Apple is approaching the end of Tim Cook’s tenure as chief executive, with the departure set for next Tuesday and John Ternus poised to assume leadership duties as his successor. Sina Finance reports that farewell events were held at Apple’s Cupertino campus as Cook nears the conclusion of his tenure.

Accounts describe a gathering inside Max’s Café in the ring-shaped headquarters, with OneRepublic performing in the central outdoor courtyard. A photo circulating on X shows Cook with a guitar alongside the band. Approximately 200 attendees, mostly Apple employees, attended the event. Speakers included Laurene Powell Jobs and former Apple executive Jeff Williams, while Eddy Cue and John Ternus also addressed the crowd. Cook spoke and acknowledged his partner Mike during his remarks. Cook publicly came out in 2014, and he has generally kept his private life private in public settings.

Beginning next week, Cook will transition to the role of executive chairman, taking on responsibilities that include some liaison work with global policymakers, according to Apple’s leadership announcement.

In internal discussions, observers expect the handover to reflect continuity, with most senior roles remaining unchanged as Ternus leads. There are also notes that Cook’s long-time executive assistant will eventually join Ternus’s team.

During his last earnings call as CEO, Cook described the transition as proceeding smoothly and said he was very excited for John to lead Apple into its next era.

According to Jin10, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board unanimously decided to keep the cash rate unchanged in August.

While the decision was unanimous on the hold, several members reportedly debated whether a further rate increase would be warranted, citing risks such as the Middle East conflict, higher energy prices, AI-related investment considerations, and domestic inflation pressures.

New York-based AI startup General Intuition is reportedly seeking new funding at a $6 billion pre-money valuation, with several prominent investors expected to participate alongside existing backers, according to ChainCatcher.

The round is said to include Valor Equity Partners, Point72 Ventures and Seven Seven Six, while Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst are also involved.

The company is developing foundation models designed to train general AI agents to move through space and time.

The fundraising would come just weeks after General Intuition closed a $320 million round that valued the company at about $2.3 billion.

CEO Pim de Witte spun the company out of the Medal video game clip-sharing platform in October last year, using hundreds of millions of hours of game data and player action records as initial training data. General Intuition has become one of the most closely watched startups in physical AI.

Entropy.io operates as an independent market deployer within Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, enabling perpetual contracts on a variety of assets. These include stocks, commodities, indices, and pre-IPO shares.

In its latest financing, Entropy.io secured $14 million in a round led by Ribbit Capital. The deal is accompanied by $40 million in HYPE staking support, and its first market, Anthropic Pre-IPO, has gone live on Hyperliquid.

Entropy.io’s role under Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 structure is to deploy new markets independently, expanding access to perpetual contracts across traditional and pre-IPO instruments.

Meta Platforms is targeting a release for its consumer-oriented OpenClaw AI assistant, which is internally coded Hatch, in the coming weeks.

The company also aims to unveil its latest AI model, named Watermelon, in October, according to Jiemian News.

UKMTO, via Sina Finance, said a tanker's captain reported the vessel was struck by an unknown projectile about 9 nautical miles northeast of Ash Shihr, Oman.

The ship has lost power and the crew are reported to be safe.

Mariners have been advised to navigate with caution.

Sammons Financial Group informed its creditors that it maintains some separation from Guggenheim Partners, the firm led by Mark Walter.

The update comes after a Bloomberg report last week described the firms’ long-standing ties and suggested they had affected the value of Sammons’ bonds.

Ed Al-Hussainy, portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said the U.S. dollar has been mostly stable against developed-market currencies but has underperformed against emerging-market currencies, according to Bloomberg.

He cited carry-trade activity supported by higher real yields in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and South Africa as a key driver. He also noted that the dollar's weakness persists despite low unemployment and steady U.S. growth, partly because the Federal Reserve has adjusted rates more slowly than many other central banks.

Japan is considering a roughly $630 million allocation to back the acquisition of subsea cable-laying vessels, aiming to address rising risks in the sector, according to Wallstreetcn.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications plans to include the spending in its fiscal 2027 budget request, with the submission anticipated by the end of August.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a $144 million funding package aimed at strengthening mental health and substance-use services, improving emergency care and maternal care, and expanding Alabama’s healthcare workforce, according to Wallstreetcn.