Know The Difference Minute

Bank trouble is one of the most obvious areas where markets and macro intersect — a healthy banking system is a necessary precondition for a healthy economy

A day after announcing a $3 billion investment in a joint EV battery project with Samsung, GM announced it’s killing one of the OG EV’s—the Chevy Bolt. Battery fires and slow sales will do that.

Did you ever think you’d see a price drop on a Tesla? It’s happening.

How do you make 100 million people mad at Netflix? Take away password sharing.

Stunning article in today’s Wall Street Journal regarding young adults and their approach to debt. Basically, they’re adopting financial avoidance. Like, not dealing with it. At all.

Economists were predicting a flat report, but PPI was down .5%.

Headline number shows US consumer prices rose only slightly in March due to lower energy costs, but broader inflation remained high and showed no signs of quickly subsiding.

YouTube TV is the new home of the Sunday Ticket—part of a $2 billion-a-year deal to stream out-of-market games.

With OPEC reducing its output by over 1.1 million barrels a day, there might be a double whammy at the pump.

According to today’s JOLTs report, openings fell below 10 million in February, the first time in almost 2 years.

The final GDP read for the 4th quarter came in at 2.6%. Consumer spending is trending down too. That’s a key number, 70% of GDP is tied to the consumer.

Why did Elon Musk and dozens of other tech leaders sign an open letter to AI labs to take a breath on development of systems that can compete with human intelligence?

Those earning over $100,000 are more likely to be growing supplemental income.

Ford Motor Company reported today its EV division lost $2.1 billion last year as it builds toward an electric vehicle future.

The federal funds rate target is now in the 4.75% to 5% range, the highest since 2007.

Google's rollout of their AI tool Bard didn't go well. Today, users can join a waitlist to beta-test it.

If you’re tired of hearing about the amazing features of OpenAI’s ChatGPT—buckle up. A newer, sleeker, faster and smarter version is here.

The Fed is the arsonist AND the firefighter.

In a data dependent decision world, concerns about financial stability are casting a long shadow.

GM is offering voluntary buyouts to a majority of its 58,000 white-collar workers.

Numbers up front: 10.8 million open jobs. That kind of demand creates wage inflation which contributes to the issue the Fed is trying to fix.

Inflation isn’t behaving. The Fed's goal is 2%. There is a lot of daylight between that and the current inflation rate of 6.4%.

ZipRecruiter and Indeed are reporting postings on their sites declined at the end of last year and into this year.

A new Lending Tree report says 60% of all US adults are living paycheck to paycheck.

If this is a productivity multiplier, we might be at a tipping point in just a few years.

Meta, Twitter, and Snap are all in the process of releasing a paid version of their platforms. Do people need social media so much that they'll pay for it?

Because of ChatGPT and similar tools, being a prompt engineer might be the hot new job.

Walmart reported quarterly earnings today and while it easily topped expectations, it also gave a weaker-than-expected outlook for the year ahead.

The retail spending report yesterday was strong. Today, PPI came in higher. So were initial jobless claims. This isn’t data the Fed wanted to see.

Traditional TV’s daily average is just under 3 hours. Streaming is expected to jump to 3 hours and 11 minutes. Not a huge margin—but a symbolic passing of the torch.

The Fed has a dual mandate. Maximum employment and price stability. It is 1 for 2 there. But the labor market continues to be incredibly tight and isn’t helping by producing broader inflationary pressure.

Putting the password genie back in the bottle isn’t easy. But it’s coming.

The newest shiny objects in the tech world are any kind of artificial intelligence or AI chatbots. ChatGPT is the current darling with over 100 million users during January. Partnered with Microsoft which is pouring in $10 billion—it caused a Red Alert over at Google.

Last year—one category stood out. Cryptocurrency. We saw spots from Coinbase, eToro, Crypto.com, and the star of the show, FTX. Fast forward to Sunday. Not one crypto ad. Zero. Zilch.

Companies are resorting to layoffs, buyouts, furloughs and other cost-cutting strategies ahead of a possible recession. More than 30% of workers reported less confidence in their job search.

Where are we in the inflation battle? Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says there is more work to do.

EV prices shot up during the pandemic. Now, with supply chains easing, it’s all about sales.

4th quarter 2022 GDP is in. Up 2.9%. Consumer spending was good and businesses were restocking supplies. But its down from the 3rd quarter.

No doubt you’ve seen the slow creep of prices. Much of it is location dependent. Colorado saw a 32-cent-a-gallon increase last week.

Hiring and wage growth are slowing. Layoffs are increasing. HR isn’t feeling the need to dangle fully remote to fill jobs.

Layoffs are making the news—and not just in tech.

Shoppers are being pinched. High inflation is forcing changes in buying behavior—either cutting back or trading down.

Microsoft’s CEO shared it is moving quickly to commercialize tools from the lab behind ChatGPT and put the tools on its Azure, its cloud-computing platform.

The Fed’s inflation target is 2%. There is a big gap between reality and the target.

Today was another reminder of how quickly things can go wrong when airline systems fail.

OpenAI is the startup behind ChatGPT. Microsoft is about to invest $10 billion and they’re not alone. The latest funding round could value the company at at $29 billion.

In the battle against inflation, employment is a key metric.

The last couple years were tough for car buyers. It’s been tougher for automakers and dealers.

Layoffs.FYI is a website that tracks tech layoffs. Last year, 150,000 job cuts.

UP both month-to-month and year-to-year.