Good morning. US stock futures dipped in Tuesday morning trading as investors continue to monitor negotiations in Washington and the possibility of a US government shutdown.

"Thoughtful investors build investment programs on a fundamental understanding of the reasons for pursuing a non-conventional approach"

David Swensen

Top News

Ratings agency: Government shutdown would be ‘credit negative’

WHAT: Moody’s is giving Uncle Sam a friendly warning: a US government shutdown would have negative implications for its credit assessment, and would highlight the weakness of US institutional and governance strength compared to other top-rated governments.

WHY: US government services would be disrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay if Congress fails to provide funding for the fiscal year starting Oct.1.

ECB President: Rates will remain restrictive as needed

WHAT: Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank is laying down the law: borrowing costs will remain elevated for as long as needed to tame consumer prices.

WHY: A key challenge for the ECB is judging how the economy responds to the 450 basis points of monetary tightening enacted since July 2022. The Eurozone outlook has worsened lately with Germany in particular being a weak spot.

Amazon goes big with splashy new AI investment

WHAT: Amazon’s making it rain in the tech world again! They’re tossing a whopping $4 billion at hot-shot artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic, bagging a crucial partner in their attempt to gain a foothold in the growing generative AI space.

WHY: The e-commerce and cloud computing giant has long taken stakes in partners it deems a priority including cargo airlines, a grocery distributor and an electric truck manufacturer.

In Other News

ChatGPT can now “see, hear, speak”

WHAT: OpenAI’s ChatGPT is leveling up, and it’s not just learning to chat — it’s mastering the art of voice and becoming quite the shutterbug too! The company announced a major update that will enable the viral chatbot to have voice conversations with users and interact using images, taking it closer to virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa.

WHY: The new ChatGPT features will be released for subscribers of its Plus and Enterprise plans over the next two weeks.

Nuclear fusion around the corner?

WHAT: The Biden Administration is on a mission to build a nuclear fusion facility in the next decade according to US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. In a recent interview with the Associated Press (AP), Granholm referred to nuclear fusion as a “pioneering” technology, adding it could transform power consumption for homes and businesses.

WHY: Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Proponents of nuclear fusion hope it could one day displace fossil fuels and other energy sources.

Hand over those messages, thank you…

WHAT: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been sweeping up thousand of messages like a digital detective, grabbing evidence from more than a dozen investment companies, as it continues its probe into Wall Street’s use on unapproved text messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Messenger to discuss work.

WHY: The SEC began to hone in on Wall Street’s record-keeping problem when JP Morgan Chase failed to provide documents from at least 2018 pertaining to an unrelated probe, according to a 2021 settlement, in which the bank agreed to pay the SEC $125 million to resolve charges over record-keeping lapses.

Key Economic Events

• Tuesday - Consumer Confidence Index

• Wednesday - US Trade Balance

• Thursday - US GDP Q-o-Q

• Friday - U. Of. Michigan Consumer Sentiment

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