Chinese AI models gain foothold in Europe despite Brussels’ trepidation scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/ar…

China’s star tech companies rush to list in Hong Kong on.ft.com/4osJFTM

It's #Rally baby 🔥

What are the coming EU border controls and how will they affect Hongkongers? scmp.com/news/hong-kong/soci…

Over decades, Airbus has gone from a loose consortium to a genuinely pan-European giant in aircraft manufacturing. It has now surpassed the U.S. incumbents it was built to compete with, like Boeing. Read the new @bismarckanlys Brief here: brief.bismarckanalysis.com/p… 1/n

TikTok has launched a mass propaganda campaign today that shows why the app is a major threat to our democracy. At the bat of an eye, TikTok is swarming millions of users with a disinformation campaign to fight a bill in Congress. TikTok falsely claims that "Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok" and directs users to call their representatives. This is a bald lie. In reality, the bill would force TikTok in America to separate from its communist party-connected parent company in China called ByteDance. The US government does not have the authority to shut down TikTok at a whim. We have this thing called due process of law. But right now, teenagers are frantically calling Congressional offices and literally threatening to commit suicide if TikTok is shut down. It's that bad. This is only a taste of what's to come. Think about all the propaganda and chaos that the Chinese Communist Party will unleash through TikTok if China invades Taiwan (as it has said it will do) and draws the United States into war. Millions of people rely solely on TikTok for their daily news. The flood of wartime disinformation will be overwhelming. A huge sweep of America will struggle to separate truth from lies. The Party's strategy for its own population has always been to pressure people to turn on each other. That's how it secures its own total control. If they behave that way at home, they'll do it to their enemies, too. Delete TikTok now.

Today, we call on @UN Member States to recommend that #China stop eroding the judicial independence and the rule of law in #HongKong during the UPR of China on the 23rd of January. Hong Kong must not be forgotten.

Financial firms are flocking to Singapore but Hong Kong keeps its edge ti.me/3toog6n

This is a strategic own goal for the financial capital, writes @mbrookerhk trib.al/vqWzdC7 via @opinion

Goldman Sachs just released their AI report on economic growth. They predict 300 million jobs will be lost to automation. Here are the key takeaways everyone must know:

Lots of really bad takes about SVB. Let’s try and correct This is not a solvency crisis like 2008. Bad loans or poor investments were not made. Money was not lost. So, everyone is going to get their money back. (And please no takes about no interest rate hedging. Asset/liability mismatches are how banking works.) Instead this is an old fashion 1930s liquidity crisis. Too many depositors demanded cash at once (as in right now) and SVB (and SI) could not convert loans and securities (and crypto) to cash that quickly. So, everyone is getting their money back from SVB (and SI), just not at 8AM Monday. And, yes this is a big problem as this is working capital for a lot of companies. They have payrolls to meet and vendors to pay next week. And if they don’t pay bills and employees, they in turn don’t pay their bills and this can quickly cascade into a major economic problem. The important question is why so many demanded their money back at once. And I’m not referring to the last two days. I’m asking about the days/weeks leading up to this last two days forcing SVB to sell securities and realize a $1.8B loss, necessitating a capital raise. Why were depositors withdrawing in big enough amounts before Thursday/Friday? First, welcome to the world of mobile banking. Gone are the frictions of standing in line with tellers instructed to count money slowly. (Media images of lines Friday were largely gawkers) How did $42 billion get withdrawn Friday alone without thousands in line? Answer, your phone! This is not the Bailey Savings and Loan anymore. This should scare the hell of bankers and regulators worldwide. The entire $17 trillion deposit base is now on a hair trigger expecting instant liquidity. Add in social media and millions get a message, like Peter Thiel telling Founders companies to pull out, or Senator Warren gloating that SI went under, and pick up their phone open a Chase account and Venmo-ed their life savings into it in 10 minutes. Instant liquidity (not solvency) crisis with everyone still in bed. Banking will never be the same. The second, and I did a long thread on this on Friday … banks are over-reserved, after 14 years of QE, and are still paying 0.50% on accounts when T-bills are yielding 5.00%. They don’t need to compete for deposits. Initially as rates passed 2%, 3% and 4%, the public did not notice. So bankers thought deposits were well anchored at their bank and not moving regardless of the interest rate paid. But at 5% the public finally noticed, and millions reached for the phone at once and transferred to a money market account or Treasury direct to buy T-bills. Banks were squeezed to convert loans and securities to cash instantly so depositors could leave for better rates. Add in the bleed out from tech firms struggling, and Senator Warrens tweeting with glee about SI going out of business, and depositors at SVB got the message and picked up their phones and acted. This is why I have been tweeting that this has to stop now. The Fed is meeting Monday at 11:30. Too late! They need to meet today (Sunday) at 11:30. What needs to be done? Two things. The FDIC needs to raise the deposit insurance ceiling to unlimited as they did this in 2008. Besides $250k is a made up number anyway. So make up a bigger number. Banks need to get their deposit base to stop figuring out how to buy a 4.5% money market fund. They need to raise the interest rates they pay 3.00% - 3.50%, from 0.50%, immediately. Yes, this will kill bank profitability so expect Bank Execs to balk at doing this. This way the public gets the message that you money is safe, no matter the bank, or the amount, and the rate paid on your money is at least competitive with other alternatives. So, do nothing. Otherwise, if we are all waiting for the Fed to START a meeting at 11:30 Monday, hundreds of billions of deposits will have moved by phone and it will be far worse.

New on my substack: The idea that the GOP would push us into default once seemed to crazy to imagine. But who could imagine this party would have members that supported a coup and believe in a deep state, child-eating democrats, and Jewish space lasers? threats.substack.com/p/headi…

Since 2019, Hong Kong has slowly transformed into a brutal, unrecognizable place. Then came Omicron and a new kind of dystopia. @karenklcheung writes nym.ag/3R29b1s

Hubble Deep Field : This photo was taken by focusing the Hubble Telescope in the emptiest part of space for 10 days. Every blip in this photo is not a star, it's an entire galaxy More: cutt.ly/qKhMh0F

Where does your city rank? econ.st/3OltPIw

#HongKong has plummeted down an international press freedom chart as authorities have wielded a draconian new security law to silence critical news outlets and jail journalists, a new @RSF_inter report said on Tuesday. In full: bit.ly/3vCMw3j #pressfreedomday #WPFD

Our galaxy is one of trillions in the known universe. 🌌 #MondayMotivation

Nine out of ten Londoners can no longer afford the rent Insurance giant Admiral is sounding the alarm clock cityam.com/nine-out-of-ten-l… #Rent #Tenants #Landlord #Renting