'Bank Rally'
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The World
Xi Jinping has backed Vladimir Putin’s stance on his war in Ukraine but held back from confirming plans for a crucial pipeline to reroute Russia’s gas exports from Europe to Asia. The Chinese and Russian leaders signed a joint statement on Tuesday after holding centerpiece talks in Moscow in which they extolled Beijing’s “positive role” and “objective, unbiased position” on Putin’s invasion. But their talks did not yield decisive agreements on economic issues important to helping Moscow weather western sanctions. The lack of substance in Putin’s rhetoric about the talks, which he described as “warm, comradely and constructive”, underscored Russia’s diminishing influence as its reliance on China’s political and economic backing deepens. (Financial Times)
Xi and Putin vow to ‘significantly increase’ trade between China and Russia: The Russian president also promotes the wider use of the Chinese yuan as an international currency. (South China Morning Post)
Xi and Putin showcase alliance but offer no path to peace in Ukraine. (Washington Post)
Putin has sought to exploit a British statement that it would supply Ukraine with tank shells made with depleted uranium, arguing that the delivery of the armour-piercing weapons would prompt a Russian response. (The Guardian)
The Group of Seven nations are unshakable in their support for Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Kishida, who will host G-7 leaders in Hiroshima this May, pledged to provide $30 million in nonlethal aid through NATO for Ukraine. He is the last G-7 leader to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded it in February 2022. (Nikkei Asia Review)
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said he would restore preferential trade status to Japan as part of his efforts to overcome historical grievances and build closer ties with Tokyo. Japan has not committed to reciprocate. (Associated Press)
The start of a massive three-day strike led by the lowest paid public school workers and supported by teachers shut down Los Angeles campuses Tuesday amid a fierce morning storm, sent parents scrambling for child care and meals and brought thousands of picketers to campuses and a boisterous afternoon rally downtown. The strike culminated a months-long build-up of labor tensions in the nation’s second largest school district. Bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants, cafeteria workers — all members of Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union — have been negotiating with the district, demanding a 30% salary increase, plus $2 more per hour for the lowest paid employees. (Los Angeles Times)
Less staff, longer delays and fewer options: Rural America confronts a health care crisis. At least 136 rural hospitals and health systems closed between 2010 and 2021, and over 40% of rural hospitals operate with negative profit margins. Despite billions of dollars in investment in health care, hospitals throughout the United States face the possibility of shutting down. Many hospitals that remain open have cut costs to survive, offering fewer services and beds. In 2020, 47% of rural community hospitals did not provide obstetric services, with 89 obstetric units closing between 2015 and 2019. Seven million women reside in counties with limited or no access to maternity care, impacting half a million newborns annually. (ABC News)
Deadly ‘bomb cyclone’ storm slams California, toppling trees and causing blackouts: At least one person was killed as a wet and windy storm arrived in California on Tuesday, delivering more rain, snow and hazards to residents of the Golden State on the second day of spring. The storm came in “significantly stronger than initially anticipated,” particularly in the southern half of the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay areas, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a briefing Tuesday. He said the system had reached the benchmark for a phenomenon known as bombogenesis, or a “bomb cyclone,” which indicates a rapid drop in pressure. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
The banking turmoil could create more challenges for U.S. consumers. Unrest in the banking sector could make it more difficult for some consumers to obtain loans to buy homes, cars and other big-ticket items, threatening to further cut into spending as households grapple with elevated inflation and rising interest rates. Economists say much of the near-term impact could depend more on Americans’ psychology—whether they have confidence the economy will weather the banking storm that might or might not directly hit their pocketbooks. Federal Reserve officials this week will decide whether to raise interest rates again to fight inflation or take a timeout amid the banking crisis. (Wall Street Journal)
The Swiss government has banned Credit Suisse from paying deferred bonuses awarded before 2022 in a move that sparked more upset from staff at the failed bank. The federal finance ministry said it had imposed “remuneration-related measures” on Credit Suisse as a result of the use of taxpayer funds to facilitate its $3.25bn takeover by rival UBS. “More happy news,” said one Credit Suisse banker. “Maybe UBS will turn up to find they have bought empty offices . . . Our shares are near worthless.” (Financial Times)
Bank Rally Helps Lift Stocks, as Dow Climbs 316 Points: Increased investor optimism about the banking system helped boost stocks, with shares of regional banks at the forefront. First Republic advanced 29%. Treasury yields climbed sharply ahead of the Fed’s rate decision on Wednesday. (Wall Street Journal)
Home Prices Fell in February for First Time in 11 Years: The median existing-home price fell 0.2% in February from a year earlier to $363,000. That’s down 12% from June. The price drop and a dip in mortgage rates helped snap a yearlong streak of declining monthly home sales. (Wall Street Journal)
Biden’s Made-in-USA Mandate for Tax Credit Sparks Solar Dispute. The Biden administration is preparing to decide how much American-made equipment must be used in renewable projects in order to get an extra tax credit under the new climate law, addressing a key dispute between energy developers and solar panel manufacturers. The coming Treasury Department guidance could unleash millions of dollars in bonus tax credits for individual solar arrays and wind farms — and help dictate the future of $20 billion in potential investment in new US manufacturing plants. The decision presents a fresh test of President Joe Biden’s ability to balance the often conflicting goals of rapidly ramping up domestic clean energy manufacturing and swiftly combating climate change by accelerating the deployment of renewable power projects. (Bloomberg)
Deeply, truly, very sorry: How tech CEOs talk when they lay off workers. 500 tech companies have laid off a collective 148,000 workers in the past few months amid slowing growth and fears of a recession. While the circumstances of each layoff decision may differ, there is one constant during these gloomy moments in Silicon Valley: the awkward all-staff memo. We took a look at 48 such missives issued by companies ranging from massive Microsoft to small-scale start-ups, searching for insights into how tech leaders spin their stories and justify their decisions. Whether they use 200 words or 2,000, their memos bear remarkable similarities. They point blame inward but also outward, for instance, alluding to the pressure of larger economic forces. They urge a positive outlook despite momentary clouds. And they rarely actually use the word “layoff.” (Washington Post)
Technology
Google is opening up limited access to Bard, its ChatGPT rival, a major step in the company’s attempt to reclaim what many see as lost ground in a new race to deploy AI. Bard will be initially available to select users in the US and UK, with users able to join a waitlist at bard.google.com, though Google says the roll-out will be slow and has offered no date for full public access. Like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing chatbot, Bard offers users a blank text box and an invitation to ask questions about any topic they like. However, given the well-documented tendency of these bots to invent information, Google is stressing that Bard is not a replacement for its search engine but, rather, a “complement to search” — a bot that users can bounce ideas off of, generate writing drafts, or just chat about life with. (The Verge)
Microsoft rolls out Bing Image Creator, powered by OpenAI's “very latest DALL-E models”, to Bing Chat and Edge, letting users generate images from text prompts. (TechCrunch)
Adobe unveiled new image-generating artificial-intelligence tools designed for professionals to use without fear of plagiarizing material or creating offensive artwork, addressing a key concern facing such technology. (Bloomberg)
Four AI trends to watch: This was a major week in AI, with some of the largest players releasing flagship models. OpenAI’s highly anticipated GPT-4 made its debut, while Google put out its Med-PaLM 2, a new-and-improved medical model, as well as their PaLM API and MakerSuite to enable developers to prototype and deploy their own models. Meanwhile, Anthropic introduced its ChatGPT competitor, Claude API, in an invite-only release of its chatbot and a lighter, cheaper version (Claude Instant). And in China, Tsinghua launched ChatGLM, a chat-based Chinese-English model reminiscent of ChatGPT. (Stanford University Human-Centered AI)
Trend 1: Deployment on the Rise; Trend 2: Worsening Transparency; Trend 3: Massive Influx of Funding; Trend 4: Demand for Policy.
Watch: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI will reshape society, acknowledges risks: 'A little bit scared of this'. The CEO behind the company that created ChatGPT believes artificial intelligence technology will reshape society as we know it. He believes it comes with real dangers, but can also be "the greatest technology humanity has yet developed" to drastically improve our lives. "We've got to be careful here," said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. "I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this." In his interview, Altman was emphatic that OpenAI needs both regulators and society to be as involved as possible with the rollout of ChatGPT — insisting that feedback will help deter the potential negative consequences the technology could have on humanity. He added that he is in "regular contact" with government officials. (ABC News)
China gives chipmakers new powers to guide industry recovery: China is giving a handful of its most successful chip companies easier access to subsidies and more control over state-backed research, as tightening US controls on access to advanced technology force a major rethink in Beijing’s approach to supporting the sector. The nurturing of closer co-operation with a select group of companies comes after the government shook up its tech strategy this month with the creation of a new Communist party science commission and a reinvigorated Ministry of Science and Technology. (Financial Times)
Nvidia introduces six new Ada Lovelace RTX GPUs: five for laptops and one for desktops, the RTX 4000 Small Form Factor, available later in March 2023 for $1,250. (AnandTech)
Ghost Listings: Not all job ads are attached to actual jobs. Though the labor market remains robust, companies are feeling budgetary strains and some are pulling back on hiring. Employers and recruiters say companies keep postings up because they might intend to hire later on or want to stock up on applicants for high-turnover positions. In some instances, especially at larger companies, poor coordination is to blame, says Elliott Garlock, founder of Stella Talent Partners recruiting firm. Companies also might be reluctant to take down ads because they don’t want to show signs of slowing down, he said. (Wall Street Journal)
Smart Links
Singapore and Hong Kong vie to be the Caymans of Asia. (Financial Times)
The growing Chinese investment in illegal American weed. (Politico)
New Report to Australian Government Alleges ByteDance Poses Disinformation Threat. (The Information)
More people are using paint to keep their lawns green. (Wall Street Journal)
Manchester United expecting world-record bids of more than £5bn. (The Times)