Highlights: The regional bank crisis seems to have passed as the stock market closed higher for the second day. Tech continues to lead the gains with chip stocks among the best performers on Thursday. For the month, the Nasdaq was up more than 4% and the S&P 500 climbed about 2% higher despite the noise from the banking collapses and another rate hike by the Fed. 

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The final estimate for GDP shows the US economy grew at 2.6% last quarter (2 min read)
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The US economy grew by 2.6% in Q4 2022, lower than the initially estimated 2.9% and the revised 2.7%. Consumer spending, exports, non-residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending also slowed down in Q4, contributing to the step back in growth. Oren Klachkin, a US economist at Oxford Economics, said that the US economy is expected to slow down due to tighter lending conditions, high inflation, the Federal Reserve's rate hikes, and projects a 2.5% GDP growth in Q1, and a mild recession in the second half of 2023.

US Jobless claims edge up to 198,000, higher than expected (2 min read)
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US jobless claims last week totaled 198,000, up 7,000 from the previous week and a bit higher than the 195,000 estimates. Although the number came in higher than expected, it still indicates that companies are slow to lay off workers despite banks and economists’ expectations that the unemployment rate will rise this year. The four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims also rose slightly to 198,250 after last week’s increase but has been below 200,000 since mid-January.

'Big Short' Michael Burry Admits He Made a Bad Call (2 min read)
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Michael Burry, the famous investor who predicted and financially benefitted from the housing collapse in 2008, has reversed his previous bearish advice for the current stock market climate. Burry tweeted that he was wrong to say sell and shared charts to show that investors today are behaving outside of the norm going back to the 1920s. This is not the first time he changed his mind though. He previously compared the collapse of SVB to the failure of energy broker Enron, but recently stated that the current crisis is not a real danger and can be resolved quickly.

Bed Bath & Beyond again warns of bankruptcy if new stock offering doesn’t pay off (2 min read)
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Bed Bath & Beyond has warned it may file for bankruptcy protection again if a proposed $300 million stock sale is unsuccessful. The company disclosed that its lenders had downsized its loan, and the stock offering may be its only solution. Amid heavy debt loads and a sharp decline in sales, the company has been actively looking for buyers and investors to hopefully stay out of bankruptcy. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond have been tumbling since the potential of bankruptcy was announced a few months ago, and it fell another 17% on Thursday after the news.

Learn How to Invest in AI ETFs (5 min read)
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Artificial intelligence has become a rapidly evolving disruptive technology since Microsoft’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard emerged. There are various ways to gain exposure to this growing industry, such as direct stock ownership, mutual funds, ETFs, or venture capital funds. This article focuses on investing in AI through ETFs and highlights some of the benefits and risks involved. It also provides a list of the current top US-listed AI ETFs based on AUM.

ETF strategies for long-term outperformance (2 min read)
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Investors should stay long-term invested with a steadfast asset allocation plan to outperform, despite fears of recession and bank failures, according to a portfolio strategist at Schwab Asset Management. Other experts also advise against getting caught up in near-term market turmoil as no one can predict the market timing and the market upswings. Looking back on history, there’s always going to be something that comes along in the market. However, in the long term, the ETF trend is still up and at a fairly significant trajectory. 

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Thomas

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