Reuters : Microsoft, OpenAI plan $100 billion data-center project, media report

Microsoft, OpenAI plan $100 billion data-center project, media report says

March 29 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab and OpenAI are working on plans for a data center project that could cost as much as $100 billion and include an artificial intelligence supercomputer called "Stargate" set to launch in 2028, The Information reported on Friday.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence technology has led to sky-rocketing demand for AI data centers capable of handling more advanced tasks than traditional data centers.

The Information reported that Microsoft would likely finance the project, which is expected to be 100 times more costly than some of the biggest existing data centers, citing people involved in private conversations about the proposal.

The proposed U.S.-based supercomputer would be the biggest in a series the companies are looking to build over the next six years, the report added.

The Information attributed the tentative cost of $100 billion to a person who spoke to Altman about it and a person who has viewed some of Microsoft's initial cost estimates. It did not identify those sources.

Altman and Microsoft have spread the supercomputers across five phases, with Stargate as the fifth phase. Microsoft is working on a smaller, fourth-phase supercomputer for OpenAI to be launched around 2026, according to the report.

Microsoft and OpenAI are in the middle of the third phase of the five-phase plan, with a significant portion of the cost for the next two phases involving acquiring the needed AI chips, the report said.

AI chips are often sold at high prices. Chip company Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC earlier in March that the latest "Blackwell" B200 artificial intelligence chip will be priced between $30,000 and $40,000.
Microsoft had also announced a duo of custom-designed computing chips in November last year.
The report said the new project would be designed to work with chips from different suppliers.

(ZH) Israel Believes Only 60-70 Out Of 134 Hostages Are Still Alive

Israel Believes Only 60-70 Out Of 134 Hostages Are Still Alive

Israel's official count for the number of people still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip remains at 134 mostly Israeli citizens as well as some foreigners, which includes possibly deceased victims. Amid stalled truce negotiations in Qatar, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has revealed that Israeli officials believe only 60 to 70 Israeli hostages in Gaza are still alive.

"According to the IDF, a total of 134 hostages and bodies are being held in Gaza," Haaretz wrote Thursday. "Thirty-six of the people were confirmed by the army as killed – some on October 7, when their bodies were taken into the Strip. Of the 98 living hostages, 10 are foreigners (eight Thais, one Nepalese national, and one man with Mexican and French citizenship)."

What's more is that a month ago some of the families of the hostages were informed that 20 captives were in life-threatening condition. An unnamed source close to the crisis told Haaretz, "I hope I'm mistaken, but the number may even be lower"—suggesting there may be even fewer that are alive.

Given the intense battles unfolding across most of the Gaza Strip, it is widely speculated that the hostages are being held somewhere within the miles of underground tunnels below, where Hamas also has command and control centers.

There's a possibility that some of the hostages could have been killed by Israeli's relentless bombing campaign which has decimated entire neighborhoods. A horrifically tragic incident last December saw three Israeli hostages shot dead by Israeli forces who mistook them for Palestinian militants.

Israeli leadership under Netanyahu has been accused by the hostages' families of prioritizing the military operation to defeat Hamas far and above hostage recovery.

Some recent testimony of hostages freed in last year's truce and exchange with Hamas said the following:

Echoing this sense of an indiscriminate and haphazard policy, testimonies from newly freed Israeli hostages, who were released as part of exchange deals for Palestinian prisoners during a temporary ceasefire in late November, as well as from some of the hostages’ families, indicate that one of the main fears of those held captive in Gaza was the threat of being hit by Israeli airstrikes and shelling. Many of the hostages, according to these testimonies, were held above ground rather than in tunnels, and were therefore particularly vulnerable to such attacks.

Large-scale anti-Netanyahu protests led by victims' families have persisted in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Pressure has also mounted on Washington to strike a ceasefire.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently facing accusations from within his own government of 'sabotaging' the truce process with an aim to prolong the war, and also thus his political future in the top office.

WWD : How RAIN RFID Works and Benefits Retailers

How RAIN RFID Works and Benefits Retailers
Unlocking the power of real-time inventory management.

Radio Frequency Identification is a technology that uses radio waves to track and identify objects. RAIN RFID is a specific type of RFID that is becoming increasingly popular in the retail industry.

Here, Ashley Burkle, business development director of retail solutions at Impinj, explains how RAIN RFID tags work and can be used to track items throughout the supply chain. This can help retailers improve inventory accuracy, reduce shrinkage and provide a better customer experience.

WWD: What is RAIN RFID and how does it work?

Ashley Burkle: You may have heard of Radio Frequency Identification, a form of wireless communication that uses radio waves to identify and find objects. In simple terms, all RFID systems operate on the same principle: an RFID tag stores information that can be read wirelessly by an RFID reader. RAIN (derived from RAdio frequency IdentificatioN) is the fastest-growing segment of the RFID market. RAIN RFID is a passive, battery-free wireless technology that connects billions of everyday items to the internet. This enables retailers to identify, locate, authenticate, and engage with every item that’s tagged, providing rich, real-time data insights.

With RAIN RFID, billions of everyday items — from sneakers to strawberries — can be connected to the internet, so they can be uniquely identified and located without direct line-of-sight. In fact, RAIN RFID can identify and locate up to 1,000 items per second. RAIN RFID can tell you what an object is, where it is, and even its condition. With this information, retailers worldwide can increase sales, drive operational efficiencies and improve customer experience.

The RAIN RFID process is simple:

• Retailers tag their inventory with tag chips — using hang tags, adhesives and, increasingly, embedding them right into the item. These tag chips are durable, low-cost, the size of a grain of sand, and suitable for all kinds of items.
• From there, retailers can use readers to identify, locate and verify their items. Readers can be used as handheld devices or attached to fixtures like shelves and doorways.
• With these insights, retailers can connect their accurate, real-time data about inventory with enterprise business systems. This has a huge host of benefits, including greater agility, cost savings and more.

WWD: What are some of the challenges facing retailers and brands from an inventory management perspective? How does Impinj help retailers and brands mitigate these challenges?

A.B.: Great question. Retailers are facing mounting economic pressures, making effective inventory tracking more important than ever. For example, retailers are focused on solving for the rising rates of retail theft and the growing cost of shrink. In 2022, the NRF found that the average shrink rate of 1.6 percent represents more than $112 billion in losses for retailers.

RAIN RFID is helping retail leaders supercharge their loss prevention strategies by providing insights into where, when, and exactly what items are leaving a store. Stronger inventory accuracy also ensures customers can buy the product they want when they want it. For example, Impinj retailer Macy’s utilized RAIN RFID to increase inventory accuracy and reduce out-of-stock items. This bolstered the opportunity for customers to access the right item at the right time and led to increased sales.


Another challenge facing the retail industry is authenticity. Counterfeit products are a surefire way to destroy consumer trust and erode brand image, yet authenticating products to combat fakes and fraud continues to pose a significant challenge for retailers. For example, NRF estimates that in 2022, 10 percent of all returned online purchases were fraudulent.

Retailers can turn to RAIN RFID to identify items and confirm the authenticity of products throughout the supply chain — from manufacture and shipping to sales and returns — to guarantee the integrity of the products they sell and ensure consumer trust and safety. Impinj’s Authenticity solution engine cryptographically authenticates items to help prevent counterfeits, ensure product safety, and secure the supply chain.


Of course, in retail, the customer always needs to be prioritized, and RAIN RFID can help in that effort. RAIN RFID can ensure a seamless customer experience and support time-saving checkout options for customers. For example, global retailer Uniqlo uses RAIN RFID-enabled self-checkout kiosks in which the kiosk automatically reads item tags and totals the transaction, ensuring a seamless and fast customer checkout experience.

WWD: What kind of data can be culled, and how can it inform business decisions? How would you describe the value proposition of Impinj’s technology?

A.B.: The retail industry is changing quickly. RAIN RFID solutions are helping to power retail digital transformation by providing detailed real-time insights, such as:

  • Inventory management: RAIN RFID allows retailers to automate inventory counting for powerful insights into operations. Retailers can replace error-prone manual counting methods with automated, hands-free, always-on inventory solutions that offer unparalleled inventory insight and ease. RAIN RFID is also significantly faster than outdated methods of inventory management. Brands that use RAIN RFID for inventory management have reported 25x faster cycle count times.
  • Omnichannel fulfillment: With RAIN RFID, retailers can deliver best-in-class, flexible operations with accurate and real-time inventory data. RAIN RFID-powered inventory management provides retailers the item-level visibility needed to power omnichannel options, ensuring they have the right stock in the right place at the right time to fulfill customer orders, whether online, in-store, or via curbside pickup. Using RAIN RFID, tagged retail items can be tracked and inventoried from the supply chain to distribution centers to the store backroom to the sales floor and even to the point of return.
  • Supply chain automation: Retailers can utilize RAIN RFID to achieve full visibility and control of their supply chain with accurate, automated systems. RAIN RFID can streamline distribution centers so that all items, even within closed boxes, can be read to ensure contents are complete and correctly routed.

WWD: How can it address loss prevention and protect brands and consumers from fakes?

A.B.: RAIN RFID technology enables retailers to gain advanced protection and heightened visibility into all loss events. With increased visibility, retailers can know exactly when and where every item exits the store to better understand where losses are occurring.

For example, a retailer could compile the data from exit reads and analyze loss events to understand trends, and patterns, find blind spots, change merchandising plans, and ultimately reduce loss. In another example, retailers could identify if the sneakers on a truck are indeed the sneakers that were made and tracked in the manufacturing facility.


WWD: Any other key points that need to be shared?

A.B.: I like to tell our retail partners that RAIN RFID is the gift that keeps on giving. Many brands first evaluate RAIN RFID for one use case — often inventory management. However, RAIN RFID can be used for so many initiatives and retailers are really only just scratching the surface of utilizing the vast amount of data generated from RAIN RFID tags to its full potential. For example, once an item is tagged at the source of manufacturing, you can read it as many times and in as many places as you want across the entire retail value chain. That has huge benefits that many retailers have yet to realize.

TechCrunch : Women in AI: Kate Devlin of King’s College is researching AI and in

Women in AI: Kate Devlin of King’s College is researching AI and intimacy

To give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved — and overdue — time in the spotlight, TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews focusing on remarkable women who’ve contributed to the AI revolution. We’ll publish several pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work that often goes unrecognized. Read more profiles here.

Kate Devlin is a lecturer in AI and society at King’s College London. The author of “Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots,” which examines the ethical and social implications of tech and intimacy, Devlin’s research investigates how people interact with and react to technologies — both past and future.

Devlin — who in 2016 ran the U.K.’s first sex tech hackathon — directs advocacy and engagement for the Trusted Autonomous Systems Hub, a collaborative platform to support the development of “socially beneficial” robotics and AI systems. She’s also a board member of the Open Rights Group, an organization that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms.

Q&A
Briefly, how did you get your start in AI? What attracted you to the field?

I started off as an archaeologist, eventually moving across disciplines and completing a Ph.D. in computer science in 2004. The idea was to integrate the subjects, but I ended up doing more and more on human-computer interaction, and on how people interact with AI and robots, including the reception that such technologies have.

What work are you most proud of (in the AI field)?

I’m pleased that intimacy and AI is now taken seriously as an academic area of study. There’s some amazing research going on. It used to be viewed as very niche and highly unlikely; now we’re seeing people forming meaningful relationships with chatbots — meaningful in that they really do mean something to those people.

How do you navigate the challenges of the male-dominated tech industry, and, by extension, the male-dominated AI industry?

I don’t. We just persevere. It’s still shockingly sexist. And maybe I don’t want to “lean in”; maybe I want an environment that isn’t defined around macho qualities. I guess it’s a two-pronged thing: we need more women in visible, top positions, and we need to tackle sexism in schools and beyond. And then we need a systemic change to stop the “leaky pipeline” — we’re seeing an increase of women in AI and tech due to a rise in home working as it fits better with childcare which, let’s face it, still falls to us. Let’s have more flexibility until we don’t have to do the majority of that caring on our own.

What advice would you give to women seeking to enter the AI field?

You have the right to take up as much space as the men.

What are some of the most pressing issues facing AI as it evolves?

Responsibility. Accountability. There’s currently a fever pitch that hinges around technological determinism — as if we’re hurtling toward some dangerous future. We don’t have to be. It’s possible to reject that. It’s fine to prioritize a different path. Very few of the issues we face are new; it’s size and scale that are making this particularly tricky.

What are some issues AI users should be aware of?

Uh… late-stage capitalism.

More usefully: check provenance — where’s the data coming from? How ethical is the provider? Do they have a good track record of social responsibility? Would you let them control your oxygen supply on Mars?

What is the best way to responsibly build AI?

Regulation and conscience.

How can investors better push for responsible AI?

Thinking of this in purely business terms, you’ll have much happier customers if you care about people. We can see through ethics-washing so really make it matter. Hold the companies responsible for considering things like human rights, labor, sustainability and social impact in their AI supply chain.

WSJ : Snapchat’s Friend-Ranking Feature Adds to Teen Anxiety

Snapchat’s Friend-Ranking Feature Adds to Teen Anxiety
Drama, hurt feelings and heartbreak can result when teens see where they are in friends’ Snapchat+ solar systems

A Snapchat feature lets paying users see their position in their friends’ digital orbits. For some teens, whose friends are everything, it’s adding to their anxiety.

Snapchat+ is the app’s $4-a-month subscription service. Subscribers can check where they rank with a particular friend based on how often that friend communicates with them. The result is automatically rendered in a solar-system metaphor: Are you Mercury, the planet closest to your friend? Great! Uranus? Bad sign.

“A lot of kids my age have trouble differentiating best friends on Snapchat from actual best friends in real life,” says Callie Schietinger, a 15-year-old in Yorktown, N.Y.

She said she had her own problems when a boyfriend noticed that he was Neptune in her solar system. He asked who held the Mercury position and when she told him it was a guy friend, he got mad.

More than 20 million U.S. teens use the app, though most don’t pay for Snapchat+. The young adults I spoke to with those paid accounts said they’ve seen friendships splinter and young love wither due to the knowledge that someone else ranks higher on the app. Some say teens have signed up for Snapchat+ just to check their status with a crush.

Like other social-media features, Snapchat’s solar system was created to get people to engage more with the app. And while it can be turned off, it’s on by default. Now, lawmakers, doctors and parents are giving fuller attention to these apps and how they broadly affect kids’ mental health. New legislation and lawsuits have pressed tech companies to better protect minors on social media, if not block them from it outright.

Callie and her boyfriend have since broken up, for other reasons. But that stress and the misunderstandings she has seen other friends experience have soured her on the feature. She says she won’t renew her Snapchat+ subscription when it expires in May.

“It’s everyone’s biggest fear put onto an app,” Callie says. “Ranking is never good for anyone’s head.”

‘Buried in those devices’
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory last June on the effects of social media on youth mental health. Adolescents are susceptible to peer pressure, opinions and comparison, he said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill earlier this week that, if upheld, would prohibit kids under the age of 14 from having social-media accounts. He explained, “Being buried in those devices all day is not the best way to grow up.”

And on Thursday, four school boards in major cities in Canada sued the owners of Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for about $3 billion, alleging the platforms have contributed to a mental-health crisis and left schools to clean up the mess. About 200 U.S. school districts have also joined litigation against social-media companies.

The social hierarchy that’s playing out on Snapchat has parents vexed. “You have to wonder if all this fear of being left out is part of the mental-health problems kids are facing,” says Callie’s mother, Erica Bates.

A Snap spokeswoman says the friend solar system is one of more than 30 features on Snapchat+. Most are intended to help users customize the app, and all can be easily turned off. A friend’s solar-system ranking isn’t visible to others—users can only see their position in relation to a friend, and can’t see who is closer or farther away. Snapchat+ subscribers can pin friends they want to appear closer.

The company has no plans to turn off the feature, but the spokeswoman says it is always open to feedback. “We always prioritize our community’s well-being,” she says, adding that the majority of the seven million Snapchat+ subscribers worldwide are over 18.

‘Do we really need external validation?’
Even without Snapchat+, the app can show teens where they stand with friends via emojis. This occurs if two people are on each other’s private eight-person best-friend lists.

A yellow heart indicates “Besties” status—these two have sent the most snaps to each other. If they’re besties for at least two consecutive months, they graduate to “Super BFF,” indicated by two red hearts.

Maximilian Milovidov, a 17-year-old in London and a youth digital-safety advocate, says his friends often use the old-fashioned approach: swapping phones and peeking at the activity in each other’s social-media accounts.

Maximilian says his feelings have been hurt when he’s discovered that he’s lower on a friend’s list than he thinks he should be. This has discouraged him from getting Snapchat+. The ability to get more granular information about his social standing would only create more anxiety, he says.

“Me and my best friend recently got ‘Besties’ status on Snapchat and we celebrated,” he says. “But then we were like, ‘Do we really need that external validation from a platform to tell us we’re best friends?’”

Isabelle da Costa, a 20-year-old college student in Atlanta, says Snapchat’s solar system reminds her of the app’s old days, when anyone could see who their friends’ top three friends were—and whether they made the list. Isabelle says she saw many relationships implode over that publicly visible disclosure. Snap ended it in 2015.

That said, she credits her current relationship to Snapchat’s friend rankings. In early 2020, she messaged a boy she was interested in, starting with a flirty remark about their “bestie” standing. The romance has already lasted four years.

While it worked out for her, she says the ability for teens to see where they stand with others is usually not constructive.

“There’s something about the teenage brain that thrives on drama,” Isabelle says, “and Snapchat facilitates it well.”

WSJ : A Peter Thiel-Backed AI Startup, Cognition Labs, Seeks $2 Billion Valuatio

A Peter Thiel-Backed AI Startup, Cognition Labs, Seeks $2 Billion Valuation
Funding round could increase startup’s valuation nearly sixfold in a matter of weeks, reflecting AI frenzy

Cognition Labs, a startup developing an artificial-intelligence tool for writing code, is in talks with investors to raise funding at a valuation of up to $2 billion, in a test of the investor frenzy around new AI technology.

If completed at that valuation, the funding would increase the startup’s valuation to nearly six times what it was weeks ago. Silicon Valley venture firms including Founders Fund, already a shareholder in Cognition, are in talks to invest in the current round, people familiar with the matter said.

Cognition only began working on its product last year and doesn’t generate any meaningful revenue. It was valued at $350 million earlier this year in a $21 million deal led by Founders Fund. Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor who started Founders Fund, helped lead its investment in Cognition.

The new fundraising deal hasn’t been finalized, meaning that the terms could change. The company recently has turned down offers at valuations closer to $1 billion—which would still be nearly triple the prior level.

Cognition is the latest young startup whose value has soared thanks to a boom in artificial intelligence. In December, the French AI model developer Mistral hit a $2 billion valuation, a roughly sevenfold increase from a funding round the prior summer. Perplexity, a two-year-old AI search startup, was valued at $1 billion in a funding round in recent weeks.

Cognition, co-founded by Chief Executive Scott Wu, was first conceived as a crypto company but pivoted as AI took over Silicon Valley, launched by a wave of generative-AI applications following the release of ChatGPT.

Cognition introduced its AI coding tool, Devin, earlier this month and said it is able to autonomously complete complex coding tasks such as creating custom websites. Devin was trained using AI models from OpenAI, in which Founders Fund is also an investor.

Some investors say that Devin represents a major leap in AI intelligence and could presage the widespread automation of software development.

Other companies building similar products are seeing an uptick in momentum. Last quarter, Microsoft’s coding tool GitHub Copilot grew its subscriber base by 30% to 1.3 million users. Magic AI, a startup competitor to Cognition, received $117 million from venture capitalists in February. Other coding assistant startups are also in the process of raising competitive funding rounds.

Despite promising signs of growth, the ballooning valuations of new AI startups has stoked fears that the industry is headed into another bubble. So far, few startups have been able to show how they might recoup the steep costs associated with developing generative AI products.

In a presentation earlier this month, the venture-capital firm Sequoia estimated that the AI industry spent $50 billion on the Nvidia chips used to train advanced AI models last year, but brought in only $3 billion in revenue.

FT : AstraZeneca shareholders urged to oppose pay plan for CEO Soriot

AstraZeneca shareholders urged to oppose pay plan for CEO Soriot
Shareholder advisory groups say potential £18.7mn payout is excessive

AstraZeneca’s plan to pay chief executive Pascal Soriot up to £18.7mn has been branded “excessive” by two influential shareholder advisers, saying his remuneration was already competitive versus international peers.

The drugmaker last month set out its pay proposal for Soriot, who will need to hit a series of targets, including for new drug approvals, earnings per share and total sales, to receive the maximum sum for his performance this year.

Since taking the helm in 2012, Soriot has turned AstraZeneca into the second-largest company on the FTSE 100 index behind Shell. The 64-year-old was handed £16.9mn last year after hitting most long-term targets, making him one of the best-paid CEOs on the blue-chip index.

When it outlined the case for lifting his potential payout in its annual report, AstraZeneca said the increase was “material if viewed in a UK context” but “the changes are necessary to increase the competitiveness” versus US and European peers.

Glass Lewis and ISS, which make recommendations to shareholders on how to vote at annual meetings and on matters of corporate governance, disputed the claim and urged investors to vote against the plan at AstraZeneca’s annual general meeting on April 11.

Under the plan, Soriot could earn annual incentive payments based on long-term performance worth up to 850 per cent of his almost £1.5mn base salary, compared to the maximum of 650 per cent under an existing policy set in 2021. He would also be in line for a bonus worth up to 300 per cent of his base salary, compared to 250 per cent at present.

While acknowledging that AstraZeneca has “a global reach, is in a high-paying sector, with a particularly well-regarded CEO at the helm,” ISS said that it remained concern by “the scale of the increase”. Soriot’s remuneration was already “competitive against European peers”, it added in a report, a copy of which was seen by the Financial Times.

In its assessment, Glass Lewis pointed to an “absence of compelling evidence that the CEO has been materially underpaid relative to peers in recent years”.

Soriot already earns more than bosses of larger European pharmaceutical companies. Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, the chief executive of Novo Nordisk, Europe’s largest pharma group by market capitalisation, was paid Dkr68mn (£7.8mn) last year.

The intervention by the world’s largest proxy advisers comes as CEO pay has become a flashpoint in the debate over how to persuade more companies to list in London. Julia Hoggett, the head of the London Stock Exchange, last year said that UK executives should be paid more as the bourse battles to attract more companies.

Soriot’s pay has previously proved controversial. About 40 per cent of the votes cast at the group’s annual meeting in 2021 were against the remuneration plan, which is set every three years. Glass Lewis and ISS also recommended shareholders oppose that plan.

Last year, Michel Demaré, the chair of AstraZeneca, defended Soriot’s pay, telling the FT that it was prepared to endure “major criticism” over it and that Soriot could earn more in the US. Several US pharma bosses are better paid, with Dave Ricks, head of Eli Lilly, earning $26.6mn in 2023.

In recommending shareholders vote against the new proposal, ISS said it was “cognisant of the wider debate around UK remuneration standards, in the context of FTSE companies remaining competitive against US peers”.

AstraZeneca said that “the new policy reflects the need to be competitive in the global market for talent and our compensation is structured to reward performance”.

The company also pointed to total shareholder returns that it said had far exceeded “the average of our peers in Europe and globally”.

>>> Barron’s Weekend Summary

Barron’s Weekend Summary: Trump Media & Technology Group has completed its public market merger with DJT, resulting in a market value of $8.4B

Cover:
-Trump Media & Technology Group has completed its public market merger with DJT, resulting in a market value of $8.4B. Despite its small revenue and history of losses, DJT has gained 24%, adding billions to Trump Media's net worth in just days. This has given individuals, companies, and governments a new, direct path to influence the candidate's bottom line. Trump's significant holdings in a public company give individuals, companies, and even governments a new, direct path to influence the candidate's bottom line. There is no precedent for a presidential candidate gaining so much wealth, so quickly, and in this fashion months before an election. Trump Media announced plans to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp in 2021 and launched Truth Social in 2022. The merger closed on March 25, 2024, with Trump as the controlling shareholder, owning 78.8 million shares.

Interview:
-Cliff Asness, chief investment officer of AQR Capital Management, has been a successful investor using analytical strategies to bet on various market factors. Despite some of the biggest losses in its 25-year history and a 50% drop in assets under management, AQR's winning streak has come after a significant drop in assets under management. The firm's multistrategy hedge fund, the AQR Apex Strategy, gained 16% in 2023 and is up 6.2% year to date through February. The $720.3M AQR Diversifying Strategies, an actively managed multistrategy mutual fund, has a three-year annualized return of 12.3% since its 2020 launch, ranking in the top 9% of its multistrategy category. Asness, a student of Eugene Fama, the Nobel Prize-winning University of Chicago economist, emphasizes the importance of diversification and value investing.
-Daniel Kahneman, the Princeton professor who pioneered behavorial economics, died at the age of 90 on March 27. He mapped the errors people make due to predictable biases and behavioral tendencies, leading to a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. Kahneman's latest book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, focuses on the most common cause of bad decision-making: variability, the wide dispersion of "correct" answers. The amount of noise among professionals in finance, medicine, and other fields is alarming. Kahneman discussed the causes of noise and how we can mitigate their effects in a 2021 interview with Barron's - republished in this week's edition.

Tech Trader:
-this week’s Tech Trader coumn features an interview with Mary Meeker, a tech investor with significant influence and staying power, who has been a key figure in the tech industry for over four decades. As a Morgan Stanley analyst in the 1990s, she made market moves with calls on stocks like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Dell Technologies. Meeker was dubbed "Queen of the 'Net" by Barron's over 25 years ago. In 2010, she moved to venture capital, leading Kleiner Perkins' investments in Airbnb, Uber Technologies, Waze, DocuSign, and Snap. She later launched Bond Capital, where she continues to invest in new tech leaders, including Canva, an Australian graphics software firm. Meeker has been on Barron's annual list of 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance since 2020. She has turned her attention to artificial intelligence and venture capital.

The Trader:
-The S&P 500 has had a strong start to 2024, with a 10.2% increase in the first three months of 2024. This is the fourth time since the start of the millennium that the index has gained 8% or more in the first three months of the year, joining 2012, 2013, and 2019, when it rose 12%, 10%, and 13.1%, respectively. The market's first-quarter rally comes on the heels of last year's 24% surge, which has led some skeptics to believe that the market has gotten ahead of itself. Artificial-intelligence enthusiasm is still leading the charge, but FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real factor pulling more money into the market. The S&P 500 Health Care and Consumer Staples indexes notched their best quarters since the fourth quarter of 2022, with Financials and Consumer Staples on track for five months of gains in March alone.

Features:
-Nvidia's stock experienced a significant surge in Q1, with an 83% surge in the first three months of the year, making it the second-best performer in the S&P 500 index. This impressive performance has propelled Nvidia's market capitalization beyond Amazon, Alphabet, and Saudi Aramco to become the world's third-most-valuable company. The stock has risen more than 50% in the first three months of the year on four previous occasions, including 2000, 2001, 2006, and 2023. The good news for investors is that the stock has backed up those strong starts with second-quarter gains of at least 43% on three of those four occasions. However, much will depend on Nvidia's next quarterly earnings on May 22, which saw the stock jump 16% in a single day after its fourth-quarter earnings last month. Analysts are bullish, with 88% of those covering the stock rating it Buy, with an average price target of $962.76, implying a 6.6% upside to the closing price of $903.56.

Europe:
-Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury criticized Boeing's regulatory, production, and safety issues as detrimental to the industry. However, the two companies have been in a fierce battle for decades, with Airbus benefiting significantly. In 2024, Airbus secured more orders than Boeing and delivered more planes, gaining market share in the narrow-body aircraft market. Airbus holds 61% of the narrow-body market, while Boeing holds a commanding lead in the wide-body market. The widening gap is evident in the two companies' stock performances, with Airbus' stock climbing 22% to €170.28 euros ($184.33) this year, while Boeing's stock is down 27%.

Airbus is favored by more airlines, with United Airlines Holdings expressing its desire for more A321 jets and Japan Airlines ordering A321neo jets for the first time. This indicates that efforts by airlines to diversify their manufacturers could help the company gain more market share. However, Airbus' unfilled-order backlog reached 8,599 aircraft at the end of January, an industry record. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Bert Subin believes that Airbus is winning as much as it can, but the main problem with Airbus becoming overly dominant is that aircraft can only be obtained later into the 2030s, which is a challenge for airlines looking to grow.

Emerging Markets:
-No update this week

Commodities:
-J.P. Morgan warns that the increasing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) could exacerbate a copper shortage later this decade. AI servers are drawing more power per square foot, stressing an already large annual copper supply shortfall. Data centers will need to revamp their power and cooling systems as AI servers draw more power per square foot. J.P. Morgan analyst Dominic O'Kane estimates that AI will lead to 2.6 million tonnes of additional aggregate copper demand by 2030 – notwithstanding J.P. Morgan's forecast of a 4 million tonnes cumulative copper supply shortage through 2030. The proliferation of data centers, cryptocurrencies, and AI/ML could lead to higher power consumption and demand for electrical equipment like transformers. Nvidia's GPUs are proving more efficient for AI workloads, leading to more aggregate power usage. O'Kane recommends Anglo American, Teck Resources, and Sandfire as top global copper stock ideas, with Overweight ratings for all three.

Streetwise:
-Tesla stock has seen a significant decline in the past year, declining 46% over the past two years. Electric vehicles are losing buzz, with Mizuho Securities cutting its 2024 EV growth projection to 15% from 25%. Tesla has slashed prices but is reaching natural limits of cost reduction on current vehicles. China is leading the way on cheap EVs, with BYD recently passing Tesla on volume. Tesla will introduce a small sport utility vehicle in mid-2025, and its top-selling Models 3 and Y were first introduced in 2017 and 2020, respectively. This has created an air pocket for growth, with Wall Street currently predicting two million vehicle deliveries this year, up 12%. Free cash flow this year is pegged at $4.5 billion, up 4%. Mizuho recently cut its rating on Tesla stock to Neutral from Buy, and only a third of analysts who cover Tesla stock remain bullish. Tesla recently traded at more than 60 times this year's projected earnings, while Toyota goes for 11 times, even after a 115% gain over the past year. Toyota, an early adopter of hybrid vehicles, has become increasingly anti-Tesla, with its Prius being profitable for over two decades. Despite Tesla's investment in electric vehicles, Toyota has remained steadfast in its hybrid strategy, with hybrid vehicles outpacing electric vehicles. J.P. Morgan analyst Akira Kishimoto predicts 22.6% hybrid growth this year, primarily driven by small SUVs, where Toyota's RAV4 dominates.
-Disney's shareholder meeting this week will decide whether Nelson Peltz and Trian Partners win two board seats, with Peltz aiming to unlock more free cash flow. Disney is now expected to generate $8.2 billion in free cash, up 68%, during fiscal 2024, running through September. The stock price has recently been around $122, and Wall Street estimates have been surging. Disney is now expected to generate $9B in free cash, rising to $14B over the subsequent two years. UBS analyst John Hodulik warns that the biggest risk in Disney's view is potential management change, as the activists' bid for board seats could cause a downturn in shares just as the benefits of Bob Iger's latest tenure are starting to take hold. He has also increased his estimate for operating profits at the parks, citing strong US attendance and rising spending per visitor.

>>> Weekend Papers Summary

Weekend Papers Summary

FINANCIAL TIMES
-Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell expects inflation to fall towards the US central bank's 2% goal, despite the bumpy road ahead for officials as they debate when to begin cutting rates. US inflation reached 2.5% in February, meeting expectations but slightly rising from 2.4% in the year to January. Powell said the path towards the 2% target was "sometimes bumpy" and that progress on inflation is uncertain. The Fed's latest projections show officials still expected to cut rates by 0.75 of a point this year, down from their 23-year high of 5.25-5.5%. The latest inflation numbers come amid signs of persistent strength in the US economy, despite the Fed's aggressive push to quell inflation with 525 basis points' worth of rate increases in 2022 and 2023.
-Global stock markets have seen their best first-quarter performance in five years, driven by US economic optimism and interest in artificial intelligence. The MSCI index of worldwide stocks has gained 7.7% this year, the most since 2019, with stocks outperforming bonds by the largest margin in any quarter since 2020. The S&P 500 closed at a record high 22 times during the quarter. Nvidia's AI boom has contributed to the market's gains, with US signs of resilient domestic growth boosting stocks despite unexpected inflation increases.
-Israeli air strikes on Aleppo have killed and wounded numerous civilians and military personnel, raising concerns that escalating Middle East tensions could ignite a broader regional conflict. The ministry said the attacks targeted points in the Aleppo countryside, with opposition war monitors reporting 42 deaths, mostly Syrian troops. Reuters reported 38 deaths, including civilians and military personnel. The attack would mark the deadliest Israeli strike in Syria since the Gaza conflict, which began on October 7. The strikes are the latest escalation in regional hostilities since the Gaza conflict began.
-China's President Xi Jinping, known for his tough leadership style, took on the role of salesman-in-chief to persuade a group of visiting US chief executives that China is still a good investment. The friendly and relaxed Chinese president met with the group of 18 Americans at the Great Hall of the People, where they held a photo shoot before he took their questions for nearly two hours. The performance was unprecedented for Xi, who is usually more stiff and formal on official occasions. The meeting comes as China's economy struggles to regain its footing, with a deep property slump undermining domestic demand and trading partners complaining that cheap Chinese exports are threatening their domestic industries.
-Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of state subsidies for ultraorthodox Jews who attend religious schools instead of military service. The order comes as the government, which includes two ultraorthodox parties, faces a deadline to draft new conscription legislation. The future of the exemption is a contentious issue, with ultraorthodox politicians preserving it and others, including defense minister Yoav Gallant, opposing it. Both coalition parties representing the ultraorthodox community, known as the Haredim, reacted furiously, but neither threatened to withdraw from the government.
-Swiss agricultural chemicals company Syngenta has canceled a $9B Shanghai listing, which would have been one of China's largest initial public offerings in years. The decision was made after careful consideration of the industry environment and Syngenta's development strategy. The company plans to restart the listing process in China or another global exchange when conditions are right and explore alternative funding sources. Syngenta had planned to sell 2.79B new shares, representing 20% of the company, with the goal of raising Rmb65 ($9B).
-Luxury has experienced a sector-wide slowdown following the end of the pandemic-era boom, with organic sales growth at top luxury groups expected to slow to 7.5% this year, according to HSBC. This is due to the dry up of extra savings and the economic outlook of China, which has dwindled the growth of luxury growth engines. Tom Chapman, co-founder of Matchesfashion, explains that the initial concept was for a curated online shopping experience, not a broad-based market for designer products. Luxury ecommerce has faced skepticism, with many online sites losing money. However, this has opened up opportunities for businesses like Farfetch, Matchesfashion, and Net-a-Porter, as well as offering services and software to build and run ecommerce businesses for luxury brands and department stores.
-Italy's birth rate dropped 3.6% last year to an all-time low, highlighting the challenge faced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in addressing the rapid aging of the population. In 2023, only 379,000 babies were born, down from the previous year's record low of 393,000. Italy's total fertility rate fell to 1.2 in 2023, down from 1.24 the previous year and close to the all-time low of 1.19 recorded in 1995. 13.3% of the babies born in 2023 were the children of foreign citizens living in the country, down from 15% a decade ago. Meloni has emphasized the importance of increasing the birth rate and encouraging women to have more babies for Italy's future.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a significant political threat due to a disagreement among his coalition members about whether ultra-Orthodox Jews should retain their exemption from military service. The coalition, consisting of secular and ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, is divided on whether to allow young ultra-Orthodox men to study at religious seminaries instead of serving in the military. Abolishing the exemption risks a walkout from ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, while allowing it to stand could lead to secular members withdrawing. This situation poses the most significant challenge to Netanyahu's power since the Gaza war.
-Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has expressed concerns about the country's support for Israel, a nation that considers its support a "Staatsräson" as a way of atoning for the Holocaust. As Israel's offensive continues in Gaza, Scholz has questioned whether the high costs of the mission can justify the high costs. With international outrage over the death toll and the looming famine in the enclave, German officials are questioning whether their country's support has gone too far.
-Russia has used its veto power in the UN Security Council to remove a panel of experts monitoring North Korea's efforts to evade sanctions over its nuclear program. This move is a new development, as the panel previously welcomed detailed reports about sanctions violations and considered Pyongyang's nuclear program a threat to global security. The panel has provided evidence of Russia keeping the North brimming with fuel and goods in return for artillery shells and missiles.
-The Czech Republic has frozen the assets of two men and a news website accused of running an influence operation in Europe that supports the foreign policy interests of the Russian Federation. The ministry identified the men as Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician, and Artem Marchevskyi, a Ukrainian-Israeli citizen who allegedly ran the Czech-registered Voice of Europe website. The aim was to spread pro-Russian narratives undermining Ukraine's sovereignty while infiltrating the European Parliament. Czech authorities have not provided immediate comment on the extent of the operation or its funding.
-The FDA has allowed the use of a heart pump, Abiomed’s Impella, which has been linked to 49 deaths and dozens of injuries globally, despite an alert about the risk of puncturing the heart wall. The pump, which is threaded through blood vessels, is used in patients with complex procedures or life-threatening conditions. The FDA claims that Abiomed should have notified the agency more than two years ago about the perforation risk, which would have led to a broader warning to hospitals and doctors.
-Officials have shifted to the cleanup and rebuilding phase following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Engineering and salvage experts predict that debris will be cleared within weeks, but reconstructing the bridge will be a lengthy process. Six construction workers were missing after the collapse, and the bodies of two were found. Officials have called off the search for the other missing men, who are presumed dead, and moved to a cleanup operation. Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland described the process as "difficult" but assured people that the process will be completed. The stakes for Baltimore and the regional economy are high, and cleaning up debris from the shipping channel is expected to be a complex and potentially dangerous underwater salvage operation.
-A fertilizer spill in Iowa has left an estimated 789,000 fish dead across a 60-mile stretch of rivers in two states, making it one of the region's most ecologically devastating chemical spills in recent years. The Missouri Department of Conservation's Matt Combes referred to the incident as "the big one," stating that comparing the scope of fish kills across different states is difficult due to limited data and tracking.

THE NEW YORK POST
-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced an investigation into Boeing parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems, a major manufacturer of aircraft parts. The investigation is focusing on Spirit's operations and its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The company, which produces fuselages for Boeing 737 and 787, Airbus A350, and A220 wings, has faced scrutiny following a midair blowout of a 737 Max 9's door plug panel. Paxton has requested Spirit AeroSystems to produce documents related to manufacturing defects and DEI commitments, stating that the potential risks associated with certain airplane models are concerning and potentially life-threatening.
-Microsoft and OpenAI are planning a $100B data-center project, which includes an artificial intelligence supercomputer called Stargate set to launch in 2028. The rapid adoption of generative AI technology has led to a surge in demand for AI data centers capable of handling advanced tasks. Microsoft is likely to finance the project, which would be 100 times more expensive than some of the largest current data centers, according to private conversations.