Weekly Insider: 3 minutes read

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🌏 China-Russia: A Friendship with Global Impact! 🤝

China and Russia are cozying up, and it's got the world talking! 😮 After Putin’s moves in Ukraine, their friendship is booming. Putin's heading to Beijing for his 43rd meeting with Xi Jinping, showing off their bond.

💰 Trade between them hit $240 billion last year, with China selling cars, phones, and buying Russian energy. But it's not just goods—China’s also key in Russia’s defense industry, despite US warnings. China doesn't care about politics when it comes to trade. It's doing business with everyone, including Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

🇨🇳 Beijing’s making moves to reshape global power, building a parallel economic world that challenges the US-led west. Analysts say China’s Belt and Road Initiative is just the beginning. It’s all about China's plan to take back its historical glory, supported by countries like Russia and its leader, Putin.

📉 But it's not all smooth sailing. US sanctions are making things tricky, and China’s cutting back on trade with Russia to avoid trouble. As the saying goes: There's no such thing as forever friends between countries, only forever self-interest. 🤔

Biden Goes Big: 100% Tariffs on Chinese EVs! 🇨🇳

The Biden administration is gearing up to slam Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) with massive tariffs, aiming to protect American automakers from fierce competition.

Next Tuesday, get ready for some big news: tariffs on Chinese vehicles are set to quadruple from 25% to a whopping 100%, making it crazy expensive to sell them in the US, reports the WSJ. And it’s not just cars—tariffs on other clean energy goodies like batteries and solar cells are getting hiked too!

📈 These sky-high tariffs mark a major escalation in the US–China trade war, especially in the battleground of climate technologies. 🤔Why all the fuss over Chinese EVs? Well, they're top-notch and cheap, thanks to big government subsidies. But that's bad news for American automakers, who fear they’ll get left in the dust. President Biden is taking action to shield American industries, having seen how cheap Chinese goods devastated the US solar industry. He doesn’t want the same fate for Detroit’s carmakers. But it's not just the US—the EU is also eyeing Chinese EVs suspiciously and might jack up tariffs too.

🛑 Critics say Biden's tariffs are a bad move, hindering efforts to cut emissions. Why block cheaper EVs if we want more people driving them? Meanwhile, in Europe, BMW and Volkswagen bosses aren't thrilled either—tariffs could hurt their sales in China. "Our industry doesn't need protection," says BMW CEO Oliver Zipse.

Driverless Cars Under Investigation! 🚓🔍

Self-driving cars are feeling the heat as federal investigators put the pedal to the metal on their probes. 🚨

Alphabet’s Waymo is the latest in the hot seat after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a probe into 22 incidents involving its robotaxis. The agency is looking into some wild moves, like driving into oncoming traffic or crashing into parked cars. 😬

🚓 Here’s the investigation pileup:

• GM’s Cruise got a spotlight after one of its cars dragged a pedestrian last fall, leading the company to pull all its driverless cars off the road.

• Amazon’s Zoox is also under investigation after two of its driverless cars got rear-ended for no good reason.

• Tesla's in the mix too, with the NHTSA looking into claims about its Autopilot function and a recent software recall.

Despite the scrutiny, companies are still pushing ahead to make driverless cars the norm. Waymo's making 50,000 trips a week and Cruise's cars are back on the road, now with human supervisors.

Tougher Sentences for AI Election Crimes! ⚖️

Federal prosecutors are cracking down on election crimes involving artificial intelligence (AI), aiming for stricter penalties. 🤖

Why? Well, with the 2024 presidential election on the horizon, AI tools are making it easier to spread false information and threaten the electoral process. Deputy US Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced the policy change, saying it's meant to address cases where AI makes crimes "more dangerous and impactful." 🚨 “Our democracy and the people who protect it are facing unprecedented challenges as threats evolve,” Monaco said. AI tech is empowering those who want to harm election workers and our elections, she added.

AI can create deepfakes—fake videos or audios that look and sound real. For example, during the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, an AI-made robocall impersonated President Joe Biden, urging voters not to participate. 😱 US officials worry that AI could be used by foreign powers to manipulate voters. They even simulated a scenario where a fake video showed a candidate destroying ballots. 😬

But it's not just AI causing trouble. Election officials have faced threats and harassment for years, even without AI. And the situation is serious—nearly 40% of local election officials have dealt with threats, according to a recent survey.

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The Meme Stock King Strikes Again with Just One Tweet! 🚀

🏈 Imagine Tom Brady coming out of retirement, but for folks with Robinhood accounts: Roaring Kitty (aka Keith Gill), the bandana-wearing day trader who sparked GameStop’s epic 2000% stock surge in 2021, is back on social media after a three-year break. His return sent GME soaring to its biggest single-day percentage gain since the meme stock craze.

🎮 GameStop’s stock shot up higher, all thanks to a meme Gill posted on X showing a gamer locking in. The post went viral, and Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets crew—traders who hang onto Gill’s every word—went on a buying spree of meme stocks like it's still 2020. Over 175 million GameStop shares were traded on Tuesday—almost 30 times the usual daily volume, Bloomberg reported. Trading was paused nine times in 90 minutes due to all the excitement.

💰 Short-selling hedge funds lost around $1 billion in the rally, according to S3 Partners. About a quarter of GameStop shares are still held in short positions. Other meme stocks got a boost too, with AMC and Reddit both up, because when a roaring kitty lifts off, all boats rise!

🌕 Is GameStop headed to the moon? Probably not. Despite the surge, it's still only worth $30—a quarter of its peak in 2021. Since then, GameStop has had a tough time. While it reported its first yearly profit since 2018 in January, recent layoffs and declining quarterly revenue are troubling signs. Roaring Kitty is being mysterious. His X account fired off more cryptic posts (GIFs and movie clips) throughout the day yesterday.

The Buzz Around Semi Stocks is Back!

While some traders are all about meme stocks, there's a growing buzz around Nvidia and other semiconductor stocks. Recent consolidations have many excited that the sector is gearing up for new highs. 📈

It’s been a great week for $NVDA but no one is talking about it…

• Sentiment has moved from neutral to bullish on Stocktwits

• Jefferies raised its price target to $1,200

• OpenAI gave Nvidia a shout-out at the GPT-4o launch