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Archive
Dead Doge Bounce
Musk is pumping Doge again, bitcoin and tech outperformed in Q1, US M&A activity slowed in 2023, China new home sales were up big in March, Germany fined and banned EY from some audits after Wirecard scandal, the DOJ sued Activision, McDonald's temporarily shut its US offices to prepare for layoffs, and the UFC's parent company bought WWE.

Great Q1, Everyone
Eurozone inflation slowed to 6.9% in March, US consumer spending rose 0.2% in February, Chinese companies are rushing for US IPOs, OPEC+ announced surprise production cuts, UBS will cut its workforce by 20-30%, Musk is eyeing a Twitter digital bank, Virgin Orbit is ceasing operations, and the White House will not pay for Twitter verification.

Wall Street Bonus Bear Market
Sam Bankman-Fried pled not guilty to campaign finance and China bribery charges, Q4 corporate profits showed biggest decline in five years, Wall Street bonuses fell 26% last year, bond issuances have slowed to a crawl, SNB's Credit Suisse lifeline could cost $11B, Citadel is reopening its Tokyo office, and Alphabet accused Microsoft of anti-competitive cloud practices.

The Big AI Scare
1,200 individuals including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak are petitioning for a pause in AI development, US pending home sales rose for the third straight month, Moody's sees limited US credit risks from banking crisis, AI Whisperer is the new hot job, the FDIC faces $23B in costs from bank failures, and Deutsche Bank's sell-off has brought attention to the CDS market.

Mickey Killed His Metaverse
FDIC began potential misconduct probes into SVB and Signature Bank, US midsized lenders are battling to keeping their deposits, SBF allegedly bribed Chinese government officials, five French banks were raided in tax fraud probe, Apple launched a BNPL service in the US, and Disney eliminated its Metaverse division.

Consolidation SZN
First Citizens acquired most of SVB's assets, global hedge funds cut exposure in US banking stocks to 10-year lows, housing prices in tech hubs are cooling faster than the broader market, UBS and CS tapped emergency SNB liquidity for merger, Microsoft threatened to restrict data from rival AI search tools, and Jack Ma returned to China.

Deutsche Tank(ed)
The IMF sees increased risks to financial stability, no companies with investment-grade ratings sold new bonds in the week of March 13th, small US banks see record drop in deposits, the US is mulling more support for its banks, and the Pentagon wants Silicon Valley to join the ranks of arms makers.

TikTok on the clock
Do Kwon (the Terra / Luna crypto guy) was arrested in Montenegro, the BOE raised rates by 25 bps, TikTok's CEO testified before Congress, UBS and Credit Suisse are facing a DOJ Russia-sanctions probe, Block's stock dropped 15% after a short-seller report was released by Hindenburg, and New York is still the top financial center.

TikTok Ban Coming Soon?
The Fed raised rates by another 25 bps, UK inflation hit 10.4%, bond markets are having their wildest swings since 2008, First Republic shares continue to tank, Indeed is cutting 2.2k employees, TikTok stars are rallying in DC against a potential TikTok ban, and office rents are dropping.

Daddy Dimon to the Rescue
Switzerland put up $280B for CS bailout, Jamie Dimon is leading rescue plan talks for First Republic Bank, Saudi National Bank lost $1B on its Credit Suisse investment, Credit Suisse will pay out bonuses/pay rises despite rescue takeover, Amazon is cutting 9k employees, Netflix is developing a cloud gaming service, and TikTok hit 150M US monthly users.

Credit BS
UBS is acquiring Credit Suisse for $3.25B, BoE is weighing ending its rate hike run, Americans are piling into T-bills, Goldman lost $200M in the market turmoil after SVB's collapse, Biden wants to ban execs of failed banks from the industry, and Berkshire has spent $1.8B on buybacks in 2023.
