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Listen to the latest episode of the Emerald Wit & Wisdom Podcast (06/12/24)

Good morning.

How bad was yesterday’s tech debacle? It depends on what color glasses you happen to be wearing.

I don’t mean to make this sound like a minor thing … it isn’t … as it quickly became evident that U.S. dominance in the AI space is not a certainty as non-US companies and countries are doing their best to advance from the role of understudy on to the world’s stage.

But let’s look at things another way.

Sure, headlines point out the move in one stock yesterday (Nvidia) was the largest “market cap drop” in history … but it might be important to keep in mind the stock decline only brought the price down to where it was last October … meaning less than 4 months of advance was eliminated.

There is even one more bit of interesting news (for your water-cooler discussions today).

Out of the largest 10 declines in market cap … 8 … not a misprint … 8 of the 10 belong to Nvidia!

While review of the actual effect of DeepSeek will take a few days (or more), there are other items in the news.

There is a proposal being made, according to Bloomberg, for an all-country tariff on imports of 2.5% … touted to “protect American industries” … and that may be just the start … as Financial Times reports the U.S. Treasury pick, Scott Bessent, feels it would then increase by the same amount each month.

Opponents quickly point to the claimed result of a previous tariff (Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930) which … due to retaliation … almost completely shut down international trade … and is pointed out as one of the reasons the Great Depression lasted as long as it did.  But there is a view that things are different this time, as the U.S. has a stronger “bully pulpit” today, upon which to stand, than it did a century ago.

And the power of persuasion might not be limited to countries.

One note of interest was how quickly Google agreed to change (on Google Maps) the naming of “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” and Mount Denali back to Mount McKinley.  It took a great amount of time to get the name “Denali” on the mountain … but what took 40 years to accomplish was undone in something like 40 minutes.

The issue is the rumor that California will soon be renamed “Ivanka.”

Okay, I am sure hate mail will be sent my way. That was intended as a joke.

That will wrap things up for today as the market just opened barely positive on what promises to be a nervous day for investors, hoping yesterday was just a speed bump.

Meanwhile, I have to run out this morning to find out just what the heck is going on with a hearing aid I sent out for repair.

I brought it in more than 2 weeks ago

… and haven’t heard anything since.

Have a great day,

Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA

Have any questions? Please contact info@teamemerald.com

 

 

 

A Look At The News | January 28, 2025

As of 9:39 AM today:
Once Starbucks was the place where people could have their “second office.”  This is no longer the case, and you will either be asked to leave … or forced to leave (Telegraph)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/27/starbucks-staff-given-panic-button-for-laptop-lurkers/

 

Do you sometimes get the feeling you are walking in quicksand, unable to “de-bog” yourself and move on to doing something functional?  Take action and move on (Experimental-history)

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/so-you-wanna-de-bog-yourself

 

… for you might want to take up a hobby … an easy one, such as pickleball … and if you are good enough, you might consider going “pro” (CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/major-league-pickleball-teams-profitability.html

 

All electric, all the time. That is the fate for Norwegian drivers as the country will fully transition to EVs (CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/norway-set-to-be-the-first-to-fully-transition-to-electric-vehicles.html

 

Even with some returning to the physical workplace, there are still a lot of vacancies … but some are not letting these spaces sit idle … as other uses are found (BBC0

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250127-why-veg-is-growing-in-empty-office-spaces

 

Well … that didn’t take long.  Google maps are already “re-classifying” the Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America … and we need to wonder what name will next be changed (CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/27/google-maps-to-show-gulf-of-america-after-government-updates.html

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The statements above are supplied for educational purposes only. The statements depict the viewpoints and opinion of the author and are not necessarily the views of Emerald Asset Management or its affiliates. The information described herein is taken from sources which are believed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of such information is not guaranteed by us.