Global AI stocks fall as industry chiefs call for slowing development
Market Scorecard
On Friday, the US market bounced back sharply to finish off a volatile week with fresh new highs. This marks a third consecutive week of gains as short-term traders rushed back into growth assets. There are still opportunities for patient long-term investors.
Earnings season is finally here, with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), Citibank, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), JP Morgan and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) reporting numbers this week.
In company news, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity 22 successfully launched five employees, including Richard Branson, in its first fully-crewed suborbital spaceflight. It went so well that Elon Musk has bought a ticket for a future flight. More from Michael on this story below. Elsewhere, early battery tests on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s M1 chips were so good that Apple thought there was a glitch.
To end off last week, the JSE All-share closed up 1.75%, the S&P 500 closed up 1.13%, and the Nasdaq closed up 0.98% on Friday.
Byron's Beats
To celebrate all the wonderful sport happening at the moment, I thought I would feature this cool story about a pair of track spikes, handmade by Nike (NYSE:NKE) co-founder Bill Bowerman, which could fetch $1.2 million at an auction.
If you read the book Shoe Dog, you will recognise the name Bill Bowerman. He was the original innovative genius behind Nike shoes. Phil Knight was the business mastermind while Bowerman designed the shoes, who wrote the book.
The shoes in question were made in the 1960s by Bowerman and then modified again in the 1970s for Canadian track athlete Harry Jerome. I won't spoil the details, read about the history of the shoe in the article (link above). If that was interesting, then you should also read Shoe Dog which is all about the founding of Nike.
Michael's Musings
Yesterday Sir Richard Branson safely went the edge of space and back, beating fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos by eight days. Can we say that the era of space tourism has officially begun? I like that Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have different solutions to getting people to space. Virgin has a small rocket plane strapped to a larger plane. Blue Origin has gone with a rocket that takes off and lands vertically. Personally, I would rather go with the rocket, it would be a more unique experience.
Over the weekend I was thinking about possible career paths for my five-month-old daughter. Most of the jobs that will be available to her in future don't exist today. Like space tourism, which is a new industry now, since yesterday. Maybe my daughter will take a gap-year working as a waiter in a space-based hotel?
A recent article discussence industry's plans to accommodate space flight. As it stands, the US requires travel insurance on all international flights, not domestic. Given that space trips take off and land at the same place, they are considered to domestic flights.
New industries represent humanity moving forward. They create new avenues for growth and job opportunities. Very exciting!s the insura
Bright's Banter
Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote is said to be building one of the world's biggest oil refineries. It's on a peninsula east of Lagos and will cost just over $15 billion. At the moment, Nigeria doesn't refine any of its own oil! This one will produce petroleum products for Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
According to data from Renaissance Capital, Dangote's project could add $13 billion, which is around 2.3%, to Nigeria's GDP and employ more than 70 000 workers.
This is a big bet on the future of the Nigerian economy. The project has the support of the Nigerian government which lowers the political risk. Massive infrastructure developments are always complicated though, so let's see how this one goes.
Signing Off
Asian markets are starting the new week off with a bang, recovering from the 2.3% slump of the MSCI Asia-Pacific index last week. Japan, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets are all in the green.
The Rand is trading at around R14.31 to the US Dollar, so fairly stable. Have a good week.
