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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, aims to secure $1 billion in equity financing to compete with industry leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. The company, co-founded by Musk, has already garnered $135 million from investors, as revealed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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DailyAlts Playbook: America on Fire, Goldman Shorts the Dollar, a $41 Trillion Hole, and the Death of Pensions.
Friday morning, I was out for dental surgery and now I have another surgery in two weeks. Three days ago, I would have told you that the biggest threat to the market rally was the renewed tensions between the United States and China.
Alternative Investments: Ares Management Agrees to SEC Settlement
Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) agreed to settle a complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ares is paying a $1 million settlement to the SEC. This will resolve a complaint that Ares failed to implement and enforce policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information.
Liquid Alternatives: RIP 60:40. Liquid Alts Solve the New Equation
Volatile equity markets and declining fixed income yields have turned the traditional 60:40 portfolio allocation between stocks and bonds on its head. According to one study, an investor would today need to allocate 83% to equity, 15% to real estate, and only 2% to bonds to earn a similar rate of return as a couple of decades ago. Unfortunately, such a high component of equity would push up the portfolio’s volatility and risk to unacceptable levels. Liquid alts can be the solution to this dilemma.
Liquid Alternatives: Insurance-Linked Securities Attractive Amid Covid-19 Economy
S&P Global Ratings said in a recent report that the COVID-19 pandemic had “showcased” the value of publicly traded catastrophe bonds (cat bonds) to investors. The bonds formed a liquid asset class that was not correlated with the current volatile financial markets.
Artificial Intelligence: AI May Provide Early Warning of Heart Damage Due to COVID
The National Science Foundation has issued a grant of $195,000 to researchers at John Hopkins University to study the use of AI algorithms for detecting heart disease amongst COVID-19 patients. There is increasing evidence that COVID-19 damages a patient’s cardiovascular system, causing “cardiac events” such as heart attacks, abnormal heartbeats, and death
FinTech: The PPP Loan Program Helps Kabbage Bounce Back
Kabbage, the online fintech lender for small businesses, announced Monday that it processed more than $3.5 billion in SBA-approved PPP funding to 110,000 small businesses. It claimed the loans helped restore over half a million jobs at America’s smallest businesses.
Private Equity: Blackstone Group Filings Update for Q1 2020
Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) continued to deploy capital as the market declined in the first quarter of the year. On the private side, Blackstone has been investing in life sciences deals, casino operators, energy companies, and, of course, more warehouses.
FinTech: Post-COVID-19, Fintech To Emerge Stronger, Says Dubai Future Foundation
“Life after Covid-19: Financial Technologies,” a report issued by the Dubai Future Foundation, examines the impact of the pandemic on the UAE and the Arab world, and in particular, the fintech sector. The report reassuringly concludes that the sector would emerge stronger from the crisis as people take to digital services to run their lives.
iCapital Network: The Potential Benefits of Investing in Private Equity Secondaries
In this guest post from Kunal Shah and Tatiana Esipovich at iCapital Network, the authors explain how secondary funds offer the potential for diversified private equity exposure and an attractive risk profile. By: Kunal Shah and Tatiana Esipovich The secondary private equity market comprises the buying and selling of preexisting investor commitments to private market funds….
Fintech: Swedish Loan Refinancier, Anyfin, Raises $30M Series B
Anyfin is a fintech that refinances consumers’ loans and is regulated by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. It refinances consumer credit loans up to 200 000 kr, such as unsecured debt, payments, credit cards, installments or other credits. However, mortgages are not included. The firm raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by EQT Ventures.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Algorithm Diagnoses Alzheimer’s Disease Better Than Experts
Alzheimer’s Disease is extremely difficult to diagnose with symptoms varying from patient to patient and opinions differing from doctor to doctor. Diagnosis typically involves the analysis of data such as the patient’s medical and family history, MRI images of the brain, and cognitive abilities. The inherent subjectivity in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease leads to errors and resulting fatalities in the range of an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 annually. However, an AI algorithm can now diagnosis Alzheimer’s Disease much more efficiently.
Artificial Intelligence: The AI That Powers Walmart’s Express Delivery
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has an inventory of 160,000 items offered through its Express Delivery service that launched last month. The service is already on offer at 100 stores in the U.S. as a pilot test and will be extended to 2,000 stores this month. The system relies heavily on AI.
Digital Assets: Paul Tudor Jones to CNBC on Bitcoin: “It’s a Great Speculation”
Paul Tudor Jones, the founder, and chief executive at Tudor Investment Corp. told CNBC that Wall Street could be having a grandstand seat at the historic “birthing of a store of value” in bitcoin. The storied investor trashed fiat currencies for the destruction in their purchasing power due to incessant money printing by central banks.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Nudges the $10,000 Mark, Fans Bullish Targets
On Thursday, Bitcoin briefly flirted with the $10,000 mark. That’s a very fast rebound from the massive sell-off Bitcoin suffered in March due to the impact of the coronavirus. At the time, it touched a low of $4,017, in what appears in hindsight to be a mouth-watering price. It is now trading at $9,850, showing an appreciation of 145%. According to Coindesk, high volume buying on spot exchanges such as Coinbase triggered the crypto’s lunge at $10,000.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin, the First-Born Crypto, is Highly Bullish (Bloomberg Report)
The Bloomberg Crypto Outlook, May 2020 edition, issued by Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike Mcglone, is unreservedly bullish on the prospects of Bitcoin. The “firstborn cryptocurrency” seems to be firing on all cylinders, being supported by favorable supply, demand, and macroeconomics.
Alternative Investments: Carlyle Group Reports Loss in First Quarter
Like most of the other publicly traded private equity firms, the Carlyle Group (NYSE: CG) recorded an accounting loss for the first quarter.
The loss is a result of mark to mark accounting rules than none less than Warren Buffett has labeled ridiculous. Without the markdowns, Carlyle had Distributable Earnings of $175 million for Q1 2020 on a pre-tax basis or $0.48 per common share on a post-tax basis. Over the last 12 months, the alternative asset manager had distributable earnings of $721 million, or $1.93 per common share.
DailyAlts Playbook: Buffett Ditches Airlines, Wall Street Movies, Black Swans, and Stimulus Estimates.
This morning CNBC is covering the Berkshire Hathaway meeting the same way that ESPN covers the day after “The Last Dance” on ESPN. The big focus is on Buffett’s message “Nothing can basically stop America.” But my two key takeaways – as I assess Buffett’s career and philosophy – center on Berkshire’s decisions during March. My generation is one that looks at Buffett as a nice grandfather who likes to spend time with the family – not the ruthless businessman who was able to get General Electric to pay him 10% in 2008 on top of $3 billion in stock. It’s one of the reasons why people say “You mean the guy getting ice cream with his grandkids in HBO’s Too Big to Fail.”
The DailyAlts Playbook: Two Years of COVID? ,The Meb Faber Interview, Amazon’s Coronavirus Shift, and Tesla Tussles…
The coronavirus has now officially affected more than 3.27 million people, with nearly 234,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Last night, China announced that the Hubei province – where officials first detected COVID-19 – will start to relax its lockdown rules starting tomorrow. The province’s health commission announced Friday that it will decrease its emergency response level to its second-highest grade tomorrow. Elsewhere around the globe, Iran, Russia, and Singapore reported an increase in cases. Meanwhile, in the U.S., major airlines have announced plans to require passengers to start wearing face masks or facial coverings from check-in to departing the plane.
Alternative Investments: A Conversation with Meb Faber of Cambria Investments
This week, we sat down with Meb Faber of Cambria Investments to discuss his investment approach and how it can help investors miss the massive sell-offs that occur in the stock market. We also discuss his tail risk strategy that uses Treasury Bonds and options to hedge equity portfolios in turbulent times. Meb Faber is the author of seven investment books and the host of The Meb Faber Show Podcast. Cambria Investments offers 11 different Exchange Traded Funds based on Meb’s investment philosophy.
DailyAlts Playbook: Chinese Firms Hit the Exits, Musk’s Rant on “Fascism”, Hedge Fund Returns, and Unemployment Totals
This morning, all eyes are on the U.S. Department of Labor as it reports the latest figure on unemployment benefits across the United States. More than 30 million people are now seeking unemployment benefits across America. The news comes a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that we are facing the worst economy in history. Powell said after the two-day FOMC meeting that Americans can expect to see terrible economic data during the second quarter. He also said that the Fed is prepared to provide more liquidity to the market and suggested that small businesses may need additional funding to keep their lights on.
REITs: Green Street Warns COVID-19 Will Eliminate Half of Malls
The COVID-19 pandemic could mean the end of the line for many malls around the United States. Green Street Advisors, one of the best real estate and REIT research and investment firms in the country, says that more than half of all the department store anchored malls could be closed by the end of 2021. More than 60% of the anchor tenant space in these malls will likely empty by then as well.
Alternative Investments: Warren, Ocasio-Cortez Move to Stop M&A Activity During COVID-19 Pandemic
Two prominent Democrats are moving to pass the Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act, legislation to stop mergers while the U.S. deals with COVID-19. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez are pushing the bill. This new bill would place a moratorium on all mergers reported to the FTC. It would also stop any deals involving firms with more than $100 million or engaged in private equity.
Digital Assets: Which of Debt, Equity, or Digital is Best to Hold in a Recession?
Whereas the value of stocks and bonds has declined due to the coronavirus pandemic, digital assets have not fundamentally lost value, says Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca. Further, investors are beginning to think more about the “return of capital” than “return on capital,” writes Dorman in an article titled “Digital Assets Are More Recession-Proof Than You Might Think.”
Digital Assets: IBM Creates Blockchain Platform to Onboard New Suppliers for COVID-19
As the coronavirus pandemic rolls across the globe it has created a severe shortage of supplies such as masks, gowns, sanitizers, test kits, gloves, ventilators, thermal scanners, consumables, and medicines. The huge unmet demand has attracted many new suppliers who have shifted from their usual line of business to make and/or supply these products for COVID-19. IBM (NYSE: IBM) has established a blockchain-based platform to bring these new suppliers and COVID-19 buyers together.