Job growth totals 253,000 in April, beating expectations even as the U.S. economy slows (4 min read)
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Nonfarm payrolls in April showed that the US added much more jobs than expected, increasing by 253,000 compared to estimates of 180,000. The unemployment rate was also below expectation at 3.4%, the lowest since 1969. The hourly earnings rate rose 0.5%, exceeding the predicted 0.3%, making it the largest monthly gain in a year. While April’s figures were a surprising development amid recession concerns, there is a chance it might be revised as figures in previous months were sharply revised lower recently.

ECB policymakers promise more hikes to beat inflation (3 min read)
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The European Central Bank (ECB) raised the key rate by 0.25% on Thursday, the smallest increase since it started hiking last July. The smaller increase has prompted the money market to price a high likelihood of another 0.25% rate increase next month but were less convinced that the ECB would hike again after that. However, ECB policymakers have confirmed their intention to continue raising rates until inflation is under control, despite financial market doubts.

PacWest Powers Regional-Bank Rally, Easing Some of the Pain (4 min read)
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US regional banking stocks rebounded, led by PacWest, after a week of losses which some investors believed was overdone. PacWest's shares rose a shocking 88% on Friday, their biggest gain ever, while Western Alliance Bancorp and Charles Schwab also rallied. Concerns about unrealized losses on bond investments and exposure to real estate lending caused turmoil in regional banks since early March, with four collapsing. However, some analysts say the selloff has gone too far and sentiment could rebound in the near term. 

Apple Stock Jumps And Dividend Boost (2 min read)
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Apple stock was up nearly 5% on Friday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings driven by iPhone sales jump. Revenue from iPhone sales rose 1.5% from last year and much of it came from emerging markets such as India, Mexico, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Despite declines in Mac and iPad sales, Apple's services business, including Apple Pay and iCloud, grew 5.5%. The company also authorized a new $90 billion share buyback and boosted its dividend by a penny. So far this year shares of Apple gained around 39%.

Can AI Power the Future of Investing? (Podcast)
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Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the future, making differences across all industries. In the investment world, it is changing how funds select stocks and track indexes. There are currently 30 ETFs with exposure to AI and a total of $6.3 billion in assets under management, highlighting a corner of the market with significant room for growth. This podcast is with the Senior Portfolio Specialist at Teucrium where he explains how AI is reshaping the investing landscape.

Why the inflows? A ‘two-sided equation’ for bank ETFs (2 min read)

Despite the ongoing banking crisis, some investors are piling into regional bank ETFs such as the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE), which pulled in $108 million in inflows last month. Two possible reasons for the inflows are value players coming in to buy and short-sellers looking to borrow shares. KRE is down more than 38% this year as many of its individual stocks have been dropping fast. However, an expert suggests that not all of them have problems on their balance sheet, which might be why it’s attracting value investors.

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Thanks,
Thomas

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