Five Things to Start Your Week

Good morning. Our Alpha Portfolio continues with a solid +7.57% YTD. Leading the gains is Silver at +32.2%. On the other hand, 3i Group has experienced a dip, currently at -6.1%.

Market Snapshot

US stock markets were mostly higher last week, as the closely-watched US CPI report didn't seriously disappoint—it certainly wasn't great, but we've been conditioned to deal with bad inflation prints. The S&P 500 rose 1.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq led with a 2.1% advance. The gains saw the S&P 500 reclaim record levels, while the Dow pushed above 40,000.

Across the World

Asian markets are leading the charge, with Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Pinduoduo surging over 10%, while Japan's Sony jumps 11.12%. In Taiwan, TSMC is up by 1.62%.

European markets display mixed performance; Germany’s SAP rises 1.45%, but France's TotalEnergies dips 0.85%. The UK sees Shell plummet by 2.93%.

US and Canadian markets are mixed, with Royal Bank of Canada up 3.47% while Enbridge falls 2.78%.

In Latin America, Brazil’s Petrobras plummets 12.06%.

Commodities show strength, notably with Australia’s BHP surging 7.48%.

All-Encompassing

The competition accelerated in artificial-intelligence services. OpenAI updated its chatbot model to GPT4o (the “o” stands for omni, or all-encompassing). The latest version is able to interpret voice commands to hold a “conversation”. And Alphabet unveiled Project Astra, an AI assistant that also responds to voice commands.

All the energy used to power data centres for AI is causing tech companies’ carbon emissions to rise. Microsoft reported a 31% increase in its indirect (Scope 3) emissions last year from building more data centres (including the carbon found in construction materials) as well as from semiconductors, servers and racks.

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Out of recession, for now!

Britain’s economy pulled out of recession in the first quarter of 2024, growing by 0.6% compared with the last quarter of 2023. That was a faster pace of growth than America’s 0.4% and the euro zone’s 0.3% on the same basis. But compared with the first quarter of 2023, GDP rose by only 0.2%.

Newsworthy

This is what’s caught our eye over the past week.

• Iranian president’s death in a helicopter crash.

• It’s unclear whether UK has beaten high inflation.

• Fellow nerds, Raspberry Pi is getting listed on UK market.

• Reddit’s deal with OpenAI — stock surges.

• US warns Pakistan on the cost of doing business with Iran.

Ali is the Founder & Editor of The Insider Memo, Follow him on X @ASAInsights

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