Good morning. US stock futures rose in Friday morning trading as investors get set to wrap up the end of the second quarter and first half of 2023.

"Capital will always go where it’s welcomed and stay where it’s well treated"

Walter Wriston

Top News

White House adviser: Inflation will go lower

WHAT: Lael Brainard, the head of the US National Economic Council and chief economic adviser to President Joe Biden is oozing with confidence that inflation will take a nose dive in the second half of this year. Speaking at an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Brainard said inflation had been on the decline for the past 11 months and expects it to be considerably lower by the next election cycle.

WHY: “There’s every reason to think that inflation could reach the range of around 2% or slightly above 2% before the next election” Brainard said.

Antitrust enforcer raises competitive concerns over AI

WHAT: Generative AI, the mastermind behind apps like ChatGPT has caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In a blog post, the Commission’s Bureau of Competition, along with its Office of Technology raised concerns over the effect of the emerging technology on competition.

WHY: “Generative AI depends on a set of necessary inputs. If a single company or a handful of firms control one or several of these essential inputs, they may be able to leverage their control to dampen or distort competition in generative AI markets” the blog post said.

Crypto firm challenges regulators “authority”

WHAT: Coinbase is throwing some epic shade at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They are boldly proclaiming that the SEC lacks “authority” to sue the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US. The company is questioning whether the SEC has the ability to regulate the crypto space, arguing that they don’t even have a valid path for crypto issuers to register with them.

WHY: The SEC alleged in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that Coinbase violated securities law by operating an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.

In Other News

Monster deal

 WHAT: Monster Beverage is gearing up for an electrifying deal! They’re about to scoop up rival energy drink maker Bang Energy in a whopping $362 million acquisition out of bankruptcy.

WHY: Bang’s parent company filed for bankruptcy last October after a California jury awarded Monster $293 million against Bang and its former CEO Jack Owoc.

Amazon in line of sight of regulators…again

WHAT: Rumor has it that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is ready to unleash a legal storm on Amazon’s online marketplace. According to reports from Bloomberg, the agency’s main beef is that Amazon uses its power to reward those online merchants that use its logistics services and punishes the ones that don’t.

WHY: The agency’s antitrust case targeting Amazon’s marketplace has been in the works for a long time according to the report. According to Bloomberg, Amazon got the notice for the initial FTC investigation in 2019.

Subscribers sticking to Snapchat

WHAT: Snap is celebrating a milestone in the realm of subscription services - they’ve managed to wrangle in 4 million paying customers for their Snapchat+ service. The news comes on the one year anniversary of the social media platform launching the service which costs subscribers $3.99 per month.

WHY: The announcement also comes as a handful of other social media platforms are similarly trying to find new ways to get users to pay for services.

Key Economic Events

•  Friday - U. Of. Mich. Consumer Sentiment

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