A spy thriller that continues to play out, Super Bowl Sunday and experts’ takes on markets and economy predominated the weekend’s news flow. Here's a recap of a few major headlines that hit the wire over the weekend:
1. More Sightings, More Shootings: After the first alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, three more unidentified flying objects were spotted and shot down this weekend. The latest incident occurred on Sunday over Lukan Huron, Michigan and the UFO was described as having an octagonal shape with strings hanging off it.
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2. Meta Toying With More Job Cuts: As a follow-through of Meta Platforms Inc. META CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s pronouncement of “efficiency” of operations on the recent earnings call, the social media platform is reportedly planning more job cuts. An FT report said the company has deferred drawing up budgets for many teams in anticipation of the eliminations.
3. Bitcoin Set to Double In Near-Term: Popular cryptocurrency analyst Michael van de Poppe said in a recent YouTube presentation that Bitcoin BTC/USD will likely trade in a range for a few weeks before it begins to run toward $37,000-$40,000 level. This will likely happen in the second or the third quarter, he said. The real rally will start only after the crypto retraces the upward move after the fast rally, he added.
4. Pichai Receives Flak: Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG employees reportedly criticized CEO Sundar Pichai for the botched launch of the company’s ChatGPT rival offering Bard. In posts on the internal forum, they reportedly described the troubled launch as “rushed,” “botched” and “un-Googley.”
5. Summers Says Inflation Gains Harder To Come By: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned that the consensus has become substantially too complacent about inflation. “We are getting closer to the red zone with respect to inflation. And I think the gains in terms of further reduction are going to come harder,” he added.
What Else: One of Apple Inc.’s AAPL biggest opportunities is in financial services but it could be the most challenging and time-consuming effort, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says.
Bloomberg reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is laying the groundwork behind the doors for announcing his candidacy for the 2024 presidential poll. A separate poll found that the governor’s chance of winning the Republican party nomination slims if there is a three-way race involving him, Donald Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Halley.
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