Sam Altman gets fired and rehired

18th November 2023 – 24th November 2023 | Another week in the markets

S&P 500	Nasdaq	VIX	DJIA	Russell 1000	NYSE
4,559.34	14,250.85	12.46	35,390.15	2,494.21	15,983.82
1.13%	0.97%	-12.99%	1.27%	1.22%	1.70%
Nifty 50	Gold	Silver	Brent crude	USD-INR	EUR-INR
19,794.70	$2,003.70	$24.38	$80.15	83.31	91.21
0.32%	1.02%	2.57%	-0.58%	0.05%	0.33%

Source: MarketWatch 

Hello Saturday,

This week, the CEO of Binance steps down from his position due to a money laundering case, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman gets fired and rehired, and retailers get ready for explosive Black Friday sales.

• Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao steps down after pleading guilty to violating US anti-money-laundering requirements. 
• Nvidia smashes through expectations and records Q3 revenue of $18.1 billion, a 206% YoY increase. 
• OpenAI’s board ousts CEO Sam Altman, and then rehires him after 95% of the company’s employees threaten to leave.
• The medical inflation rate in India rises to 14%, one of the highest rates in Asia. 
• Retail players brace for Black Friday sales, with more people than ever expected to shop.

Taking stock | Binancial problems | NVID-AI | F(h)ired! | HealthScare | Black Fri-yay! | Invest wisely

Taking stock

The penultimate week of November remained favourable for the markets, partly due to the holiday mood. The Fed’s decision to hold off on interest rate hikes was yet another factor that contributed to the sustained market rally. US investment-grade bonds moved up 1% from a year ago. The major indices gained in the Thanksgiving week — while the S&P 500 gained 1.13%, the Dow and the Nasdaq rose by 1.27% and 0.97% respectively.

Binancial problems

The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has stepped down and entered a guilty plea in the face of money laundering accusations. Zhao will pay a fine of $50 million, while Binance will pay a total of $4.3 billion in fines.

An independent compliance monitor will oversee Binance’s operations, and Zhao will be replaced as CEO by Richard Teng. Although Zhao will not be actively involved with Binance for three years, he still has a controlling stake. 

The SEC sued Binance in June for engaging in illicit activity. According to the Justice Department, Binance carried out transactions without the necessary safeguards and violated sanctions, resulting in illegal transactions worth nearly $900 million.

NVID-AI

Wall Street is likely to remain enthralled by generative AI, given that Nvidia exceeded expectations in its third-quarter earnings report by tripling its YoY revenue.

The chip maker’s revenue soared 206% YoY to $18.1 billion, topping Wall Street estimates of $16.1 billion. Moreover, its earnings per share clocked in at $4.02, surpassing the expected $3.39.

Nevertheless, the company has also indicated that next quarter’s revenue is likely to be negatively impacted by export restrictions put up by China and other countries.

Founder and CEO Jensen Huang commented that NVIDIA’s rapid expansion reflects the industry’s broad platform shift from general-purpose to accelerated computing and generative AI.

Source: Forbes Advisor

F(h)ired!

On Friday, OpenAI’s board abruptly fired Sam Altman because of alleged inconsistencies in his communications and a lack of transparency with the board. 

Following the boot-out, Altman, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, and several other former staff members seemingly joined software giant and OpenAI investor Microsoft.

However, four days after his dismissal, Altman was rehired by OpenAI following a rebellion by more than 95% of its employees. Moreover, the board that fired Altman was almost entirely replaced.  

The exact reasons for Altman’s dismissal remain unclear. There has been speculation that OpenAI had made a major breakthrough some time before Altman’s sacking, and that the OpenAI board felt that Altman wasn’t taking AI-related safety seriously enough.

HealthScare

A new report on healthcare in India has indicated that India’s medical inflation rate has risen to 14%, becoming one of the highest in Asia. 

Rising health insurance prices are one consequence of India’s increasing medical treatment expenses.

Employees are facing a greater financial burden due to the surge in healthcare prices, with 71% of Indians paying medical bills out of their own pocket. According to the survey, over 90 million people are disproportionately affected by healthcare costs, which accounts for more than 10% of their spending. 

According to a Niti Aayog assessment, only 15% of India’s employees get help in the matter of health insurance from their employers. Given that the number of employees in India is predicted to increase from 522 million in 2022 to 569 million by 2030, more and more Indians could find it challenging to pay their healthcare costs. 

Black Fri-yay!

Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) has now turned into a global driver for ecommerce sales. Indeed, Thanksgiving week as a whole accounts for up to a sixth of the holiday season’s shopping. 

According to a Deloitte report, American consumers are predicted to spend 13% more during this week compared to last year. 

Moreover, a report by Adobe indicated that Cyber Monday (the Monday following Black Friday) could see US revenues of up to $12 billion, while Black Friday’s US revenues could be up to $9.6 billion. This report also predicted that this would likely be the first-ever mobile-dominant holiday shopping season, with Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X all expressing a clear preference for mobile shopping.

Lastly, Adobe has also indicated that ‘Buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) should see strong growth this year, and has predicted a US BNPL spend of $9.3 billion (compared to last year’s $7.7 billion).

Invest wisely 

While the global markets maintained momentum, India’s benchmark indices remained quite volatile.

The last week of November is expected to be affected by the lowered oil prices on the back of speculated production cuts, the cooling labour market, and consumer spending trims ahead of the holiday shopping season.

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Warm regards,
Another week
in the markets