analysis

While there is no parole in the federal system, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried could be released a few years early for stealing billions of dollars from customers.

The US stock rally is set to broaden beyond technology, according to Citigroup Inc. strategists who lowered their stance on the tech sector from overweight to market-weight on the back of a new underweight recommendation on hardware companies and also raised consumer discretionary to overweight. The S&P 500 is already trading 3% above Citigroup's end-year target of 5,100 "reflecting soft landing and AI enthusiasm"

Core PCE prices in the United States which excludes food and energy rose by 0.3% from the previous month in February 2024, extending the upwardly revised, one-year high increase of 0.5% in January, and confirming market expectations. Core PCE prices have also increased by 2.8% from the upwardly revised 2.9% increase in January.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion as an end of annual stock rally lifted their portfolios. In the fourth quarter the total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion from $17.65 trillion the previous quarter. While their real estate values rose, the value of their privately held businesses essentially declined, essentially canceling out all other gains outside of stocks. Since 2020, https://tinyurl.com/25p7bapl

Speculation of the company’s overseas suppliers has ramped up production of the long-anticipated new iPads, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The move marks an end to the longest stretch without new products in the history of iPad, which was introduced by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2010. It’s been about 18 months since the last updates — a drought that has contributed to the already-familiar demand for tablets.

The annual inflation rate in France slowed to 2.3% on March 2024, from 3.6% in February, and lower than the revised forecast of 2.6%, preliminary figures showed. There was a broad based slowdown in the consumer prices, including food (3% vs 3.2% in February ), services (3% vs 3.2% ), tobacco (10.7% vs 18.7% ), energy (3.4% vs 4.3%) and manufactured goods (0.1% vs 0.4% ),

Huawei said Friday its net profit for 2023 more than doubled thanks to better product offerings. The company attributed the profits to revenue growth of 9.6% to 704.2 billion yuan ($99.18 billion) in late August despite U.S. restrictions on Huawei’s ability to access high-end tech from American suppliers. Huawei finished fourth place in the Chinese smartphone market by market share, ahead of Xiaomi, according to data from Canalys.

Indonesian Prabowo meets Xi Jinping in China

The top official of the Japan currency said recent yen weakness is odd and out of line with current economic fundamentals, reaffirming his commitment to act if needed to prevent excessive exchange rate drops following the Bank of Japan’s decision last week to raise interest rates for the first time since 2007. The currency slid to a 34-year low of 151.97 yen per dollar on Wednesday, prompting Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki to send verbal warnings this year of Japan’s potential interventions https://tinyurl.com/293dfofp

The unemployment rate was 2.6% in February 2024, compared to market forecasts and the January figure of 2.4%. The number of unemployed increased by 120 thousand to 1.82 million and employment increased 220 thousand to 67.83 million. The labor force rose by 310 thousand to 69.66 million, while the absence from the labor force dropped by 240 thousand to 40.28 million. The non-seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate was up from 62.1% in that month a year earlier to 1.