Wall Street Journal (February 16)
“Fresh figures on jobs and prices drove the economy’s surprising vigor this year, joining rising household incomes, consumer resilience and other data that have persuaded investors the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation is likely to be a longer one than they hoped.” In January, U.S. hiring rose while “unemployment fell to a 53-year low.”
Tags: Consumer resilience, Economy, Fed, Hiring, Household incomes, Inflation, Investors, January, Jobs, Prices, Rising, Surprising, U.S., Vigor
Institutional Investor (February 15)
“While there are some types of AI that humans can comprehend, there are others that, because of their complexity and high dimensionality, are beyond the ken of human intelligence…. Yet because of a deep-seated industry bias that investment results must be explainable, investors have been slow to accept the superhuman capabilities of advanced AI and, as a result, are failing to consider unique sources of alpha that could provide better investment outcomes.”
Tags: Advanced, AI, Alpha, Capabilities, Complexity, Comprehend, Dimensionality, Explainable, Human intelligence, Industry bias, Investment results, Investors, Slow, Superhuman
The Hindu (February 15)
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das proclaimed the worst of inflation was in the rear-view mirror. Five days later, January CPI estimates “revealed a disconcerting reversal in price gains trend. Headline retail inflation… quickened by 80 basis points last month to 6.5%. Propelling the acceleration was a 175 basis-points jump in food prices.” This “surprise reversal” suggests that “inflationary expectations in the economy are nowhere near anchored and will necessitate further policy action both from the RBI and fiscal authorities.”
Tags: Acceleration, Anchored, CPI, Economy, Expectations, Food prices, India, Inflation, Price gains, Reserve Bank, Surprise reversal
CNN Business (February 14)
The collapse of FTX last November “was a seismic event for the crypto industry” that some called crypto’s “Lehman moment.” We appear to be “entering the Dodd-Frank era of crypto,” as regulators now have “a clearer target and a wave of public outrage to bolster their cause.” Since FTX’s bankruptcy, “state and federal regulators have escalated both their rhetoric and their actions to keep the fast-growing digital asset industry in check — a shift that is, unsurprisingly, not going over great with crypto companies.”
Tags: Actions, Bankruptcy, Collapse, Dodd-Frank, FTX, Lehman, Public outrage, Regulators, Rhetoric, Seismic
Seeking Alpha (February 13)
“Bank of America argued Monday that international stocks offer a potential opportunity of outperformance compared to U.S. equities. However, the firm added that investors need to remain ‘choosy’ when selecting positions.” For example, Bank of America favors “regions with the greatest structural advantages, such as strong demographics, energy independence, and high productivity.”
Tags: Bank of America, Choosy, Demographics, Energy independence, International stocks, Investors, Opportunity, Outperformance, Potential, Productivity, Structural advantages, U.S. equities
New York Times (February 12)
“Attention-grabbing ads for cryptocurrency trading platforms were ubiquitous during last year’s Super Bowl.” What a difference a year makes. Last year, they spent $39 million on Super Bowl spots. “At this year’s Big Game? Crypto ads are nowhere to be found.”
Tags: $39 million, Ads, Attention, Cryptocurrency, Nowhere, Spots, Super Bowl, Trading platforms, Ubiquitous
TechCrunch (February 11)
“Google is flailing” as it now tries to rush its AI strategy. In contrast, Microsoft seems to be nearing a break-away moment. “The move to integrate the latest GPT model… with Bing and Edge is a kind of forced hail mary, its last and best play in the search engine world.” This move has “clearly rattled” Google, causing its “leadership to swiftly transition from anxiety to full-on flop sweat.”
Tags: AI, Anxiety, Bing, Edge, Flailing, Google, GPT model, Hail mary, Integrate, Leadership, Microsoft, Rattled, Rush, Search engine, Strategy
Bloomberg (February 9)
“Money managers have cut $300 billion of bearish bets and are now positioned more in line with historic norms — robbing the market of pent-up demand just as the Federal Reserve warns its inflation-fighting battle is far from over.”
Tags: $300 billion, Bearish bets, Demand, Fed, Historic norms, Inflation, Market, Money managers
Washington Post (February 8)
To summarize the state of the nation, “considering all the recent upheaval, it could be a lot worse. Yet it remains deeply divided, and that is itself a long-term threat to U.S. prosperity.” While much as been accomplished, “approximately two-thirds of Americans think the country is on the ‘wrong track.’”
Tags: Accomplished, Deeply divided, Long-term threat, Prosperity, Summarize, U.S., Upheaval, Wrong track
Tech Radar (February 8)
“With the integration of these new AI tools,” Google, Microsoft, and others don’t realize they are moving beyond the relative legal safety they’ve inhabited. They are “pretty much throwing that protection away, and as such, they could, and should, be held legally liable for every bit of misinformation and libel that their new chatbots produce.”
