What You Need To Know To Start Your Day

Investors say tech careers are superior to finance careers as hedge funds go all in on the US dollar. — Kristine Aquino, The Associated Press, Jan. 14th. — Hedge funds bet big on the US dollar.

‍

Betting in dollars

According to hedge funds, there is a chance that the dollar will reverse its longest weekly decline in almost three years. Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's latest data shows that leveraged funds have been net short all major currencies against the dollar for the first time since January 2022. Following Christopher Waller's comments on Friday, this bet was a success as it appeared that more rate hikes could be the answer to the persistently high prices. 

‍

Follies of the First Republic

Getting investors or a strong lender to take over First Republic has been one of its key challenges in finding an investor or a strong lender to take over its interest-only loans to wealthy homebuyers and property investors. A report by the bank due April 24 indicates that deposits in the first quarter declined by $40 billion, and one of the reasons many would-be rescuers are hesitant to invest cash is because of the bank’s debt portfolio, according to those who have been in their shoes. First Republic estimated in its annual report that if its home loan stockpile of $137 billion was to be sold off, it would leave them with about $19 billion less than their carrying value, based on its estimates at the start of this year.

‍

Finance vs. technology

In the latest MLIV Pulse survey, it was revealed that students graduating high school would be better off pursuing a career in tech than finance. The 678 professional and retail investors interviewed found it to be the best option for soon-to-be adults to invest in technology, even as Meta, Amazon and Alphabet have been layoffs, indicating that tech is the most sensible investment option. While artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly popular, Andrew Challenger, the senior vice president of human-resources consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., believes technology and finance will remain among the most lucrative careers in the next twenty or thirty years, regardless of the development of artificial intelligence. As Challenger said, "I don't see that going away anytime soon."

‍

The market is muted

A few minutes ago, at 5:34 a.m. in New York, S&P 500 futures were rising, while Nasdaq 100 contracts had also been climbing 0.2%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index traded near the day's high, which affected most of the Group of-10 currencies. A quiet day in bond markets saw little change in Treasury yields across the curve. In addition to oil declining while gold rising, Bitcoin dropped more than 1.4% to below $30k. 

‍

Up next...

The National Association of Home Builders will publish a report on housing at 10 a.m., followed by a manufacturing report at 8:30 a.m. We will receive a report about New York state manufacturing at 8:30 a.m. and a report on foreign purchases at 4 p.m. at the Treasury. Earnings from Charles Schwab, State Street and JB Hunt are expected to be high.