Fed Projections See an Economy Dramatically Reset by Trump’s Election [WSJ]
Months ago, policymakers presumed they would spend 2025 gradually cutting rates to keep inflation heading down without a big rise in joblessness to achieve the so-called soft landing. The latest projections point to the prospect that tariffs covering a swath of goods and materials will send up prices while sapping investment, sentiment and growth, at least in the short run…. “You’re looking at a whiff of stagflation,” said Jay Bryson, chief economist at Wells Fargo.
‘Musk needs to change course’: One of Tesla’s biggest bulls says Musk needs to refocus as stock flounders [Yahoo! Finance]
[Dan] Ives said two things need to happen — and soon — to stem the negative tide on Tesla and get the stock back on track…. First, Musk must formally announce he is going to balance his role as leader of the White House Department of Government Efficiency task force and CEO of Tesla. With the perception that he is spending “110% of his time with DOGE,” Musk needs to recommit his attention to the struggling automaker…. Second, and more important for Tesla’s business, Musk must finally give a “roadmap” for the lower-priced EVs Tesla has been promising since last year and that are slated for production in 2025.
SoftBank to Buy Ampere, a Silicon Valley Chip Start-Up, for $6.5 Billion [NYT]
Ampere was founded eight years ago to sell chips for data centers based on technology from Arm Holdings, a British company that licenses chip designs that have powered nearly all mobile phones. SoftBank, which bought Arm in 2016, has been working to have chips based on Arm technology used more widely and for different tasks…. Ampere has mainly marketed its microprocessors for general-purpose data center jobs. But it recently announced plans for a chip, called Aurora, that features up to 512 small calculating engines, a design the company says is especially suited for A.I. inferencing applications.
Billions Flowed Into New Leveraged ETFs Last Year. Now They’re in Free Fall. [WSJ via MSN]
Among the worst performers: A fund that offers investors twice the exposure to shares of MicroStrategy, the software company-turned-bitcoin collector, has plunged 83% since touching its November high. Another ETF, which offers similar leverage on Tesla, is down 80%….
Assets under management in leveraged ETFs jumped by 51%, to $134 billion, in the 12 months ending Jan. 31, according to Morningstar…. The funds have crashed since, and while they are still up since inception, the average investor is down a lot. The two funds have saddled investors with an estimated $1.7 billion in losses since launching seven months ago….
Signs of an Office Market Bottom: ‘The Worst Is Probably Over’ [NYT]
Sales of office buildings across the country totaled $64.3 billion last year, up nearly 21 percent from 2023…. In newer offices in higher-cost markets, like New York, Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas, the average asking rate of $65 per square foot was up nearly 17 percent from the previous year….
That demand could spread to lower-end buildings as fewer spaces in prime buildings are available and a lack of new construction constrains supply, said Mike Watts, president of investor leasing in the Americas at CBRE. That’s particularly true in robust markets like Miami and Midtown Manhattan, both of which saw vacancy rates drop last year, CBRE said.
Sandals Resorts Taps Bankers to Explore Sale [WSJ]
A deal for the Jamaican company could fetch $6 billion to $7 billion…. Sandals previously explored a sale around 2019, but those efforts fizzled once the Covid-19 pandemic struck…. Sandals is working with bankers on the sale process, which could draw interest from other big hotel owners and private-equity suitors. A deal would rank among the biggest real-estate transactions of the year.
