Dear valued client,
Both Canadian and American markets had major rallies this week posting gains of 5.7% and 5.75% respectively after several weeks of sell-offs.
Following the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank decided to hold interest rates steady at 5.25-5.5%. Jerome Powell made it clear another interest rate hike is still on the table and alluded to a much more resilient economy than expected.
The Biden administration released an executive order this week with the intention of regulating AI technology. Because the government is a leading technology consumer, the order will require advanced AI models to undergo assessments before they can be used by federal employees. This, however, is only a starting point that establishes important norms. As technologies evolve, the regulations keeping them in check will (ideally) evolve in lockstep.
As the conflict in the Middle East rages on, Israel deployed troops deeper into the Gaza Strip this week as it expands its ground effort to dismantle Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 attacks. The U.S. has urged Israel to adopt a more targeted approach by better distinguishing Palestinian civilians from Hamas and minimizing the risk of a wider conflict. Though Israel appears to be heeding the U.S.’s advice, their leaders said they believed exerting more military pressure on Hamas would lead to a quicker release of the roughly 230 hostages it kidnapped to Gaza.
After a month-long trial, Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto exchange FTX, was found guilty of all seven criminal charges against him. The charges included wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering. After the verdicts were read, Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said, “Sam Bankman-Fried committed one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. The cryptocurrency industry might be new. But this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time and we have no patience for it.” SBF faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison.
“The fraudster’s greatest liability is the certainty that the fraud is too clever to be detected.” – Louis J. Freeh
Have a terrific weekend,
PW
