Author: Da

Markets opened on edge as the Fed voted 11-1 to hold rates at 3.5%-3.75%, pointing to sticky inflation, mixed labor data, and Iran-war uncertainty, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that there is “effectively zero net job creation in the private sector”. January PCE met expectations at 2.8% headline and 3.1% core, while Q4 GDP…

A sharp drop in oil set the tone for a week shaped by shifting geopolitics, consumer resilience, and big-ticket corporate bets. Energy prices fell earlier in the week after President Trump signaled de-escalation with Iran and the G7 pointed to reserve readiness, sending Brent down 7.2% to $91.88, on Thursday, the IEA says the Iran…

February underscored the growing tension between rapid AI adoption and government, security, and consumer trust as agents went mainstream. OpenAI raised a record $110B at a ~$730B valuation (Amazon $50B, Nvidia $30B, SoftBank $30B) but drew backlash after signing a Department of War model-usage deal, with reported ChatGPT uninstalls up 295% and Claude briefly #1…

🌱Now Accepting Intern Applications for Spring 2025!Stepmark Partners is excited to welcome a new cohort of Spring Analysts beginning on March 16th. If you’re passionate about the intersection of AI and deal-making, we invite you to apply. To learn more, please email da@stepmark.ai. The United States entered open conflict with Iran as U.S. and Israeli strikes…

🌱Now Accepting Intern Applications for Spring 2025!Stepmark Partners is excited to welcome a new cohort of Spring Analysts beginning on March 16th. If you’re passionate about the intersection of AI and deal-making, we invite you to apply. To learn more, please email da@stepmark.ai. Global tensions are rising fast: the Trump administration is pushing to lift global…

Fresh from this morning, U.S. Q4 GDP rose just 1.4% as inflation held at 3%, reinforcing a higher-for-longer backdrop. On tariffs, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6-3 that Donald Trump overstepped under IEEPA, putting roughly $130B of collections in focus, while steel and aluminum duties remain. The U.S. posted a $901.5B 2025…

Markets opened with a welcome inflation surprise: January CPI rose just 2.4% y/y (vs. 2.5% expected), the lowest since May 2025, with core at 2.5% as cooler shelter and energy prints pushed June rate-cut odds to 83%. That followed a hotter labor report, 130,000 jobs added vs. 75,000 expected, and unemployment at 4.3%. In tech,…

Markets showed turbulence this week as Trump nominated Kevin Warsh for Fed chair last Friday, sending the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq lower, while silver suffered its worst single-day drop since 1980; analysts, however, see limited long-term fallout. Amid this backdrop, Google reported over $400B in annual revenue, fueled by resilient advertising, accelerating cloud growth,…

January again showed platforms driving shifts in monetization, distribution, and hyperscaler CapEx. OpenAI began U.S. ad tests for free users, expanded safety gating for minors, pushed ChatGPT Go globally at $8/month, and opened a ChatGPT Health waitlist while acquiring Torch for ~$60M in stock. It also signed a three-year ServiceNow partnership to embed AI agents…

The Fed held rates at 3.50%–3.75%, extending the pause as officials cited still-elevated inflation and solid activity. This morning, President Trump nominated Kevin Walsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair. Separately, the U.S. dollar index slid to a four-year low (around 96) as markets repriced U.S. policy risk. In commodities, safe-haven demand lifted gold more than 10% on…