The Bot Brief

"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."       

- Victor Hugo

Bots in The News:

Issues surrounding the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank proved confounding to investors last week. The initial announcement came as a significant negative shock to the entire financial system. Later, however, the government reported that it would ‘guarantee’ all depositors even those with deposits greater that the traditional $250k. While a boon to depositors, the move was a reflection of a ‘bailout’ that would be ultimately burdened by taxpayers. The subsequent question, however, was what would the Fed do in the next round of inflation fighting tightening moves or would it shadow the course of easy money following previous financial calamities?

All in all, the market managed to produce a nifty return for the week with the S & P 500 gaining 1.43%. The bots did not perform to that standard, eeking out a mere 8 basis point increase.

Two of the best performers within the Bot Index included NVIDIA Corp. and Google, both with double digit increases for the week. Each had a return in excess of 12% due to the increasing competition in the AI race. Both have launched extensive campaigns to place them in the forefront of AI’s promise to be the next largest leap forward in automation. To underscore the competition, Google just announced it had formed a partnership with start-up AI firm Mid Journey.

Intuitive Surgical rose nearly 6% following an article by the Motley Fool entitled, “2 Unstoppable Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever”.

On the weaker end of the spectrum Oceaneering International fell 13.08% as earnings and revenues disappointed investors. While the sales were a near miss of only $800k, earning per share rose only $.06 while analysts were anticipating $.17.

As Jackie Gleason would have said, “To the moon, Alice”

He might just have said, “To the moon, AI” if he were alive today. Someone who is alive is Sam Altman, founder of the company that created ChatGPT. He was recently quoted as saying, “This will be the greatest technology humanity has yet developed, It will reshape society.” This falls on the heels of OpenAI’s announcement of a second-generation AI named GPT-4. This new release responds to images, processing up to 25k words designed to

respond to photos and providing descriptions using algorithms to create content.

Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association, Member IEEE.

The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists, and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured in the brief and its commentaries, analysis, opinions, and research represent the subjective view of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of material presented.