Gold Orbits Around $2400 Mark, 25% up in the year ending July 2024

Gold has gained 25% in one year, shooting from 1925 on 10 July 2023 to 2384 on 8 July 2024. In five years, gold has gained 70% from a level of 1425.

Japanese Yen Falls to Record Low versus USD

USDJPY is trading at 160 yen to the dollar (26 June 2024), down from the 140s in January 2024, and 130s in January 2023.  Relative strength indicators suggest the yen is oversold. When USDJPY hit 160 on April 29th, Japan started buying yen for dollars, according to market participants. Currency traders however remained strategically bearish on yen based on expectations on the interest rate differential - the premise that Japanese rates will remain low in contrast with relatively high US interest rates. Standard Chartered reflected that the April intervention is unlikely to be a "one and done move".

Abu Dhabi backed Redbird IMI selling Telegraph and Spectator

Prospective owners can bid from June 21st.

Walmart Tops the 2024 Fortune 500

Top companies are Walmart, Amazon and Apple. The threshold to make the 2024 list was $7.1 billion in revenue. The Fortune 500 makes up two thirds of US GDP. US GDP was 25 trillion in 2022.

UBS and Credit Suisse Merger to Close on 31 May 2024

The merger of UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG is expected to complete on 31 May 2024. 

Merger of the US intermediate holding companies and Swiss specific entities is on hold for future quarters pending regulatory approvals. 

UBS made a net profit of 1.8bn USD in Q1 2024 with underlying QoQ revenue growth of 15%. A reduction of USD 16bn in RWA for non-core and legacy was achieved reflecting active unwinds. RWA now stands at 526bn USD. It spent 523m USD on integration expenses in Q1.

Musk raises $6bn for xAI

 xAI has raised $6n from investors including Andreesen Horowitz to bring its “first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies.” Some of this money will go into data centers with some expensive GPUs. Founder Elon Musk is also suing its competitor OpenAI for its partnership with Microsoft citing an abandonment of its mission to benefit humanity.

Griffin Urges Al-Mat to Embrace "Western Values"

Citadel hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has stopped giving funding to Harvard over how it has handled campus protests. He has stressed a necessary return to values of meritocracy, speaking at the Managed Funds Association Conference in Miami.