Dear valued client,
Markets lost ground this week after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates by 0.5 basis points (and hinted at more rate hikes well into 2023). The rate increase was preceded earlier in the week by U.S. inflation figures for the month of November coming in at 7.1% (down from 7.7% in October and 8.2% in September).
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, was arrested on Tuesday in the Bahamas at the behest of American authorities and will likely be extradited to the United States. Limited information has been released thus far, but we know the criminal charges SBF faces include: wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering. Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank investor and former spokesperson for FTX has committed to gathering the data, following the money, and figuring out exactly where it all went. He lost approximately $10M in his deal with FTX.
China’s loosening of its zero-Covid policies is resulting in a huge wave of cases. This isn’t unsurprising given that Chinese citizens have been locked up for the past two years. Visits to fever clinics spiked 16x this week. Estimates predict that roughly 60% of Chinese residents could be infected in the current wave – totaling 840 million people. This is partly due to the CCP refusing to import mRNA vaccines from Western countries, instead relying on domestic vaccines.
This week saw an extremely exciting breakthrough on the energy front. Scientists at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory successfully generated a nuclear fusion reaction with a net energy gain. In other words, it produced more energy than it used. This development has been decades in the making and has the potential to create energy to power the world without emitting carbon or radioactive waste. It will still take some time before nuclear fusion becomes viable as a global source of energy.
“Scientific progress makes moral progress a necessity; for if man’s power is increased, the checks that restrain him from abusing it must be strengthened.” – Madame de Stael
Have a terrific weekend.
PW
PS. GO MESSI!
