Stocks are trading around the flatline this morning, after closing out last week in the same fashion. Crude oil is higher, while Treasuries, gold and silver are giving back some recent gains. The dollar continues to fall.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) world was rocked over the last few days. First, the board of directors at OpenAI fired its highly visible Co-Founder Sam Altman. Then he reportedly was involved with talks to rejoin the company after gaining the support of investors. Finally, OpenAI investor Microsoft (MSFT) said it hired away Altman and a few other officials to run AI-related operations there.
OpenAI is the company behind ChatGPT, the AI-driven technology that is taking the industry by storm. It’s unclear what will happen next with the company and Microsoft, which has a 49% stake in it. But MSFT shares regained some of the ground they lost Friday after Altman’s firing.
Microsoft (MSFT)
In market news, the US dollar continues to lose ground amid rising bets on 2024 rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Softer inflation and softer growth data will give the Fed room to reverse some of this year’s hikes, at least in the opinion of the dollar bears. The Dollar Index (DXY) just sank to its lowest since August.
Finally, food companies, retailers, health insurers, doctors, and others are watching this Thanksgiving closely. The dramatic increase in Americans taking GLP-1 injections to suppress appetite could lead to smaller meals and smaller holiday budgets. That’s good news for our nation’s waistlines, but potentially bad news for corporate bottom lines. After all, retailers and manufacturers count on big holiday spending – including on food – to bolster their bottom lines.
