What we’re reading (4/3)
“Is The US Dollar In Danger?” (CNN Business). “About 60% of the $12.8 trillion in global currency reserves are currently held in dollars, giving the US an exorbitant privilege over other countries. And that privilege pays: Because US government debt backed by the dollar is very attractive, interest rates are lower. The US gets to borrow from other countries in its own currency — so if the US dollar loses value, debt does too. American businesses can make international transactions in dollars without having to pay conversion fees.”
“Massive S&P Options Trade May Have Roiled U.S. Stocks On Thursday” (Reuters). “Traders are pointing to a massive quarterly options trade on Thursday they said was from a JPMorgan fund as one reason why the stock market took a nosedive late in the day, as options flows linked to the trade exacerbated market weakness. The S&P 500 Index fell 1.2% in the last hour of trading on Thursday, marking the largest hourly drop for the index in more than three weeks.”
“From Apple To Google, Big Tech Is Rushing To Build VR And AR Headsets” (The Economist). “Children are no longer the only ones excited about “extended reality”, a category which includes both fully immersive virtual reality (VR) and the newer technology of augmented reality (AR), in which computer imagery is superimposed onto the user’s view of the world around them. Nearly every large technology firm is rushing to develop a VR or AR headset, convinced that what has long been a niche market may be on the brink of becoming something much bigger.”
“Billionaire Trader Ken Griffin Navigates A Flock Of Black Swans” (Forbes). “There will be serious repercussions, with Russia, China and others seeing no option but to diversify away from the greenback. De-dollarization by a China-Russia-Iran-Brazil trading bloc could easily morph into the exclusion of American companies and investors from fast-growing markets. ‘Have we laid the seeds for the setting of the American era of technological superiority?’ Griffin asks.”
“How Microsoft Became Washington’s Favorite Tech Giant” (Wall Street Journal). “Mr. Smith, a Microsoft veteran of almost 30 years and president for seven, has maneuvered his company to an enviable position in a regulatory environment that is increasingly hostile toward tech titans. Once an antitrust pariah itself, Microsoft is now widely seen by regulators as the friendly party among today’s top tech companies, a status government officials and Microsoft insiders say flows largely from Mr. Smith’s cultivation of friends in Washington.”
