Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that his forces will have to seize more Ukrainian land because of the ongoing threat of long-range missiles that have been provided by the West.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
What difference does it make as to what the equity markets are doing, why they are going up or down or the geopolitical and socioeconomic trends that are shaping the future?
U.S. MIDDLE EAST WAR… WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE MARKETS
At 4:00PM EST, immediately after the closing bell at the NY Stock Exchange (as is standard procedure), the U.S. began a heavy military strike against multiple Iranian targets.
NO GROWTH: EUROZONE ECONOMY FLATLINES, GERMANY GOES DOWN
Although Germany’s economy contracted by 0.3 percent in 2023’s fourth quarter, the 20-country Eurozone’s GDP neither shrank nor grew during the period, according to figures reported by Eurostat, the zone’s statistics office.
THE GENE EDITED FOOD YOU DON’T (AND WON’T) KNOW YOU’RE EATING
Gene editing is proliferating at a rate perhaps even faster than our forecasts of 2021 and 2022 said would happen—and we didn’t hold back the nightmare scenarios.
TRUE MAGNITUDE OF DEVASTATION IN GAZA HARD COVERED UP: NO REPORTER ALLOWED
Reporters who have been covering the unfolding genocide in Gaza have been faced with a daunting task of documenting deaths and being targeted by Israelis themselves...
GEN Z LOOKS TO BEDTIME INSTEAD OF PARTY TIME
Younger Americans are more eager to hit the sack than hit up clubs and bars in this post-COVID War world that has killed the human spirit and life on earth.
Global Economy
TOP TREND 2024 EV GO FU: SPINOFFS
Volvo has cut off funding to the Polestar electric vehicle (EV) venture. The EV brand, launched in 2017, is a joint venture between Volvo and Chinese car company Geely, which also owns a majority interest in Volvo.
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S ECONOMIC GLOOM
About 40 percent of asset managers attending a Goldman Sachs conference in Hong Kong last week called Chinese equities “uninvestable,” the Financial Times reported.
TOP TREND 2024 BANKS GO BUST: BANKS BRACE
On 31 January, New York Community Bancorp’s (NYCB’s) share price plunged by a record 38 percent after the company announced it will make sharp cuts to its stock dividend and hoard cash.
The Israel War
ISRAELI FORCES KILLING PALESTINIANS IN THE WEST BANK WITH ‘NEAR TOTAL IMPUNITY’
Israeli forces in the West Bank have been killing Palestinians in the West Bank with “near total impunity” after the Hamas attack last October, according to Amnesty International.
TRUE MAGNITUDE OF DEVASTATION IN GAZA HARD COVERED UP: NO REPORTER ALLOWED
Reporters who have been covering the unfolding genocide in Gaza have been faced with a daunting task of documenting deaths and being targeted by Israelis themselves...
U.S. CUTTING OFF UNRWA AID MAKES TERRIBLE SITUATION IN GAZA MUCH WORSE
The collective punishment of Gazans by Israel and its backers only worsened after the U.S. and other countries suspended their funding for UNRWA, the UN aid agency in the coastal enclave that provides residents with food and shelter.
AI
BOOM IN AI STOCKS MASKS WEAKNESS IN DEMAND FOR OTHER CHIPS
The past year’s frenzy in artificial intelligence has doubled, at least, the market capitalization of Nvidia and Advanced Microdevices, the companies dominating sales of chips AI systems depend on, and their suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Supermicro.
THEY GAVE AI A SENSE OF CURIOSITY AND TURNED IT INTO A COUCH POTATO
Researchers from OpenAI, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of California Berkeley decided to see what would happen if AI had a sense of curiosity.
NVIDIA TAKES ON HUAWEI IN CHINA
Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips for AI systems, is taking orders for a new chip it’s making specifically to be sold in China to compete with similar chips made by Huawei, China’s foremost provider of AI chips.
Hi-Tech Science
ANOTHER TREATMENT THAT NEUTRALIZES SENESCENCE AND AGE-RELATED DECLINE
In “Protein Prevents Cell Senescence, Combats Age-Related Decline” (23 Jan 2024), we alerted readers to research from Osaka University that showed promise in neutralizing or reversing symptoms of aging.
THE 50-YEAR DIAMOND BATTERY
Chinese company Betavolt has created a nuclear-powered diamond battery that, it says, could power a smartphone or similar device for 50 years or keep a drone in the air indefinitely.
POINTING THE WAY TO A SYNTHETIC PLANT
Scientists have been altering genomes in bacteria for years, producing bugs that can excrete pharmaceutical drugs or eat toxic waste.