🤖 🎙️ New OpenAI Audio Tool Coming Soon!

Happy Easter Monday & April Fools Day,

Today, 25% of 2024 is now complete. Can you believe that? It feels like just yesterday that we were ringing in the New Year. I’d love to hear from you all if you have been sticking to any goals you set out in 2024.

One of my goals was to read more, and I stopped reading after a month 🫣 however, another goal was to run more - and I’ve been running three times per week, which has been pretty nice. I’m not training for anything specifically, but I’ve found that my cardiovascular shape has improved quite a bit, so I’m going to continue that. I currently run 3~ miles at about a 9:30 pace, and then my long runs are 6-7 miles. I’m hoping to get to the 10 mile mark for my long run… and at that point, maybe I’ll sign up for a half marathon. Who knows.

Anyways, I hope you had a great and restful Easter weekend if you celebrate. We have a fun-packed edition today, and while it is a day late - I hope that you enjoy!

Best, Humphrey & The Team

Market Report

• Sanctions on Russian and Venezuelan oil have inadvertently benefited US oil suppliers, enabling them to expand their market share globally, particularly in regions previously dominated by OPEC and its allies.

• The rise in US oil exports is also a result of record production levels in the country, occurring simultaneously with production cuts by OPEC and its allies.

OpenAI Previews New Audio Tool That Can Read Text, Mimic Voices

• OpenAI is testing a new text-to-speech feature called Voice Engine, designed to generate speech that closely mimics human voices, including specific cadences and intonations. The technology, which requires only 15 seconds of a person's recorded speech to replicate their voice, is currently in limited testing.

• OpenAI had initially planned a broader release but scaled back after concerns about the potential misuse of such technology, especially in sensitive times with the upcoming presidential election.

U.S. Tech Giants Turn to Mexico to Make AI Gear, Spurning China

• Major U.S. AI companies are urging their Taiwanese manufacturing partners to increase their AI-related hardware production in Mexico. This transition is part of a broader strategy by the US to diversify manufacturing away from China.

• Mexico's emerging role as a significant hub for advanced manufacturing is due to its advantageous trade agreements with the US and strategic location. Despite challenges such as local crime and infrastructure limitations, Taiwanese and other foreign firms are increasingly investing in Mexico.

Study Shows Spring Clock Change Can Impact Investor’s Response to Company Earnings

• New research from the University of Edinburgh found that the transition to Daylight Saving Time disrupts investors' sleep patterns, leading to a significant underreaction to companies' unexpected earnings announcements.

• The study analyzed earnings announcements from 1993 to 2018, finding that stock prices of companies announcing higher-than-expected earnings during the spring clock change underreacted by 36% compared to a control group.

• This underreaction resulted in affected companies experiencing returns nearly twice those of the control group within weeks following the earnings surprise.

Forecast Ahead

• February job openings data on Tuesday will offer a glimpse into labor demand. Friday’s payrolls report is expected to show the unemployment rate inching down to 3.8%, just below a two-year high hit in February.

• The U.S. labor market is expected to maintain robust job growth in March, with projections indicating a fourth consecutive month of at least 200,000 new payrolls, according to a Bloomberg survey. Wage growth is anticipated to moderate to a 4.1% annual rise, marking the smallest gain since mid-2021.

Big Number

Overcome the Sunday Scaries

Memes of the Week

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