High-income earners file for unemployment benefits at a record pace (2 min read)
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Fundstrat predicts that the upcoming rate hike by the Fed will be the last one, as wage inflation is set to weaken. It expects the Fed to raise rates by 0.25% next week, but considers it a "dovish hike," as high-income earners have filed for unemployment benefits at a record pace, leading to slower wage growth. The surge in unemployment claims for high-income earners comes after a slew of layoffs at mega-cap tech companies in recent months.

Housing-Market Bottom Raises Hopes That U.S. Can Avoid Recession (4 min read)

The US housing market is showing signs of bottoming out, boosting hopes that the country could avoid a recession. Historically, housing has been a key driver of the business cycle. Low rates increase demand for homes, drive up prices, and support consumer spending. Conversely, when the Fed raises rates, it tends to go in reverse. The Fed is set to wrap up its rate hiking campaign and mortgage rates have probably peaked. Many key housing indicators have also rebounded in the early months of 2023.

With its AI edge, Microsoft is eating into Google's search dominance (5 min read)
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According to their Q1 earnings, Microsoft's Bing search engine could be ahead of Google's search engine as it plugs AI into its technology. Google's revenues in "search and other" categories only rose 1.87% from a year ago, while Microsoft’s increased by 3.4% and the daily installs of the Bing mobile app grew four times since it added ChatGPT into the browser. Microsoft stocks also rose significantly more than Alphabet's after their earnings release, hitting a new record high, and led most of the gains on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

Meta shares pop on revenue beat and better-than-expected forecast (2 min read)

Meta's stock rose about 11% in the extended market on Wednesday after it announced Q1 revenue that beat analysts' expectations. The daily active users and average revenue per user were also better than expected. This is a reverse from the last three quarters where Meta’s revenue declined due to a shrinking ad market and iOS privacy update. Zuckerberg's plan to slim down the company through layoffs also boosted investor confidence. However, it’s still bleeding money in the metaverse division with a $4 billion operating loss for the quarter.

ETF Strategies to Follow Warren Buffett's Investing Wisdom (3 min read)
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Warren Buffett recently shared some of his market insights in a rare interview on CNBC. He believes that investors should diversify portfolios with assets that perform well during economic downturns. He also warned to be cautious about investing in banks, and discussed his view on cryptocurrency, apple’s ecosystem, and the current hype in AI. This article highlights several ETF options that are in line with Warren’s comments.

Cathie Wood’s ARKK Is Up. Do Investors Care? (4 min read)
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Investor interest in Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has waned despite the fund jumping almost 25% year to date. In the trailing 12 months, ARKK is still down over 32%, significantly underperforming benchmarks due to the market sell-off last year. Just two years ago, ARKK was the most successful and largest active ETF on US markets, but it has shrunk to nearly a quarter of its size. Morningstar currently gives ARKK a negative rating, and analysts have pointed to lackluster stock selection and limited portfolio vetting as issues.

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Thanks,
Thomas

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