The end is near - AI taking over they say...

OPEC+ Suprise cuts - not the best tine for that move.

Some bankers may be in hot water after their recent poor judgement.

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Warm Up

- 1st Quarter scores gains

- Gold and Silver breaking out

- Never let a good crisis go to waste?

- More layoffs... Big names making news

- OPEC Surprise !

Market Update

- Tech BIG winner 1Q 2023

- Yields down -- even though inflation still high

- Reflex trades - all tied to rates

- More layoffs coming

- AI names making a run - with all chatter about AI doomsday

----- FRIDAY MARKETS CLOSED

Twitter Logo Update  = Dodgecoin Ramp

Happy Passover and Happy Easter (The Usual Holiday Price Drops for Political Purposes)

- Bought 5 dozen eggs from Walmart yesterday for $12.75

- Matzah prices coming down as well

AI Doomsday !

- They are coming for your job

-- The letter, issued by the non-profit Future of Life Institute and signed by more than 1,000 people including Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, called for a pause on advanced AI development until shared safety protocols for such designs were developed, implemented and audited by independent experts.

- Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in training of systems more powerful than GPT-4, they said in an open letter, citing potential risks to society and humanity.

- The letter also detailed potential risks to society and civilization by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities.

---AI and Your JOB -

-- Goldman Sachs: The boost to global labor productivity could also be economically significant, and

nee estimate that AI could eventually increase annual global GDP by 7%. (Savings from less workers... less workers = less $ to spend)

- Goldman Sachs Estimates That 300 Million Jobs Will Be Affected By AI In The Future

QUESTION: Isn't this the same concerns we had in 2000?

AI Banned

- Italy has become the first country in the West to ban ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot from U.S. startup OpenAI.

- Last week, the Italian Data Protection Watchdog ordered OpenAI to temporarily cease processing Italian users' data amid a probe into a suspected breach of Europe's strict privacy regulations.

- How can they do this? Must be workarounds

More Tech

- Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers for 'multi-year' savings

- Google said it's cutting back on fitness classes, staplers, tape, and the frequency of laptop replacements for employees.

- “We've been here before," Porat's email stated. "Back in 2008, our expenses were growing faster than our revenue. We improved machine utilization, narrowed our real estate investments, tightened our belt on T&E budgets, cafes, micro kitchens and mobile phone usage, and removed the hybrid vehicle subsidiary.”

- “Just as we did in 2008, we’ll be looking at data to identify other areas of spending that is as effective as they should be, or that don’t scale to our size.”  (2008 references???)

McDonalds ?

- MCDONALD'S has shut down its offices temporarily as the company reportedly prepares for mass staff layoffs.

- Corporate employees were instructed to cancel meetings at its headquarters.

- The company said in the memo that the layoffs are intended to make McDonald’s more efficient.

- “We have a clear opportunity ahead of us to get faster and more effective at solving problems for our customers and people and to globally scale o...