The following are some of the news items mentioned on [2025-02-12 Wed]:

  • Trump trades of dollar continued strengthening has faltered in the first two months of 2025
    • 10 Year treasury yields are down to 4.54 percent from a high of 4.8 percent
    • US currency has fallen by 0.4 percent
  • AI Paris Summit 2025 - US does not sign any agreement with Europe to ensure safe and transparent AI
    • At the AI Action Summit held in Paris from February 10 to 11, 2025, the United States and the United Kingdom declined to sign a joint declaration aimed at promoting “inclusive and sustainable” artificial intelligence (AI). This declaration was endorsed by 61 countries, including France, China, and India.
    • U.S. Vice President JD Vance emphasized concerns that excessive regulation could hinder innovation. He stated, “We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship.” Vance highlighted the importance of maintaining the U.S.’s leadership in AI and expressed apprehension about international frameworks that might stifle technological advancement.
  • Trump announced that 25 percent tariffs on all steal and aluminum imports would take effect on March 12 2025
  • Trump ordered the DoJ to halt the enforcement of a US anti-corruption law that bars Americans from bribing foreign government officials to win business
    • While President Trump’s executive order has paused FCPA enforcement, it does not necessarily mean that the case against Gautam Adani is closed. The future of this case will depend on forthcoming DoJ guidelines and potential alternative legal strategies.
  • China will launch a network of silver trains for elderly tourists as part of a plan to unleash the spending power of the one of the world’s fastest-ageing population.
  • Musk group offers 100B USD for non-profit unit of OpenAI
  • Unicredit reported record profits for 2024. Full year profits rose to 9.7 Billion Euros
  • 2024 Top companies by profit
Royal Dutch Shell Netherlands $22.5 billion
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton France ~$11.3 billion
Allianz SE Germany ~$10.0 billion
Volkswagen Group Germany ~$9.7 billion
TotalEnergies SE France $7.2 billion
  • Current marketcap of Robinhood is 50B USD
    • Might report profit for the first time since the three years it went public
    • Most revenue coming from crypto trades and not the usual stocks and options trading
  • Coinbase marketcap is 70B USD
  • Interactive brokers has about 600B USD in custody whereas Robinhood as about 200B USD in custody
  • US endowment funds are rushing to build bitcoin portfolios
  • DBS profits in 2024 were 8.4B USD
  • Palantir market cap at 260B USD. Stock rises by 1/3 in the last one week. The stock has given 300 percent returns in the last 6 months
  • As of November 2024, Vanguard had about $10.4 trillion in global AUM.
  • Vanguard is now moving in to active management, advisory space and also investing in technology as core strategic moves