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Open to ideas in finance, markets, and econ

The best consumer AI hardware product is severely underhyped: The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

If you wear glasses, you should try them. The most useful product is the one that is with you.

Mine cost ~$350 with transitions rx lenses.

Looking back on the progression of Elon Musk comments on full self-driving🚗

This is your irregular reminder that the PMIs are total garbage.

They should be ignored by those trying to understand the economy and faded by those trading markets.

For instance, the S&P Global Services looks nothing like services spending:

Musk sees a 'good chance we will sign a deal this year, probably more than one' to license FSD to automakers.
But it would be 'probably three years' before it would actually end up in their products due to how long the development time is at Tesla's rivals, the CEO adds. $TSLA

Suggests growth lull will be shorter than feared. $TSLA also signals its confidence in its non-car business, showing its ecosystem strategy map, a preview of its autonomous ride hailing app and an image of its Dojo AI training super computer. Also compute capacity soared in Q1.

Feel like this is the key bull takeaway: “We have updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025.”
Adds this includes “more affordable models”, a possible nod to M-2.

Up 6% in the after-market based on what they said not what they did. Markets are funny.

Confidence grows that #gasprices likely have hit their seasonal peaks. Typical caveats apply, but I’d say I’m 85% sure most Americans will see #gasprices gently fall in the weeks ahead of Memorial Day.

JPMorgan surveyed professional investors at their IMF/World Bank Spring Meeting and they seem a bit more bullish on bitcoin than in the past. 33% still see $BTC below 60,000 though.

Tom Barkin, Richmond Fed chief, is usually considered a Fed hawk—but sounds very neutral/centrist here and not alarmed by recent hot inflation data. Taped in North Carolina. Looking forward to listening to.

Incredible live reporting.

Mercedes has sold at least 65 autonomous vehicles in California fortune.com/2024/04/18/mer…

Also NEW for FORTUNE today: Have you noticed more of those LinkedIn Collaborative Articles lately, w/their AI-generated topics? I have: That led to this piece about the user backlash & a look at those trying to game the system.

fortune.com/2024/04/18/lin…

Key takeaway: Rice University prof explains how an AI 'feedback loop' is similar to the spread of Mad Cow Disease

“Diseased dead cow flesh was fed to young cows in an ever-repeating cycle that led to brain-destroying pathogens being amplified beyond control.”

KC Fed in beige book: 'The number of foreign-born workers available for hire rose in the District. However, few contacts indicated that immigrant workers were a notable source of new labor supply, as barriers to hiring were difficult to overcome.'

Dallas Fed beige book:
'A Dallas Fed survey of about 350 Texas business executives in March showed that wage growth was 4.9 percent over the past 12 months, on average, and is expected to slow to 3.6 percent over the next 12 months.'

D.R. Horton was asked if they're seeing more investor homebuyers:

'We've seen a little bit of a tick up in interest... they [investors] are still being cautious, rates are where they are.. but there are large appetites to place capital into this space at scale'