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Tag Archive for: (UBER)

Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Reimagining Tech and the Workforce

Tech Letter

Students hoping to become bankers shouldn’t study finance, they should dive into programming.

This is the big takeaway from how investment banks are run these days.

Gone are the moments when finance degrees were the hottest commodity, now it is all about generative AI.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs, a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs says.

It could replace a quarter of work tasks in the US and Europe but may also mean new jobs and a productivity boom.

And it could eventually increase the total annual value of goods and services produced globally by 7%.

Generative AI, able to create content indistinguishable from human work, is "a major advancement", the report says.

Silicon Valley is keen to promote investment in AI in not only the United States but in a way that will ultimately drive productivity gains across the global economy.

AI will complement the way bankers work, not disrupting it - making finance jobs better, rather than taking them away.

The report notes AI's impact will vary across different sectors - 46% of tasks in administrative and 44% in legal professions could be automated but only 6% in construction and 4% in maintenance, it says.

Journalists will therefore face more competition, which would drive down wages unless we see a very significant increase in the demand for such work.

Consider the introduction of GPS technology and platforms like Uber (UBER). Suddenly, knowing all the streets in London had much less value - and so incumbent drivers experienced large wage cuts in response, of around 10% according to our research.

The result was lower wages, not fewer drivers.

Over the next few years, generative AI is likely to have similar effects on a broader set of creative tasks.

According to research cited by the report, 60% of workers are in occupations that did not exist in 1940.

However, other research suggests technological change since the 1980s has displaced workers faster than it has created jobs.

Nobody understands how the technology will evolve or how firms will integrate it into how they work.

Lower wages and higher output are a perfect recipe for higher technology share prices and that is exactly what we will get.

Currently, we are experiencing a mild pullback from the AI mania, but that is simply because it got too far ahead of its skis.

I am quite disappointed in the price action in a stock like Amazon (AMZN) which announced a major investment in an AI startup, but the stock sold off the next day.

The AI pixie dust has leveled off in the short term, and the broader tech market is being dragged down by spiking interest rates.

I do believe in the AI hype, but these trends don’t go up in a straight line and need time to digest which often results in short-term pullbacks.

 

 

 

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/robothuman.png 760 1556 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-09-27 16:02:292023-09-27 17:55:42Reimagining Tech and the Workforce
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

July 3, 2023

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
July 3, 2023
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(WILL AI DESTROY THE JOB MARKET?)
(JPM), (AI), (UBER)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-07-03 15:04:372023-07-03 19:38:51July 3, 2023
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Will AI Destroy the Job Market?

Tech Letter

A major Wall Street Bank has delivered us a stunning report telling us Artificial intelligence (AI) will replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs.

Has science fiction finally arrived to jostle elbow-to-elbow with the working class?

I believe that report has been manufactured out of hyperbole.

Don’t forget that Wall Street is usually wrong in many of their predictions so take their analysis with a grain of salt.

Many of JP Morgan’s (JPM) top equity analysts have been publically telling us for the whole of 2023 that the stock market will fall to pieces because of an “earnings recession.”

I won’t name names but they couldn’t have been more wrong if they tried.

I do visualize AI taking jobs out of the US economy, but the truth is a lot more nuanced than that.

This report said that AI could replace a quarter of work tasks in the US and Europe but may also mean new jobs and a productivity boom.

And it could eventually increase the total annual value of goods and services produced globally by 7%.

Generative AI, able to create content indistinguishable from human work, is "a major advancement", the report says.

The report notes AI's impact will vary across different sectors - 46% of tasks in administrative and 44% in legal professions could be automated but only 6% in construction and 4% in maintenance, it says.

What ChatGPT does, for example, is allow more people with average writing skills to produce essays and articles which is completely accurate.

However, articles produced with no “voice” or individualism lack authenticity.

So it’s not fair to say that journalists will face more competition, which would drive down wages unless we see a very significant increase in the demand for such work. Funnily enough, journalism is quickly dying in 2023 because of a human element instead of an artificial one as mass journalism has turned into activism that does the bidding of whoever is sponsoring the newspaper.

Consider the introduction of GPS technology and platforms like Uber (UBER). Suddenly, knowing all the streets in London had much less value - and so incumbent drivers experienced large wage cuts in response, of around 10% according to our research.

The result was lower wages, not fewer drivers. However, GPS systems have nothing to do with creating unions which is another human element that AI cannot predict. If Uber drivers around the world could unite through human solidarity and muster up a functional workers union, then Uber would need to pay through the roof for benefits like paid time off, health care insurance, and sick leave.

I am not going to sit out here and talk about AI as if the human element is stripped out of anything AI is related to.

That analysis would be utterly incomplete.

And if generative AI is like previous information-technology advances, the report concludes, it could reduce employment in the near term.

Oddly enough, the jobs largely at risk to AI are white-collared jobs that are repeatable. This type of job stretches the gamut from clerical secretaries to computer programmers and interior designers.

The 300 million jobs estimated to be replaced is not something I agree with wholeheartedly.

A lot needs to go right to get anywhere close to that number.

The more interesting part of the technology is deploying the best parts of it to supercharge existing jobs like economic analysis and stock market prediction.

This is where the Mad Hedge Fund Trader comes in where I might be performing in the future at 500X of what I do now and even though that’s not an official “replacement” job, it would net the economy +500 because of the productivity gains.

Similarly, there will be outsized winners who deploy this technology who will net more than 1,000,000X increased productivity of pre-generative artificial intelligence.

Therefore, this technology is much more interesting at the top end of the job market than the lower end and this phenomenon will certainly supercharge tech stocks that jump into this groundbreaking technology AT THE TOP END.  

 

ai jobs

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-07-03 15:02:322023-07-10 00:09:46Will AI Destroy the Job Market?
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

June 12, 2023

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
June 12, 2023
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(GREEDFLATION WINS OUT)
($COMPQ), (UBER)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-06-12 19:04:342023-06-12 19:16:34June 12, 2023
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Greedflation Wins Out

Tech Letter

Tech companies are doing well and so is the overall stock market.

It doesn’t make sense to listen to all the doomsday personalities going on national TV to scare us out of making money.

Just zone them out – they are useless.

Back in the real world, the excellent performance is great news for holders of US tech stocks who have been carrying the load in 2023.

The tech-based Nasdaq index ($COMPQ) has returned 27% YTD and anyone betting on an “earnings recession” has had their head handed to them.

Mr. Market has continued to look through any risk presented and shrugging it off like it doesn’t matter.

We have been waiting for that recession which hasn’t arrived for almost 3 years now.

People will have to continue to wait too as the job numbers have been excellent.

Instead, we should focus on why tech companies are doing so well and what makes their balance sheets tick.

In a widespread industry survey, 89% of respondents said US companies have been raising prices in excess of their own costs since the pandemic began in 2020. Almost four out of five said that tight monetary policy is the right way to tackle profit-led inflation.

The surge in corporate markups cannot be understated and tech companies have done exceptionally well with Uber (UBER) rides more costly as just one little example among many.

Margins soared in the initial pandemic years, and have defied convention by remaining historically high since then.

The unique circumstances of the pandemic – severe supply constraints, followed by an unprecedented burst of stimulus-fueled demand – lie behind the widening of profit margins, which hit 70-year highs in the US.

Even if margins come down a little because customers start to balk at high prices, the price reductions will be most likely incremental.

Standard economic theory holds that profit margins are “mean-reverting’’ – in other words, they tend to be pulled back to normal levels. It’s supposed to work like this: An industry with high profits should attract new entrants, with increased competition forcing margins lower.

However, many tech companies are operating as de-facto monopolies in their subsector and possess an unprecedented amount of pricing power for the products they sell.

This has led to the idea more colloquially known as “greedflation.’’

Until a rising backlash against monopolies or oligopolies triggers buyer protests, the tech playbook should be to buy those companies that look most similar to monopolies.

Ultimately “greedflation’’ is great for holders of tech stocks and not necessarily good for US consumers.

Clearly, there is a profit honeymoon with the likes of big tech raking in the dough.

They can even push out aggressive and abstract products like the Apple VR headset for $3,500 per clip.

That’s not a defensive strategy as well as absorbing billions to develop the product.

Coupled with the lust for anything generative AI, the conflation with higher margins has triggered a momentous rally in tech stocks.

As we narrow down our paths for the rest of the year, a demonstrative easing cycle is setting up promising to catapult tech stocks another leg up from current levels.

The considers that inflation is dropping fast from 5% to 4% and projections could find us in the 3%-ish range in the next month or two which is a strong tailwind for tech stocks.

It’s hard to see where the sellers come in and I would continue to buy every small dip in every quality tech stock name.

 

us tech stocks

 

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-06-12 19:02:462023-06-28 20:53:27Greedflation Wins Out
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

May 12, 2023

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
May 12, 2023
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(GOOGLE ENTERS THE A.I. GAME)
(GOOGL), (UBER), (MSFT)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-05-12 16:04:132023-05-12 18:28:05May 12, 2023
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Google Enters the A.I. Game

Tech Letter

Google rolling out a catalog of artificial intelligence products delivered a nice boost to its share price.

I was expecting this at some point and after getting caught off guard by the strategic moves that Microsoft (MSFT) made, I am not surprised they rolled this out so quickly.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, was up over 4% yesterday.

This is just the beginning of the A.I. revolution and CEO Sundar Pichai has figured out how to keep GOOGL’s share price going up.

All you need to do is keep saying “A.I.” and investors will back up the truck to load as much stock as possible.

This tactic has worked awfully well because if you strip out the stock gains related to A.I. in 2023, the Nasdaq would most likely be down this year.

Tech being as it is, only a handful of companies are able to take advantage of this structural change in the sector.

Personally, I am not so sold on OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Of course, I can change my mind, but it hasn’t impressed me yet.

I asked a few test questions myself and one of the answers to my question about making a fortune quickly was disappointing.

ChatGPT told me I should become an Uber driver, rent out a single room in my house, and complete online surveys. It then rounded out the answer by telling me to sell my old stuff on eBay.

These are answers that I doubt many would consider ways to make fortunes.

I can see how replacing clerical white-collar jobs could be applicable with this technology, and that means a lot of jobs.

However, the jobs that require using data to make forecasts are not replaceable by A.I. simply because back-tested data can’t just be regurgitated for the future.

Some of the recent hype is nothing more than marketing chutzpah which Silicon Valley is good at.  

But I do still think Google is going in the right direction and investors will coalesce around this A.I. love fest without even doing due diligence if the tech works well or not.

Google is attempting to reclaim its crown as the leader in artificial intelligence with PaLM 2, a “next-generation language model” that the company says outperforms other leading systems on some tasks.

Revealing the cutting-edge AI at its annual I/O conference, alongside a foldable Pixel phone and a new tablet, Google said it would be built in to 25 new products and features, as the company moved ahead of competitors after years of producing AI research but few products.

The most obvious way to interact with PaLM 2 will be in Google’s own chatbot, Bard, which is opening up to the general public for the first time and rolling out globally.

Utilizing PaLM 2’s multilingual capabilities, Bard is also available in Japanese and Korean, as well as English, and the company intends to support 40 languages in time.

The key question is Google able to follow through to carry the stock through a recession?

The A.I. pivot won’t get Google through alone because there is no meaningful revenue coming from A.I. yet.

I would most likely believe that Google shares will consolidate if a recession comes to pass at the end of 2023.

The job market at 3.4% has continued to be resilient and big tech has become more efficient by firing all the fake jobs with high salaries.

Even on a strongly red day, Google has still held the day mostly in the green showing readers how effective spinning the A.I. story can be. That should continue until the next big disruptor.

Buy GOOGL on the dip.

 

google a.i.

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-05-12 16:02:112023-05-31 18:29:07Google Enters the A.I. Game
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

March 24, 2023

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
March 24, 2023
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(BLOCK GETS BLOCKED)
(SQ), (UBER), (META)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-03-24 17:04:492023-03-24 22:07:45March 24, 2023
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Block Gets Blocked

Tech Letter

Hindenburg research has done some great work unearthing fraudulent companies and I believe there isn’t a great chance that their research about fintech Square (SQ) gets debunked.

Square shares cratered by 15% yesterday which piles on the pressure as we are right smack dab in the middle of a global banking crisis.

Europe is now on the ropes.

Hindenburg’s main argument is that Block allowed criminal activity to operate with sparse controls and “highly” inflates Cash App’s transacting user base, a key metric of performance.

It’s common for tech companies to skirt the rules.

Just look at companies like Uber and Facebook.

It’s largely believed that not playing fair is the way to get ahead in Silicon Valley and Block is no different.

It seems that it’s only a problem if one is caught.

The aggressive managing style of tech can backfire big time.

A 2-year investigation has shown major gaps in the business model and the company essentially facilitated dodgy behavior on the Cash App via “unbanked” customers.

The report alleges those unbanked customers were involved in criminal or illicit activity.

The firm’s extensive report includes screenshots of internal systems and employee messages. It also highlighted alleged financial misreporting.

Up to 35% of Cash App’s revenue is derived from interchange fees, Hindenburg alleged. That’s around $892 million in revenue that the short seller said should be capped by law.

But Block, formerly known as Square, avoids that regulatory cap imposed on large financial institutions by routing the revenue through a small bank, Hindenburg alleged.

The report notes that “this appeared to be an effort to grow Cash App’s user base by strategically disregarding Anti Money Laundering (AML) rules.”

Former employees estimated that 40%-75% of accounts they reviewed were fake, involved in fraud, or were additional accounts tied to a single individual.

Block has misled investors on key metrics and embraced predatory offerings and compliance worst practices in order to fuel growth and profit from the facilitation of fraud against consumers and the government.

Although I understand that some tech firms operate on the margins, there is a limit to some of these shenanigans.

Fake accounts are something right out of the page of Wells Fargo playbook and it does nothing in the long term to grow trust between investors, shareholders, or the end user.

Time and time again, there has been a long laundry list of tech management that has failed to meet a higher standard, and gone are the times when we glamorized tech management like they are some type of savior.

The truth is that they are mediocre people at best and for every great executive there are many underwhelming ones as well.

I would stay away from Block’s stock until they can prove they are clean and I would buy the dip in other names that breed more trust in what they are doing.

 

block

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-03-24 17:02:552023-04-02 02:14:19Block Gets Blocked
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

March 6, 2023

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
March 6, 2023
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(DEALING WITH A BLACK BOX)
(TSLA), (UBER), (LYFT)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2023-03-06 16:04:452023-03-06 22:23:20March 6, 2023
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