Week of Mar 1, 2024 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“Being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.” So” ― Howard Marks
1. US GDP Revised Slightly Lower Despite Stronger Consumer Spending — Gross domestic product rose at a revised 3.2% annualized pace in the fourth quarter, compared with a prior estimate of 3.3%. Consumer spending advanced at a 3% rate, faster than initially estimated, Bureau of Economic Analysis figures showed Wednesday. Inflation was revised higher. Last year the economy expanded 2.5%, marking an acceleration from 2022 and far outperforming the broader eurozone and Japan. The Fed’s preferred inflation metric — the personal consumption expenditures price index — rose at a 1.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter. Excluding food and energy, the gauge increased at a 2.1% pace, the Bureau of Economic Analysis report showed. Both were marginally higher than initially estimated.
2. PCE shows biggest rise in U.S. inflation in four months — The PCE index rose 0.3% last month, the government said Wednesday. That matched the forecast of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. The more closely followed core rate that strips out food and energy rose a sharper 0.4%, the largest increase in a year. The core index is viewed as a better predictor of future inflation. The yearly rate of inflation, meanwhile, still fell a few ticks to 2.4% from 2.6%. The rate of core inflation in the 12 months ended in January slowed to 2.8% from 2.9%.
3. AI Startup Making Humanoid Robots Raises $675 Million With Bezos, Nvidia in Funding Round — Tech companies are pouring cash into AI at a breakneck pace, with investors and analysts increasingly believing the AI boom is sustainable. More than $29 billion was invested in generative AI companies last year, according to research firm PitchBook. Nvidia, the chip maker at the heart of the AI craze, has a market cap around $2 trillion, making it one of the biggest companies in the U.S.
AI has powered the technology behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the humanoid robots designed by Figure. The startup said it was working with OpenAI on developing new AI models for humanoid robots. Figure said the investment would speed up the commercial deployment of its robots. The startup has said it signed an agreement with BMW to use its robots for automotive manufacturing.
4. Congress votes to avert government shutdown — Facing an end-of-the-week deadline, the House of Representatives passed a bill to temporarily fund one set of federal agencies through March 8 and another set through March 22. It quickly moved to the Senate, which passed it Thursday evening, on a 77-13 vote. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law ahead of a Saturday deadline. Without action, a handful of agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, would partially close early Saturday. The remaining agencies, including the Pentagon, would partly shutter after March 8.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
