Author: starbpo

At the start of the year, tech executives were sure that a new generation of phones and PCs powered by artificial intelligence would bring new customers to those categories that were having a hard time. They might have had too much hope. The most recent data shows that the shift in how people use AI is still moving slowly. This week, Alphabet GOOGL 1.03%’s Google showed off its newest Pixel smartphones, which are said to have AI features like the ability to turn text into images and enhance photos in new ways. They don’t seem interesting enough to make people…

Bulls in Nvidia Corp. have come back with a vengeance, pulling the stock of the leading artificial intelligence and semiconductor company out of the abyss and to its best weekly performance in over a year. Before this week, Nvidia shares NVDA 1.40% had fallen into a bear market because investors were pulling their money out of big tech companies and there were worries that the release of Nvidia’s new Blackwell chip might be pushed back. This made people worry that the AI bubble was popping. The stock had been going down for four weeks in a row, down 19% as…

Fed Chair Jerome Powell might not be as enthusiastic about rate cuts as the White House. Traders remain overly confident about the pace and scope of the Fed’s lowering agenda, even if bond markets have tempered expectations for a fifty basis point rate decrease in September following alarming PPI data last week. “The assumption that the last employment report all but guarantees a September rate cut has driven market pricing… and if that assumption is wrong, pricing may suffer a harsh reversal.” Tim Duy, the head economist at SGH Macro Advisors and a seasoned Fed observer, believes that. Despite Powell’s…

Investors hope Fed Chair Jerome Powell will set the table for rate cuts in September during his Friday speech at Jackson Hole Even if the Federal Reserve pivots back to rate cuts in September, a wall of cash isn’t likely to flee money-market funds for stocks, a Goldman Sachs strategist says. U.S. stocks finished mostly unchanged on Monday – near record highs – with investors focused on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s coming speech Friday at the central bank’s summer Jackson Hole, Wyo., summit. Surprisingly resilient second-quarter earnings have been helping drive the stock market to record levels, but hopes…

Notwithstanding his mixed track record, Chamath Palihapitiya has taken what some may view as a dangerous step by establishing a new special purpose acquisition business. Palihapitiya described what will be known as the American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp., which is formed in the Cayman Islands tax haven, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The new SPAC will look to acquire or integrate a business in the decentralized finance, energy production, artificial intelligence, or defense sectors. Palihapitiya’s investment history is covered in the S-1 filing, including his time as a Facebook executive, his achievements as a venture capitalist who has backed…

One of the most-watched deals in crypto has been the “Trump trade,” in which traders bet on Donald Trump’s chances of winning the November election for president of the United States. In general, crypto traders think that there will be more volatility around the election. This is because the expected volatility for bitcoin BTCUSD 0.82% options that expire in November is much higher than that for options that expire before the election. “That’s just how the market prices in a risk premium over the event,” Bohan Jiang, who is in charge of OTC options dealing at Abra, explained in a…

NEW YORK — Florida election clerks are correcting the record before next week’s state primary because of a false claim that poll workers will throw out ballots that have writing on them. Clerks in Collier and Escambia counties, which are home to Naples and Pensacola, are telling voters that the warning they may have seen on social media or in text messages is not true and that their ballot markings will not invalidate their votes. Election officials say the claim, which has been shared online across the country since at least 2020, is an example of the kind of false…

IN ATLANTA — An election board in one of Georgia’s biggest counties has decided that people who question a voter’s status will have to pay for the cost of letting the voters in question know about the problem. The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registrations agreed to the rule on Tuesday by a vote of 4-1. Debbie Fisher, a Republican on the board, was the only person who voted against the rule. As part of a nationwide attempt led by Donald Trump’s supporters to remove names from the voter rolls, Republican activists are challenging thousands of voters in Georgia.…

NEW YORK, ALBANY— This week, a judge in New York threw out Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plea to have his name put on the state ballot, which hurt his independent presidential campaign. This decision could cause problems for the candidate as he faces challenges in other places. Justice Christina Ryba made a decision this week that Kennedy’s home address on his nomination papers was a “sham” that he used to stay registered to vote and advance his political career. On Wednesday, Kennedy’s lawyers filed an appeal to that decision. The judge agreed with the critics, who said Kennedy’s real home…

City of Mexico — Early Saturday morning, Hurricane Ernesto hit land on Bermuda, a small British Atlantic island where people were still staying inside. The National Hurricane Center says the hurricane has a big area in the middle that is not raining and is about to pass by Bermuda. The eye has grown bigger, and Ernesto has slowed down. However, the second half of the storm will still pass over Bermuda on Saturday afternoon. The wide category 1 storm has winds that can last for up to 80 miles per hour. The National Hurricane Center in the United States warned…