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SummarySummary Companies Tech bank's troubles panic marketsFears spread over fallout from rising interest ratesBanks vulnerable as bond values dropLONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - For months, investors had shrugged off the threat of rising interest rates. In SVB's case, venture capital clients, unable to raise cash elsewhere, pulled money from the bank, forcing its hasty sale of bonds at a loss. In February, U.S. regulators said U.S. banks had unrealised losses of more than $620 billion on securities, underscoring the scale of the risks. Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt, said SVB's risks were not unique with many banks sitting on such unrealised losses because rates have moved so rapidly. "The SVB situation is a reminder that many institutions are sitting on large unrealised losses," said AJ Bell investment research director Russ Mould.

☆ Layoffs are still historically low, so why does it feel like everyone's losing their job?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The layoffs and discharges rate in January was 1.1%, which remains historically low. While BLS data may show a low US layoff rate overall, tech layoff announcements are important, given Pollak said that tech and finance are "synonymous with Americans' aspirations generally." "Those markets are very exposed to tech layoffs, and tech plays a disproportionate role in the economy," Terrazas added. Pollak told Insider that the layoffs at tech companies are "relatively small" and that "many companies also are not pursuing layoffs across the board." Despite the layoff rate being very low, job seekers may still be concerned about these headlines.

☆ Fed is driving stocks lower, giving us a chance to make some buys
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFed is driving stocks lower, giving us a chance to make some buys — listen to the HomestretchInvesting Club research director Jeff Marks provides an early look at one trade we're going to make before the alert goes out. (A transcript will be added shortly.)

☆ Here's what market forces and company innovations Club members care about most
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

I spent the day last weekend with CNBC Investing Club members in New York City. We own Meta, Amazon and Alphabet for my Charitable Trust, which we use as our Club portfolio. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Donald Trump releases song with Capitol riot prisoners called 'Justice for All'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump has released a song with a choir of men imprisoned over the Capitol riot. The prisoners sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" while Trump recites the Pledge of Allegiance. Proceeds from the song are due to go to the families of January 6 defendants. The song "Justice for All" by Donald J Trump and the J6 Prison Choir was released on Friday and is now available on streaming platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. The song intersperses the choir singing "The Star-Spangled Banner," with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and ends with the prisoners chanting "U-S-A!

☆ Private-Equity Firms Snap Up Data Centers as Cloud Demand Soars
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Private-equity firms bought data centers in near-record numbers last year, defying a broad deal-making slowdown in a bid to capture ever-growing demand for data storage and cloud computing. Data centers are warehouse-sized facilities that lease space in networks of computer servers to customers ranging from individual businesses to giant cloud-computing providers. As the underlying infrastructure for cloud-based digital tools, data centers support everything from video streaming and online gaming to workplace and remote work enterprise software, 5G networks and Internet-of-Things systems. In December, DigitalBridge Group Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla., private-equity firm, and investment services firm IFM Investors closed an $11 billion acquisition of Dallas-based data-center operator Switch Inc. “Large private-equity investors are clearly attracted to the continued robust take-up of data-center space by large hyperscale and social-media companies,” Mr. Lynch said.

☆ How cybersecurity executives make the case for continued tech investments in a tough economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Bob Violino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Cybersecurity executives have enjoyed a nice run of receiving the financial resources they need to keep their organizations protected against attacks. But given the current economic uncertainty, many will likely need to rethink their approach to investments in tools and services. "Cybersecurity is not immune to economic pressures and uncertainty," said Daniel Soo, risk and financial advisory principal in cyber and strategic risk at Deloitte. When prioritizing security investments, security leaders should continue to invest in security controls and solutions that protect the organization's customer-facing and revenue-generating workloads, Maxim said. They should continue to defend any investments that support the organization's modernization efforts with cloud and its evolution to zero trust security, he said.

☆ GOP lawmakers vilify ESG moves at BlackRock, Vanguard but take their money nonetheless
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

But Republicans have vilified BlackRock, Vanguard Group and State Street for leading the push on Wall Street to promote clean energy and what GOP lawmakers often title "left-wing social priorities." Still, many Republican lawmakers received money from the very firms their party is criticizing. It was the third election cycle in a row that both lawmakers took donations from the firm's PAC. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., received $10,000 from BlackRock and a combined $6,500 from Vanguard and State Street in the 2022 cycle. Huizenga's spokesman Brian Patrick said the donations won't affect the lawmaker's position on ESG issues.

☆ China is getting rid of its 'grandpa' fighter jets, but they may make a comeback for a one-way mission against Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China's last J-7 fighter jets may leave active service this year, according to Chinese state media. China's air force may convert some J-7s into drones, which could be used in an attack on Taiwan. (Between its air force and navy, China now has the world's third-largest aviation force, according to the Pentagon.) A J-7 fighter at the People's Liberation Army Aviation Museum in Beijing in December 2013. UCAVs make it possible for China's air force "to use relatively cheap, capable, low-risk airframes as a first-in asset to either strike or soften Taiwan's air defense systems," Rice added.

☆ The dark side of Bing’s new AI chatbot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —After asking Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing chatbot for help in coming up with activities for my kids while juggling work, the tool started by offering something unexpected: empathy. The chatbot said it “must be hard” to balance work and family and sympathized for my daily struggles with it. “The tone of the responses is unexpected but not surprising,” Lian Jye, a research director at ABI Research, told CNN. When I asked Bing’s AI chatbot to write a short essay about me, for example, it pulled tidbits of information from parts of the internet to provide an eerily similar but largely fabricated account of my life. “The inaccuracies are expected because it depends on the timeliness of the training data, which is often older,” Jye said.

☆ Are you getting a pay raise this year?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Cindy Perman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

"Job switching is one of the best ways to get a raise," Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed, told CNBC. In January, for example, those who stayed got an average raise of 5.4%, while those who switched scored an average salary increase of 7.3%. Your best shot at getting that raise is going in there prepared. "State facts so you can show your boss what you're worth," Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster.com, told CNBC. Here are a few tips for asking for a raise: Know the going rate for your line of work.

☆ The US military let artificial intelligence fly a fighter jet and even battle simulated enemies in air-to-air combat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A recent series of US military tests saw AI fly a fighter jet and battle simulated enemies. The modified jet practiced beyond-visual-range engagements and dogfighting, the 412th Test Wing revealed. It can be piloted by autonomous AI programs and mirror the flight characteristics of aircraft like the F-16 jet or MQ-20 drone. One of the two programs tested by the US military was a product of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Autonomous Air Combat Operations, or AACO. This program piloted the VISTA in one-on-one engagements against a simulated enemy beyond visual range, the 412th Test Wing said.

☆ Istanbul bourse rises nearly 10% after quake closure, govt measures
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

RAPID NEW REGULATIONSTurkish authorities pushed through new regulations including measures incentivizing company share buyback programs, and increasing obligatory pension fund allocation for stocks. The general assembly decision mandate for share buybacks was also waived, allowing listed companies to start share buyback programmes with just a management board decision. Additional measures could still be needed to stabilize the stock exchange, according to Tunc Satiroglu, strategist and founder of financial consulting firm Kanal Finans. The cancellations followed multiple market-wide circuit brakers in the two trading days following the earthquake, which failed to halt the slide to no avail. "I expect the stock market to be more stable...

☆ 3 reasons why the housing market won't crash in 2023, according to the real estate research director at the National Association of Realtors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But the director of real estate research at the National Association of Realtors doesn't believe it. Here are three reasons why there won't be a housing market crisis this year. Renters hoping to buy a home after the US housing market collapses may be waiting a while. "Usually, the pending home sales is the indicator for the existing home sales," Evangelou said. Another near-term driver for the housing market is the seasonal trend of demand picking up in warmer months, Evangelou said.

☆ Is the iPhone's 'Made in India' era beginning as Apple breaks with China?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Diksha Madhok | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said Apple was already making between 5% and 7% of its products in India. His comments come at a time when Foxconn (HNHPF), a top Apple supplier, is looking to expand its operations in India after suffering severe supply disruptions in China. For years, Apple had relied on a vast manufacturing network in China to mass produce iPhones, iPads and other popular products. China headaches mountBut the world’s most valuable company posted shockingly weak earnings this month, partly because of its recent problems in China. According to Counterpoint’s Pathak, India accounts for 16% of the global smartphone production, while China constitutes 70%.

☆ The way we search for information online is about to change
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN Business —An entire generation of internet users has approached search engines the same way for decades: enter a few words into a search box and wait for a page of relevant results to emerge. Bing will not only provide a list of search results, but will also answer questions, chat with users and generate content in response to user queries. “We have even more exciting, AI-enabled innovations in the works that will change the way people search, work and play. These models are trained on vast troves of online data in order to generate compelling responses to user prompts. Microsoft and Google executives have acknowledged some of the potential issues with the new AI tools.

☆ Killer whales moms spend more time with their sons than daughters, and it may be threatening their survival
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Southern Resident killer whales take care of their sons much longer than their daughters. Killer whale sons need their mom throughout their livesA Southern Resident killer whale and a calf. Among Southern Resident killer whales — a small population that spend the summer and fall off the coast of Washington state — daughters will learn pretty quickly how to fend for themselves. To care for their sons, moms have fewer babiesTwo Southern Resident killer whales. Southern Resident killer whales only feed on Chinook salmon, which is a tiny prey for a big lumbering male.

☆ TripActions Rebrands as Navan, Adds ChatGPT to Expense Reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

TripActions, a business-travel software startup, plans to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT capabilities across its online platform, an effort aimed at seizing market share by making expense reports easier to use. That way, the expense report is generated during the trip as expenses are incurred, Mr. Cohen said. “Generally, software in the business-to-business space is designed to serve the company,” rather than the employees, Mr. Cohen said. “Using AI helps you create the kind of software that I’m talking about,” Mr. Cohen said. PREVIEWSAP Concur has also begun using AI in its travel and expense software, which can “tap decades of expense data and experience tracking to identify hard-to-detect spend issues and anomalies,” said Charlie Sultan, president of Concur Travel.

☆ Premarket stocks: State of the Union, recession, crypto woes and more tech layoffs: What investors are watching
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Wall Street will also be watching closely for clues about the ongoing debt ceiling debate, tax policy, foreign relations and more. The unemployment rate ticked down a tenth of a percentage point to 3.4% — the lowest jobless rate since May 1969. European diesel prices fall as Russian ban kicks inEurope’s ban on Russian diesel arrived this week without inflicting more pain on the region’s economy. Russia accounted for 29% of the region’s total diesel imports last year, data from Rystad Energy shows. Countries have prepared for the latest ban by ramping up imports of Moscow’s diesel in recent months.

☆ Russian diesel prices fall in Europe despite latest ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Those stocks should act as a buffer against the immediate loss of Russian diesel imports,” Williams said. However, he added that the United States could redirect some of its current diesel exports to South America to Europe, with Russian diesel then “find[ing] a home” in South America. OilX’s Crosby noted that there are “many more” potential buyers of Moscow’s diesel compared with its crude exports. “Most Russian diesel barrels will manage to make it to global markets,” he said. “The notion that Russian diesel will have a very hard time finding new homes is beginning to lose credibility.”— Julia Horowitz contributed reporting.

☆ It's the perfect time to find a new job — but don't wait because the window will close this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

It's still a good time to apply and get a job according to labor market data, survey results, and experts. "The best job seeker's market in over 50 years"According to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, now is a great time to find a job. "If I was a job seeker I would think this is still a job seekers' labor market," Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at Indeed Hiring Lab, told Insider. But this is still very much a labor market that's giving lots of advantages to people who are looking for new work." Despite the strong labor market, some workers out of work or impacted by recent layoff announcements may have a hard time finding a job soon.

☆ Low-income renters are frustrated by Biden's new plan to make housing more affordable because they don't think it does enough to combat surging rents
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The White House outlined actions it's taking to protect tenants amid rising rents and evictions. Tenants' groups told Insider that they wanted decisive legal and financial action from the president. In addition to that, the White House also published a "Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights," endorsing fair housing practices and a tenants' right to organize. "On the one hand, we are encouraged that the White House has released this Blueprint as a statement of values," Martin said. "As a blueprint, the document's statements don't do anything to materially help improve conditions for renters," he said.

☆ Orca whales were discovered with a toilet paper chemical in their livers and skeletal muscles. It's just the 'tip of the iceberg' for one of the most contaminated marine mammals in the world.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The scientists also discovered PFAS — known as forever chemicals — in the bodies of the killer whales. The amount of 4NP found in the killer whales, which tended to be higher in the blood-rich liver tissues, reached exceptionally higher in one calf. "So we are here talking about contamination that is harmful to the environment and harmful to this species of killer whales." "And those females that are losing their calves are nutritionally deprived which of course works to increase the impacts of chemicals," Giles said. And scientists like Giles are continuing to pay attention to what other unknown chemicals killer whales may be holding in their bodies.

☆ Job openings unexpectedly jump to 11 million in December
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The 11 million openings for December is the highest since July. The largest increases in job openings were in accommodation and food services, which were up 409,000; retail trade, up 134,000; and construction, up 82,000, according to the BLS report. “The labor market continues to defy the recession predictions of experts,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist with FwdBonds, in a statement. Layoffs increased to 1.47 million from 1.41 million in November, and the number of people quitting their jobs ticked down to 4.09 million from 4.1 million. Still, there may be something more than meets the eye in December’s openings number, she added.

☆ Britain hit by biggest day of strikes in a decade as pay disputes escalate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The bill would require basic service levels to be maintained in the fire, ambulance and rail sectors in the event of walkouts. Strikes will affect around 23,400 schools, about 85%, in England and Wales, with many closed fully or partially. According to the union, pay for experienced teachers has declined by 23% since 2010 once inflation is taken into account. In a sign that industrial unrest could escalate further, UK firefighters have voted to strike for the first time since 2003. The Fire Brigades Union has given the government until February 9 to make an improved pay offer.

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