New York Times (August 17)
America “is making it easier” as “China hunts for scientific talent…. Young researchers have long come to the U.S. for academic training, but a combination of Chinese money and U.S. restrictions is shifting the balance.” China can “match the funding and infrastructure that attract prominent scientists,” but still struggles to reproduce “the freedom, trust and institutional stability that allow young talent to flourish. Those remain among America’s strongest advantages, and the very advantages its current policies are putting at risk.”
Tags: Academic training, China, Flourish, Funding, Infrastructure, Institutional stability, Money, Researchers, Restrictions, Risk, Scientific talent, Scientists Freedom, Trust, U.S.
Fortune (August 15)
“The first U.S.-Japan joint intervention in three decades aimed at boosting the yen has come and gone without doing much to ease anxiety in currency markets.” In fact, it may have heightened concern. A recent note from Yardeni Research captured this sentiment. “The financial system right now looks like a giant Jenga tower with the yen as a load-bearing piece.”
Tags: Anxiety, Boosting, Concern, Currency markets, Financial system, Japan, Jenga tower, Joint intervention, Sentiment, U.S., Yardeni Research, Yen
Financial Times (August 10)
“The yen has given up roughly half its gains following the historic joint intervention by the US and Japan, with investors saying the lack of a ‘unified voice’ among central banks lessened its market impact.” The prevailing view is that “the intervention would be unlikely to provide lasting support unless it was accompanied by interest rate rises from the Bank of Japan” and that the intervention might have been more effective with greater international co-operation, specifically involving the ECB, which was not consulted.
Tags: BOJ, Central banks, Co-operation, ECB, Gains, Interest rate, Investors, Japan, Joint intervention, Lasting support, Market impact, U.S., Yen
The New York Times (August 8)
“President Trump’s war against Iran has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles to troubling levels, siphoning supplies from Asia and Europe…. The rapidly shrinking supply of air-defense missiles and other critical weaponry in Europe and Asia not only leaves the U.S. military less equipped, but could also leave Russia and China feeling emboldened should they contemplate a potential conflict with the United States.”
Tags: Air-defense missiles, Asia, China, Conflict, Depleted, Emboldened, Europe, Iran, Military, Russia, Shrinking supply, Troubling, Trump, U.S., War, Weapons stockpiles
Wall Street Journal (August 4)
“The AI boom is transforming the American economy beyond recognition” and has recently been estimated to account for one third of domestic economic growth. “Mapping out exactly how much strength the economy is drawing from AI is less than straightforward, and prone to error. Even so, it appears substantial.” But this welcome source of momentum also presents risk. “The strength that the economy is drawing from the AI boom is also a vulnerability: What would happen if the boom fizzled out?”
Tags: AI boom, Economic growth, Economy, Mapping, Momentum, One third, Risk, Strength, Substantial, Transforming, U.S., Vulnerability
The Economist (July 31)
“Despite robust spending, America’s economy grew slower than expected in the second quarter, expanding by an annualised 1.5%. Consumer activity grew by 3.2% thanks to a fall in gasoline prices and higher-than-usual tax refunds. AI-driven investment continued to boom. These bright spots were, however, offset by a decline in net exports and companies drawing down their inventories.”
Tags: 1.5%, AI-driven investment, Boom, Consumer activity, Decline, Economy, Expanding, Gasoline prices, Inventories, Net exports, Q2, Robust spending, Slower, Tax refunds, U.S.
MarketWatch (July 30)
“One of the wildest months in recent memory for the U.S. stock market is ending on yet another remarkable note: A highflying hedge fund run by an AI wunderkind in his mid-20s has apparently just been carried out on a stretcher.” Before offloading “the bulk of its public-equity portfolio after suffering heavy losses over the past month,” Situational Awareness “had posted dazzling returns by using leverage to bet on AI-related stocks, reportedly tallying a more than 2,000% gain since its launch in September 2024.”
Tags: AI, Bet, Dazzling, Gain, Hedge-fund, Leverage, Losses, Market, Offloading, Public-equity portfolio, Remarkable, Returns, Situational Awareness, Stocks, Stretcher, U.S., Wildest, Wunderkind
Bloomberg (July 26)
“Back-to-back heat waves across the US are straining electricity grids serving millions of households and businesses amid a surge in demand from data centers that require around-the-clock power.” Regional transmission operators (RTOs) are struggling to keep up and it’s no longer clear the RTOs are up to present day challenges. “Emergency alerts have been cascading across grids covering more than half of the 50 US states in recent weeks, including the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), and the Southwest Power Pool, which manage electricity systems from the Midwest to the Rocky Mountains.”
Tags: Businesses, Challenges, Data centers, Demand, Electricity grids, Heat waves, Households, Power, Straining, Struggling, Surge, Transmission operators, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (July 23)
“In AI software, China is giving the U.S. an unexpected run for its money. Last week, Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI unveiled a new model, Kimi K3, that closely trails the performance of top models from American AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic. Xi delivered a speech positioning China as the global champion of open, accessible AI. Shares in U.S. chip makers fell.”
Tags: Accessible, AI, Anthropic, Beijing, China, Global champion, Kimi K3, Moonshot AI, Open, OpenAI, Performance, Shares, Startup, Top models, U.S., Unexpected, Xi
OilPrice.com (July 20)
“Traffic via Hormuz is once again paralyzed, tanker crossings are sporadic, and Iran and the United States are intensifying the exchange of fire. Meanwhile, global oil stocks are melting like snow. Oil prices have been on a climb for over a week now as hostilities in the Middle East continue, and despite recent talk of a glut, the physical market is flashing signs of tightness—and higher oil for longer.”
Tags: Global oil stocks, Glut, Higher, Hormuz, Hostilities, Intensifying, Iran, Longer, Middle East, Oil prices, Paralyzed, Physical market, Tanker crossings, Tightness, Traffic, U.S.
