Layoffs Are in Vogue: 82,000 Axed in January

In January, over 82,000 workers were cut from their positions, a ten-month record high.

Financial firms led the cull with 23,238 job cuts, tech companies added 15,806 layoffs, and even the food and retail sectors felt the sting.

Companies in finance and technology have not seen layoffs soaring this much in nearly 15 years.

Furthermore, unemployment is nearly at a three-month peak at 224,000 by the end of January.

Despite this, the nation's unemployment rate remains surprisingly low at 3.7%.

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Meta is Getting in the AI Chip Business

Meta (Facebook's parent company) is rolling out a custom AI chip - codenamed "Artemis."

This chip is set to turbo-charge apps like Facebook and Instagram, not to mention their trendy Ray-Ban smartglasses.

Meta is not ditching Nvidia's gear altogether though. The aim is to minimize high energy bills and increase cost-effective AI workloads.

"Artemis" is focused, at the moment, in optimizing inferences based on user cues. But, aspirations are for a chip that can do it all, just like Nvidia's GPUs.

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Tether's Titanic Market Share: A Catastrophe Brewing?

Tether (creators of USDT stablecoin), is closing in on a staggering $100 billion milestone. By far the largest stablecoin by market share.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a steady value by being linked to another asset, like the US dollar. Essentially a safe haven from price swings common with other digital currencies.

But JPMorgan is cautioning that Tether's dominance could spell trouble for the broader crypto landscape.

JPMorgan is concerned with the lack of 'compliance and transparency' surrounding Tether. If something goes wrong with Tether, it could affect the entire crypto market.

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Meta and Amazon Soar with Belt Tightening Strategies

Meta and Amazon embarked on rigorous cost-cutting missions throughout 2023 winning big for their investors.

This led to better-than-expected profits, boosting their stocks by an astonishing $270 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, will get $700 million annually, thanks to the company's new dividend policy.

Meanwhile, Amazon's cloud sales jumped 13%, calming fears of a slowdown, while advertising revenue saw a fourth consecutive period of growth.

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