MARKET NEWS

The Chip industry (No not lays or Doritos, we're talking computer chips) is no longer experiencing a shortage. Instead they have what we call a Glut. which means an overage that is hurting profits. The Chip industry usually goes through cycles but the pandemic need for tech has cooled A LOT and now companies like Sony and Samsung are going to lose billions because the supply is high and the demand is low for chips. Nvidia and Intel may be outliers that can profit from the chip Glut because they are eyeing the AI market which is in need of special chips that sell for 20x more than gaming chips. 

China is rolling our its digital currency in a big way. Public workers in the city of Changshu (Population 1.7M) will be paid fully in digital yuan starting in May. the CCP has full monitoring control of digital yuan and they may implement rules to increase spending like money expiration dates. A Communist Dictatorship that can make your money expire, what could go wrong. I am positive this will end well for China.

Tucker Carlson got booted from Fox News for an alleged sexual harrasment lawsuit and the Dominon defamation case with the network. As a result Fox Corp's market value plummeted by $500 million. CNN also canned Don Lemon, but oddly enough that did not have the same effect on CNN owner Warner Bros. Discovery. Perhaps it was because no one was watching CNN in the first place? Truly a tale of two very different stories.

A Wall Street Journal survey followed up with respondents who claimed to be “very happy” and four factors kept turning up. Those who claimed to be “very happy” also often claimed to be at least moderately religious, were over the age of 60, said marriage was important to them and were enthusiastic about working out. 

The Market has not been moving up or down in any drastic way over the past few weeks of earning season. This means no crazy surprises have hit the deck as of yet. However, with the biggest earnings report week being this week, analysts are expecting more of a roller coaster.

Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and plans to close all of its stores by June 30^th. Today is actually the last day that BBB will accept any coupons. The former retail behemoth is still hoping for a last-minute buyer to come in and rescue the business. This story does have some implications as to what will happen to in-person retail stores, but Target and others don’t have to worry too much. BBB made some notoriously bad decisions, like ditching big time name brand products for their own private labels. That switch in product offering did not go over well and BBB never really made an effort to correct course.

Molson Coors is getting a lift in the market because of Bud Lights’ decision to use Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson. Anheuser-Busch, the owner of Bud Light, is being put through the wringer right now by people boycotting the woke decision to use a guy pretending to be a woman as the face of a March Madness beer giveaway. Molson Coors, probably couldn’t be happier since their stock and brand sales are getting a boost this month due to people switching from Bud Light.

The House is set to vote on a bill that would raise the US debt ceiling this week. The bill is not expected to pass despite the economic catastrophe that will ensue if the debt ceiling is not raised. The reason it will not pass is that it is being proposed by Republicans and it includes a bunch of things that Democrats do not like. This is common among bills. Bills are usually 20 gazillion pages long and have a nice title like “The Stop the Killing of Goldfish Act” but have a bunch of additional nonsense thrown in by the proposing party, like; abolishing the police, making it legal to kill babies, and forcing presidential candidates to engage in MMA for the Oval Office. Both parties are guilty of this and it is probably a good thing overall because it keeps our politicians from actually doing anything. Just imagine the damage they would do if they could actually get something done.

US Consumer Debt hit a record $4.82 Trillion in February. This has Credit Card Companies and other lenders very worried. American Express has put aside over $1 billion because it expects many delinquent accounts. The good news is that the average annual percentage yield is up from 0.5% last year to 3.75% this year.  All these rate increases mean that Cash is desirable once again. People are actively moving money from bank to bank looking for higher APY and banks are padding their earnings with increased rates on loans like mortgages. 

AI fakes are going to have Music Labels scrambling for some time. AI has the ability to fake music that sounds like it is being sung by popular artists (This has already happened to Drake and the Weeknd). Universal, Warner, Sony, and others are going to have taken aggressive measures to protect their labels and artists but no real rules exist right now to regulate AI.

Netflix is slowing down and they hope that their planned password-sharing crackdown will help profits. Netflix plans to implement certain measures that will make it harder to share passwords like having to log in from the main account every so often. The streaming giant struggled last month because it only added half of its predicted new subscribers for March.

US Workers are demanding at least $76K to start a new job. This entitlement is coming from Gen Zers and Millennials racking up record levels of debt. We have more things, but we own less and are in greater debt. For those familiar with C3’s negative opinion on Globalized financial systems, this is one of the key factors why.

Disney plans on cutting 7,000 jobs in hopes to save.