What we’re reading (4/15)
“Trump’s Fed Chair Pick Is Caught In An Unprecedented Standoff” (Wall Street Journal). “Kevin Warsh’s path to leading the Federal Reserve took a key step forward this week—and possibly two steps back. On the same day that the Senate Banking Committee announced the date of his confirmation hearing to become the next Fed chairman, prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office sought to escalate the very investigation that threatens to delay his appointment.”
“What’s Driving The Wartime Stock Rebound” (New York Times). “Bullish sentiment is powering global markets on Tuesday, as stocks recover and oil prices fall amid hopes for renewed U.S.-Iran talks. That’s even as the U.S. blockades ship traffic into and out of Iranian ports, the threat of Iran-linked militants wreaking more havoc on maritime trade continues and big differences remain between Washington and Tehran over the shape of a deal.”
“Apple Could Win The AI Race Without Running” (Axios). “Apple isn't burning mountains of cash to buy GPUs for the sake of training AI models and processing prompts. Nor is it investing huge sums in frontier labs like OpenAI or Anthropic, as are rivals like Amazon and Microsoft. Why it matters: Apple may reap the rewards of everyone else's spend. Success from the sidelines. Apple's playbook: Keep selling high-end consumer hardware that will become even more essential as AI becomes more ubiquitous.”
“Tax Refunds Shoot Up As Americans Take Advantage Of New Deductions” (Washington Post). “The Internal Revenue Service is sending more money back: The average refund for the almost 100 million households who had already filed their returns as of April 3 was $3,462, more than 10 percent above last year’s average of $3,116 for similarly early filers.”
“Struggling Shoe Retailer Allbirds Makes Bizarre Pivot To AI, Adds $127 Million In Value” (CNBC). “Allbirds made a surprising announcement Wednesday that it is pivoting from shoes to artificial intelligence. The move boosted shares of the miniscule market cap company — it was valued at about $21 million at Tuesday’s close — by 582%. The shares, which were under $3 a day ago, jumped to about $17. The company announced that it’s pivoting its business to AI compute infrastructure in a release posted to its investor relations page.”
