeutic effects on glucose and lipid metabolism that should further help prevent the progression to more severe metabolic diseases than weight loss alone,” Klein said. “But all three diets, despite vastly different macronutrient makeups, from very low carbohydrates to very high carbohydrates, successfully improved metabolic health through weight loss alone.”

The results diverged sharply, however, when it came to liver health. The research team found that insulin sensitivity in liver cells, which governs how effectively the liver suppresses glucose production, improved two to three times more among participants on the ketogenic diet compared with those on the other two plans, even though all three groups showed some improvement. The ketogenic diet also reduced fat stored inside the liver by 67% after five months, compared with a 45% reduction on the other two diets.

Study first author Dr. Max C. Petersen, an assistant professor of medicine in WashU Medicine’s John T. Milliken Department of Medicine, said the findings carry significant implications given how widespread fatty liver disease has become. “Fatty liver disease affects about 75% of adults with obesity worldwide and has become the fastest-growing cause of chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis,” Petersen said. “Our study shows that for people with obesity and fatty liver disease, a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet could help reduce that statistic.”

Blood sugar control also improved more substantially among participants following the ketogenic diet. Researchers measured a 20% reduction in 24-hour blood glucose levels from baseline among the low-carbohydrate group, compared with an 8% reduction among participants on the other two diets. Insulin levels throughout the day fell by 74% on the ketogenic diet, compared with declines of 44% on the Mediterranean diet and 27% on the high-carbohydrate diet, a pattern the researchers said reflects reduced demand on the pancreas to produce insulin when carbohydrate intake is sharply limited.

The difference in outcomes was most striking when it came to reversing prediabetes entirely. Half of the participants assigned to the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet reversed their prediabetes by the end of the study, compared with 29% of those on the Mediterranean diet and just 7% of those on the high-carbohydrate, plant-forward diet.

Petersen noted that the findings remain relevant even as GLP-1 medications, a class of drugs that includes semaglutide and other treatments widely used for weight loss, have become an increasingly common tool for managing obesity and its associated health risks. “Many metabolically unhealthy patients also are candidates for GLP-1 medicines, which have been very useful tools for helping people lose weight,” Petersen said. “But our results show that choice of diet remains important because it has an impact on specific health outcomes that go beyond weight loss alone.”

Obesity affects roughly four in 10 Americans, according to the study, and frequently coexists with metabolic complications including insulin resistance, prediabetes and fatty liver buildup, conditions that can progress over time to Type 2 diabetes, chronic liver disease and cardiovascular events if left untreated. While weight loss has long been established as the most effective overall strategy for reducing these risks, researchers said it has remained unclear until now which specific dietary approach, in terms of its balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates, produces the greatest improvement in underlying metabolic health markers beyond weight loss alone.

The research team, which also included Dr. Gordon I. Smith, an associate professor of medicine at WashU Medicine, said future studies will examine the underlying biological mechanisms responsible for the metabolic benefits observed with weight loss, including how those mechanisms may interact with the growing use of GLP-1 medications in clinical practice. As with any nutrition research involving significant dietary changes, individuals considering major shifts to their eating patterns, particularly those managing existing health conditions, are generally advised to consult a physician or registered dietitian before beginning a new diet plan.

This article was written by

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After a bruising week that wiped out more than Rs 6,000 from gold prices, commodity markets are heading into September with traders bracing for another bout of volatility as US jobs data and geopolitical tensions take centrestage, analysts said.

Investors will focus on manufacturing and services PMI data from major economies, including India. Inflation figures from Eurozone and Germany, and US non-farm payroll data due towards the end of the week will also be closely tracked, they added.

“The coming week is likely to remain highly volatile, with market participants attempting to price in the probability of a September Federal Reserve policy change,” Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst – Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities, said.

Gold futures for October delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) tumbled Rs 6,157, or 3.8 per cent, last week to Rs 1.56 lakh per 10 grams, while silver futures for September contract plunged Rs 9,893, or 4 per cent, to Rs 2.36 lakh per kilogram.

“MCX Gold witnessed a sharp correction last week, falling from around Rs 1.63 lakh to Rs 1.56 lakh per 10 grams, resulting in a decline of nearly over Rs 6,000 from the weekly peak and a negative weekly closing of more than 3 per cent,” Trivedi said.

Pranav Mer, Senior Vice President, EBG – Commodity & Currency Research, JM Financial Services Ltd, said selling pressure intensified on Friday following Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech, with his commentary on inflation and monetary policy triggering profit booking across bullion markets.
In international markets, Comex gold futures for December delivery declined USD 150.7, or 3.2 per cent, to settle the week at USD 4,680.6 per ounce. Silver futures fell USD 2.56, or 3.64 per cent, to USD 67.78 per ounce.Going into the new month, markets will closely track US labour-market indicators, including non-farm payrolls, unemployment data, and ADP non-farm employment change, which could influence the Federal Reserve’s decision-making ahead of its September meeting, Mer said.

Geopolitical developments could add another layer of uncertainty. Traders will continue to monitor the US-Iran conflict, while developments around the Strait of Hormuz remain important for oil prices and inflation expectations.

Despite the correction, silver outperformed gold in August, gaining around 21 per cent against yellow metal’s 15.7 per cent, Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at Lemonn Markets Desk, said.

Trivedi said, “The combination of dollar movement, labour-market data, Fed expectations and geopolitical headlines is likely to determine whether gold stabilises after the recent correction or enters another phase of profit booking.”