President Trump's First 100 Days

The S&P 500 plummeted more than 10% over the subsequent three days, and at its lows, the index was down 19% from February record highs. Investor anxiety was through the roof, as retirees watched their relatively secure portfolios get hammered. The President quickly shifted, announced the 90-day pause, and the rollercoaster shifted in the opposite direction. The market has recovered with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 now positive for the year. A constructive trade deal with the United Kingdom and advanced conversations with China on lowering tariffs have also bolstered investor confidence. But it would behoove the President to take into consideration the long-term effects of elevated tariffs. His base support is seeking economic security.

Stargate, DeepSeek, Grok: Who’s Now Winning the AI Arms Race?

With the AI arms race heating up, Stargate is slated to begin construction in Texas with a 1 million-square-foot facility. The announcement was a proclamation to the world, but China specifically, that the US will take the offensive posture to dominate the larger AI landscape moving forward. DeepSeek, however, has now moved Stargate and US AI players into a defensive posture, which are unchartered waters in the tech world. There’s a multitude of directions President Trump could now take, but two stand out:

Trade War Tariffs Hit U.S. Pacific Ports

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that the trade war with China is unsustainable and de-escalation may be coming soon. The vessel drop coincides with increased canceled sailings from ocean carriers on Pacific routes. Several alliances between shipping companies have reported cancellation rates, with the Gemini alliance having the highest rate. Ocean carriers are trying to balance the pullback in orders due to tariffs and trade war tensions, with a number of blank or canceled sailings out of China.

Sports Betting Parlays Are a Hit with Fans and the House

Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, introduced the sports betting parlay concept in the US in 2016. Originally based on “multis,” a popular parlay model in Australia, engineers got to work on what would be extremely difficult algorithms for US-based sports. In football, for example, how a quarterback is throwing the ball directly affects the number of potentially good receptions a wide receiver can expect. The knock-on effects of player performances become extremely complicated, but machine learning and AI models can now analyze historical patterns and spit out reasonably reliable odds that are then coupled with on-the-ground research.

What’s Behind the Stock Market Volatility?

The Fed is “trapped” at the moment, reluctant to make any significant policy moves until they can gauge the true effects of President Trump’s policies. During the Fed’s most recent March 18-19 meeting briefing, Fed Chair Jerome Powell cited a form of the word “uncertainty” a worrisome 18 times. The target range for the federal-funds rate remains at 4.25% to 4.5%, and Fed officials are projecting stagflation – lower growth and potentially higher inflation – for the year.

US Interest in Greenland - A Shipping and Reserves Case

Over the past two decades, a loss of older, thick ice has created new channels. Before 2018 there were virtually no bulk carriers or gas tankers in the Polar Code area, but the Yamal Gas project and the Mary River Mine in Nunavut have contributed to a swell in activity. Chinese President Xi stated in a visit to Moscow in 2023 that stronger diplomatic relations with Russia were vital to counteract, “a long campaign by the United States to hobble China’s ascent.”

College Tuition Costs – Is College Worth It?

A July 2023 survey found that 72% of respondents felt an online degree was more reputable than five years prior. The biggest perceptual shift was among Generation Z participants, a data point that was somewhat surprising. Online degree growth typically came from working students or non-traditional students who had taken time off and returned to school. Yet, the fact that a younger cohort was now coming around to pursue a higher degree online was completely new.

The Experiment in Argentina - Javier Milei Wins and Work to Do

Also known as “shock therapy,” outside observers predicted this campaign fulfillment would result in a rise in poverty. No surprises here but rates this high do risk derailing what could be the region’s biggest turnaround story in decades. Milei and his supporters rightly point out that since Q3, there has been an emerging rise in real wages.6 This has contributed to greater economic activity and some analysts believe the recession likely ended in Q2 2024.7 The President was fully transparent with the electorate during his campaign, communicating frequently that there would be short-term pain and a recession. While some critical welfare programs have been cut, Milei has in parallel expanded the Universal Child Allowance and a popular Food Card program providing support to families in need.

Onboarding New Hires with Generative AI

Gen AI can take company content – video, audio, and text – and distill and deliver the content in e-learning modules. For example, bringing a new warehouse manager up to speed with everything from company culture to day-to-day responsibilities can sometimes take three weeks to a month. With Gen AI, however, one can feed the language model the employee manual coupled with company video and audio that address specific areas of the job. Within minutes, the employee can follow a handful of modules in collaboration with a human being to guide the process.

Why a Nuclear Revival Could Be the Future's Brightest Prospect

Paving the road to a nuclear revival are small modular reactors (SMRs). These reactors are approximately a third of the size of a typical plant and are prefabricated, thus reducing the capital costs that larger plants contend with. Oracle recently announced plans to power a new data center with three SMRs. To date, there are only three SMRs operational in the world. Constellation is in talks to build an SMR at one of its facilities, but most experts agree that SMRs won’t reach a commercial stage until the next decade. Last year an SMR project in Idaho was canceled as the project’s costs skyrocketed from $5 billion to $9 billion due to high interest rates and inflation.

Automation Remains at the Center of ILA Concerns

It was difficult to avoid the national news coverage of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike during the first week of October. Doomsday scenarios, people hoarding toilet paper, and Union President Harold Daggett’s 7,136-square-foot New Jersey home, complete with a brick pizza oven and a snappy Bentley in his carport, were social media sensations. However, the heart of the ILA’s concerns surrounds automation and its eventual impact on union jobs.

2024 US Election: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on Crypto

In June, venture capitalist David Sacks held a swanky fundraiser for the former President in his Pacific Heights, San Francisco mansion. Guests paid up to $300,000, with rumored attendees spanning the C-suites of some of the U.S.'s largest crypto and blockchain companies. Meanwhile, it didn’t take much work for Trump’s team to compile a list of the regulatory crackdowns occurring at the hands of the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Gary Gensler. A Biden appointee, Gensler has sued crypto companies for violating securities laws and sought to dissuade banks from serving crypto companies.

Hezbollah Exploding Pagers and Supply Chains

It is still unclear how many members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah were killed when thousands of member pagers exploded simultaneously. Just the next day, Hezbollah walkie-talkies suffered similar malfunctions. Sadly, news of bombings, explosions, and death is commonplace in 2024 in the Middle East. But this latest operation, likely at the hands of Israeli intelligence tacticians, has news outlets and pundits questioning the role of of global supply chains, rightly or wrongly.

Freight Forwarders Predict Tighter Space and Higher Rates Coming out of Asia

Freight forwarders are sounding the alarm that space will be tight during the normal fourth-quarter retail rush. Many forwarding companies are nudging manufacturers and retailers to lock in higher-than-usual rates now to avoid unpleasant surprises come October. Extra capacity will be a premium if not unattainable in 2024. The air cargo business is up broadly for the year. The International Air Transport Association estimates a rise of 12.7% in global airfreight demand over the first four months of the year, with Asia-Pacific notching a 14% gain alone in April.
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