The electorate in Romania chose Calin Georgescu as their president. But the West said NO!
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
The Happy Days in America keep getting happier since Donald Trump won the race to the White House.
WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN WILL SHOCK THE WORLD
The world economy is under direct attack, and this mechanism will VAULT risk-on assets (stocks and cryptocurrencies) to heights which will leave most people dumbfounded.
INVESTORS SHOVEL $139.5 BILLION INTO STOCK FUNDS AFTER TRUMP’S WIN
Following the 5 November U.S. election, investors poured $139.5 billion of new money into U.S. stock funds, assuming a Trump administration will cut taxes and clear away regulations to boost corporate profits, the Financial Times reported.
TOUGHER TESTING FOR GENE EDITED CROP PLANTS
Gene edited ingredients have spread so widely over the past two years, that it’s almost impossible at this point for average Americans to avoid consuming them.
SPOTLIGHT: CRYPTO NATION
On 5 December, bitcoin jumped to an intraday price of $103,800, gaining more than 50 percent since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election a month earlier.
EAT JUNK FOOD, DIE QUICK
Fast food, fast death? It has been well-documented that ultra-processed foods could have a deleterious impact on the human body, but a newly released study out of Italy found that these kinds of foods—kitchen staples like packaged snacks or frozen foods—could be speeding up the pace in which your body ages.
Global Economy
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
BlackRock, the world’s largest private equity firm, is complementing its hefty presence in public stock, bond, and commodity markets with additional moves into the private credit business.
TOP TREND 2024, EV GO FU: EVs MORE RELIABLE BUT STILL LESS SO THAN INTERNAL COMBUSTION CARS
The reliability of electric vehicles (EVs) has surged, a Consumer Reports survey found. EV drivers reported 42 percent more trouble than drivers of internal combustion cars did. However, that represents a major improvement from the 79-percent gap found in 2023.
CURRENCY CONTROLS HOBBLE ARGENTINA’S FOREIGN INVESTMENT CAMPAIGN
Argentina’s maverick president Javier Milei has assembled a $50-billion package of tax incentives, eased customs regulations, and smoother currency exchange mechanisms to draw foreign investors to help rebuild the country’s broken economy.
The Israel War
GAZA DEATH TOLL
Israel continues to kill Gazans, with the death toll hitting 44,786 on Tuesday, along with 106,188 wounded and 11,000 missing.
ISRAEL’S HERZOG PHONES ELON MUSK ABOUT GAZA HOSTAGES
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, called Elon Musk last week to discuss the Israeli hostages still in Hamas possession after a request made by the families of those who are held in Gaza.
STARVE THEM OUT: NETANYAHU ‘OPEN’ TO ETHNICALLY CLEANSING GAZA, BEN GVIR SAYS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is open to the idea of Israelis settling in Gaza after “encouraging” Palestinians to get out, Itamar Ben Gvir, the head of the Jewish Power party, said.
AI
AI COULD SPOT ALZHEIMER’S SIGNALS YEARS BEFORE SYMPTOMS APPEAR
Scientists at San Francisco’s Gladstone Institute have created an AI that can see early hints of Alzheimer’s Disease in subtle behavioral changes potentially years before diagnosable symptoms appear.
U.S. ADDS NEW SANCTIONS ON CHIP SALES TO CHINA
The Biden administration has added new bans on sales of AI components to China but applied the sanctions to fewer companies than originally had been indicated.
AI TRAINING HAS MAXED OUT. DEVELOPERS ARE MOVING ON TO POST-TRAINING
AI training involves pouring as much Internet content as possible into a system. That involves not only massive amounts of data, but also huge amounts of computer time.
Hi-Tech Science
AMERICA’S SALAD BOWL IS BECOMING AN ACTUAL BOWL
California’s San Joaquin Valley has been called “America’s salad bowl” for the significant amount of the country’s fruits and vegetables that are grown there.
AN AGILE, ALL-ELECTRIC FLYING TAXI WITH A TUGBOAT MOTOR
CycloTech, an Austrian start-up working in small-scale aviation, is building an all-electric, autonomous flying taxi.
NEWLY FOUND GENE IN A TREE COULD DOUBLE THE SIZE OF PLANTS
Tweaking a newly discovered gene in the black cottonwood tree caused the trees to grow 37 percent taller in the wild and 200 percent taller in a greenhouse.
