What we’re reading (7/3)
“Remote Work Sticks For All Kinds Of Jobs” (Wall Street Journal). “Workers in unexpected jobs are clocking more time from home than before the pandemic hit. It isn’t just white-collar workers logging in from bedrooms instead of boardrooms. Lower-income, less-educated and service-industry workers spent more time working from home, on average, last year than before the pandemic struck.”
“Spread Between 2- And 10-Year Treasuries At Deepest Inversion Since '81” (Reuters). “The closely-watched spread between the 2-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields hit the widest since 1981 at -109.50 in early trade, a deeper inversion than in March during the U.S. regional banking crisis. The gap was last at -108.30 bp.”
“The True Threat Of Artificial Intelligence” (New York Times). “A.G.I. [artificial general intelligence] doesn’t exist yet, but some believe that the rapidly growing capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT suggest its emergence is near. Sam Altman, a co-founder of OpenAI, has described it as ‘systems that are generally smarter than humans.’ Building such systems remains a daunting — some say impossible — task. But the benefits appear truly tantalizing.”
“America’s Factory Building Boom” (Wall Street Journal). “Congress passed two measures last year that aimed, in part, to build America’s manufacturing capacity back up. While the ultimate economic ramifications of these moves will take years to play out, this much is certain: If you spend it, they will build.”
“What Apple Did To Hit $3 Trillion” (Slate). “[W]hile it seems like Apple shouldn’t be setting all-time stock market highs, and shouldn’t be up 53 percent this year, the company is much better positioned to remain at the $3 trillion level than when it first reached it, briefly, in early 2022. With a whole lot of cash, a little financial manipulation, and a growing services business, Apple has thrived in a period of rising interest rates. And now that the worst of a tough economic moment is likely behind it, it’s set to flourish in the rebound ahead.”
