π¨π³πΊπΈ Biden and Xi Meet in SF
Happy Wednesday all,
I am sitting at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) in a press booth on behalf of YouTube right now. Itβs a little wild here in San Francisco as Biden is meeting the President of China here today. Security is SO tight and even just walking through checkpoints, you are walking by Secret Service guards, police, highway patrol, and security guards with earpieces. Here are just some photos I captured below.
I am going to be interviewing some world leaders today (including possibly Cabinet members of the U.S. and Canada), and will be asking them questions on how to be successful or economic questions. Expect a video dropping within 2 weeks on the main channel!
We got a great newsletter for you guys today so enjoy!
- Humphrey, Rickie & Tim
π Eye-Catching Headlines
π Apple gets 36% of Google revenue in search deal, expert says (Bloomberg)
π Michael Burry is betting against semiconductors (Bloomberg)
ποΈ Rosenberg sees βterrifyingβ mortgage math bringing Canada rates down quickly (Bloomberg)
πͺ With interest rates above 9%, small businesses slam the brakes (WSJ)
π Walmart, Target earnings to offer clues on crucial holiday season (Reuters)
πΊπΈ Moodyβs warning on the massive U.S. debt burden turned into nonevent (CNBC)
π¨π¦ The U.S. has lost thousands of tech workers to Canada (CNBC)
β‘οΈ Exxon makes lithium play in long-term bet on EV demand (WSJ)
β½οΈ Oil settles up 1% as OPEC report dampens demand concerns (Reuters)
π Is the stock market rally about to rev up? (WSJ)
The Weekly Brief
1. Biden, Xi Meet in San Francisco Amid Disputes Over Military and Economic Issues (Reuters)
Biden and Xi arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Officials on both sides have set expectations low but their agenda includes topics such as:
Taiwan
The South China Sea
The Israel-Hamas war
The Russian invasion of Ukraine
The two leaders are set to announce an agreement that would see Beijing crack down on the manufacture and export of fentanyl.
The deal involves China going after chemical companies to stem both the flow of fentanyl and the source material used to make it.
Before the meeting, the two countries renewed their climate agreement, which was suspended after former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.
2. The Elusive Soft Landing is Coming into View (WSJ)
Many economists, as recently as six months ago, had believed a βsoft landingβ of the economy, where inflation returned to normal without a recession, to be impossible.
In Octoberβs latest survey by WSJ, the average forecast of economists was for no recession, meaning that they now believe a soft landing to be very much in play.
The October inflation report read an encouraging 3.2%, very close to the 2% pre-pandemic target and well below the 5.1% annual pace in the first five months of 2023.
The case against a soft landing, though, is valid as well:
The economy may soon feel the delayed effects of higher interest rates.
Outside forces like energy prices or a financial crisis could drive the economy downward.
The surprisingly resilient American consumer, whose spending has sustained recent growth, may be running out of steam.
Investors, however, have seemed to declare victory over inflation even if the Fed is not ready yet to do so.
Futures markets have priced in the probability that the Fed will begin cutting interest rates by May at roughly 65%.
3. Microsoft Announces Custom AI Chip to Compete with Nvidia (CNBC)
Microsoft unveiled two chips at its Ignite conference in Seattle:
The Maia 100 AI chip, aimed at competing with Nvidiaβs highly sought-after AI GPUs.
The Cobalt 100 Arm chip, aimed at general computing tasks and could compete with Intel processors.
Microsoft is currently testing how Maia stands up to the needs of its Bing AI chatbot, the GitHub Copilot coding assistance and GPT 3.5-Turbo.