⚜️ Gold Reaches All-Time Highs

1) Richest People In The World 2) Gold At Record Highs, 3) March Inflation Runs Hot and more!

Author

Carbon Finance
April 12, 2024

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Happy Friday!

Banks are kicking off earnings season with JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup set to release earnings this morning.

This week, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, released his annual letter to shareholders. It’s a lengthy, but interesting, read nonetheless as Jamie always shares his opinion on a wide array of topics.

Some key data bites from this week that you should know: 

  • U.S. Employers added 303,000 new jobs in March.

  • The Biden Administration pledged $6.6B to help Taiwan Semi $TSM expand its chip facilities in Arizona.

  • Instagram generated Meta $META $32.4B in revenue in 2021.

  • Blackstone $BX acquired rental housing owner AIR Communities $AIRC in a $10B all-cash deal.

  • Boeing’s $BA deliveries dropped more than half year-over-year in March to 29 airplanes.

  • TikTok owner ByteDance saw profit jump 60% in 2023.

  • U.S. equities now make up more than 70% of global developed markets.

  • Wells Fargo $WFC raised their year-end S&P 500 target to 5,535.

  • Adobe $ADBE is buying videos for $3/minute to train its AI models.

In today’s newsletter:

  • 💰 Richest People In The World

  • ⚜️ Gold Reaches All Time Highs

  • 🔥 March Inflation Runs Hot

Let’s dive right in!

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Luxury never goes out of style.

Bernard Arnault, with a staggering net worth of $233B, retained his crown as the world's richest man, according to Forbes' 2024 World’s Billionaires list.

Arnault, the CEO behind the luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, has amassed a portfolio that includes lavish names like Tiffany & Co, Christian Dior, and Sephora.

The French mogul is the only European in the top 10, which is mostly made up of Americans, with India's Mukesh Ambani also securing a spot.

The billionaire count is higher than ever, Forbes notes, reaching 2,781—up 141 from 2023, demonstrating a growing trend in global wealth accumulation.

Hotdogs and rotisserie chickens aren’t the only things that are popular at Costco.

Gold bars can be added to the list as well.

The retail giant has found a golden goose, with Wells Fargo estimating sales of gold bars reaching a staggering $200M per month.

The company began selling the bullion in late summer 2023.

Gold has had a strong start to the year, with spot prices rising more than 16%, ahead of the S&P 500’s ~10% return.

Central bank purchases appears to be the key driver.

In 2023, China added 225 tons of gold to its reserves, outpacing all other central banks.

The commodity now accounts for 4.3% of its total reserves.

Has anyone seen Jerome Powell?

Inflation appears to be on the rise again.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their March CPI report, revealing a 0.4% increase for the month.

This sums up to a 3.50% increase over the past year.

These figures surpassed the anticipated 0.3% monthly increase and 3.40% annual rate.

Notably, shelter and gasoline were the main contributors to this uptick, together accounting for more than half of the monthly rise.

Market expectations have shifted accordingly, with the CME’s FedWatch Tool now predicting the year's first rate cut in September, a delay from the previously forecasted June.

Moreover, economists at banks like Goldman Sachs and UBS, are scaling back their forecasts to just two rate cuts from three.

If inflation continues to run hotter than expected, the possibility of no rate cuts this year could be in the books.

Tired of the common noise of financial news?

Get the pre-market briefing that curates the most relevant market news to start your day, for free.

Market Briefing saves you from ad interruptions, endless scrolling, and opinion overload. Their team sifts through the clutter and delivers a bespoke briefing of the day’s news, spanning Wall Street to Silicon Valley, in a neat 5-minute read.

Click below to automatically join execs from Goldman Sachs, Plaid, RedBull, BofA, and more...

💰 Gold Currency. Zimbabwe launched a new gold-backed currency - R

🚕 Robotaxi Announced. Elon Musk announced Tesla $TSLA will unveil its Robotaxi on 8/8 - X

🇻🇳 Death Sentence. A Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death over the country’s biggest financial fraud case to date  - CNBC

💉 Cancer Breakthrough. Moderna’s $MRNA cancer vaccine may treat more than melanoma - MW

💾 New AI Chip. Intel $INTC released its new AI chip, Gaudi 3, aiming to compete with Nvidia $NVDA - BB

Notable Companies Reporting Earnings Next Week:

  • Monday (4/15):

    • Goldman Sachs $GS, M&T Bank $MTB

  • Tuesday (4/16):

    • UnitedHealth Group $UNH, Johnson & Johnson $JNJ, Bank of America $BAC, Morgan Stanley $MS, PNC Financial Services $PNC, The Bank of New York Mellon $BK

  • Wednesday (4/17):

    • ASML Holding $ASML, Abbott Laboratories $ABT, Prologis $PLD, U.S. Bancorp $USB, Crown Castle $CCI

  • Thursday (4/18):

    • Taiwan Semiconductor $TSM, Netflix $NFLX, Intuitive Surgical $ISRG, Blackstone $BX

  • Friday (4/19):

    • Procter & Gamble $PG, American Express $AXP, Schlumberger $SLB

All of the companies that are reporting earnings next week can be viewed here.

Major Trades Published Since 4/5. Trades may be those of family members. [Source: 2iQ]

Buys

  • Josh Gottheimer (D)

    • Company: AMD ($AMD)

      • Amount Purchased: $2K - $30K

    • Company: D.R. Horton ($DHI)

      • Amount Purchased: $2K - $30K

    • Company: Block ($SQ)

      • Amount Purchased: $1K - $15K

Sells

  • Mark Green (R)

    • Company: NGL Energy Partners ($NGL)

      • Amount Sold: $100K - $250K

  • Greg Steube (R)

    • Company: Synovus Financial Corp ($SNV)

      • Amount Sold: $15K - $50K

Put your money to work in a high-yield cash account with up to $2M in FDIC† insurance through program banks.

Get started today, with as little as $10.

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