What we’re reading (7/31)
“U.S. Stocks Roar Back In 2023 To Book Best Seven Months To Start A Year In Decades” (MarketWatch). “The S&P 500 just wrapped up its best performance through the first seven months of a year since 1997, when it gained 28.8% through July, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The index rose 31% in all of 1997, FactSet data show.”
“Local Malls, Stuck In ‘Death Spiral,’ Plunge In Value” (Wall Street Journal). “Older, low-end malls are worth at least 50% and in some cases more than 70% less than they were when mall valuations peaked in late 2016, said Vince Tibone, head of U.S. retail and industrial research for real-estate research firm Green Street…About a fifth of all malls financed through commercial mortgage-backed securities are underwater, meaning the properties are worth less than the loans they back, said Kevin Fagan, head of commercial real-estate economic analysis for Moody’s.”
“Gallium And Germanium: What China’s New Move In Microchip War Means For World” (BBC). “China is due to start restricting exports of two materials key to the semiconductor industry, as the chip war with the US heats up. Under the new controls, special licences will be needed to export gallium and germanium from the world's second largest economy. The materials are used to produce chips and have military applications. The curbs come after Washington made efforts to limit Beijing's access to advanced microprocessor technology.”
“The Robots We Were Afraid Of Are Already Here” (New York Times). “Over the last few years, significant resources have been thrown at making robots profitable — and this is paying off. More companies are competing to solve the problems that have traditionally come with automation, and many are succeeding. ‘People are finally making money,’ said Samuel Reeves, chief executive of FORT Robotics, a Philadelphia start-up focused on robot safety. ‘You’ve got legit work being done by mobile autonomous robots. And that’s only in the past two or three years.’”
“AI’s Growing Legal Troubles” (Wall Street Journal). “It turns out OpenAI scanned giant repositories of books, named Books1 and Books2—reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’s Thing 1 and Thing 2. OpenAI hasn’t said what’s in Books2, which may include more than 300,000 books. Ms. Silverman’s enjoined suit says these ‘shadow libraries’ are ‘flagrantly illegal.’”
