✋ Apple swapped iCars for AI

Apple ditched its automobile ambitions to chase AI pioneers | Klarna showed off ahead of its anticipated IPO | [Finimize](   TOGETHER WITH     Hi {NAME}, here's what you need to know for February 29th in 3:15 minutes.   🎶 Not everyone sings from the same hymn sheet. Join us for [A Beginners Playbook For Investing This Year]( at 5pm UK time today, and find out why this time, you might want to follow a reference point. [Grab your free ticket]( Today's big stories - Forget about your dreams of a stainless steel supercar: Apple shifted focus from EVs to AI - Here’s why Goldman Sachs is going bigger on stocks from the US and Japan – [Read Now]( - Buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna showed off its books ahead of its anticipated stock market listing Ditch-It-Yourself [Ditch-It-Yourself] What’s going on here? Apple [scrapped]( plans to build the self-driving iCar after a decade of development, perhaps disappointed it didn't autonomously make a success of itself. What does this mean? Apple put “Project Titan” into motion in 2014, sketching plans for a self-driving electric vehicle with a swanky limo-style layout. A company needs to be pretty confident in its driverless car to put it on the roads, though – and even after a decade, Apple’s just not there. That’s why the iCar team has switched its focus to generative AI, the type of technology that fuels OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Apple’s already teasing more progress than it did with its eco-friendly limousine, dropping hints earlier this year that investors can expect a serious announcement in the not-too-distant future. Why should I care? Zooming out: Apple’s been reading the news. Apple might not be missing out on much. Drivers aren’t buying electric cars like they once were, mainly because their higher prices are less justifiable in today’s economy. So realistically, the iCar wouldn’t have helped Apple catch up to competitors Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. But if Apple can craft an AI service that takes its signature iPhones and iPads to the next level, the company could win big-spending gadget aficionados over – not to mention eagle-eyed, tech-obsessed investors. The bigger picture: Baidu, bai-dont. The tech industry moves fast, and companies that can’t keep up risk being left behind. Just look at Baidu: the Chinese firm secured its spot as the country’s go-to search engine ten years ago, but rivals Alibaba and Tencent have since stolen a march on the company when it comes to AI. Baidu created the “Ernie” language model, sure, but the other two were quicker to throw a lot more money into their own budding systems. That go-getter attitude has already paid off, with Alibaba and Tencent’s stocks and AI-related revenue beating the old timer’s so far this year. You might also like: [All you need to know about investing in the Nasdaq.]( Copy to share story: [( 🙋 [Ask a question](mailto:questions@finimize.com?body=Ask us a question: Where are you writing from? Let us know and we'll mention it when we reply.&noapp=true&subject=Ditch-It-Yourself&utm_campaign=daily-global-29-02-2024&utm_source=email) Analyst Take Goldman Sees A Boom Coming For US And Japanese Stocks [Goldman Sees A Boom Coming For US And Japanese Stocks]( By Russell Burns, Analyst The world’s factories are starting to clang, bang, and rev once again, with a manufacturing recovery finally punching its timecard and [getting to work](. That’s [good news](, and not just for fans of black metal lunchboxes. It means there’s likely to be a new [boom in stocks](, especially US and Japanese ones, says Goldman Sachs. Let’s take a look at what’s happening and how you could [take advantage](. That’s today’s Insight: [why Goldman is going big on Japan and the US](. [Read or listen to the Insight here]( SPONSORED BY CFA INSTITUTE Find out how to tell your delicacies from your duds Bitcoin spot ETFs have made the OG crypto more accessible than ever. Investors have made the most of it already, recently sending bitcoin past the $50,000 mark for the first time in two years. Crypto is known for being volatile though – sometimes that’s a handy hedge against traditional markets, sometimes it’s a bummer. So you need the chops to [assess whether bitcoin’s right for you](. You might want to sharpen your financial savvy with [the Investment Foundations certificate from CFA Institute](, then, work through the course at your own time online. You’ll walk away with a firm understanding of the investment industry, investment instruments, sharpened critical thinking skills – and [a shiny certificate]( to show off on LinkedIn, too. [Learn More]( When you support our sponsors, you support us. Thanks for that. If you want your brand featured here, [get in touch.]( Hoard Mentality [Hoard Mentality] What’s going on here? Klarna showed off slimmer losses ahead of its expected US stock market [listing](, potentially convincing investors that the stock could be worth a splurge. What does this mean? Klarna’s “buy now, pay later” interest-free loans became an online shopping staple during the pandemic, when pent-up fashionistas had nothing to do but finance their post-freedom wardrobes. That won it a $46 billion valuation in 2021, making it Europe’s most valuable startup at the time. And sure, that slipped to $7 billion the following year, when interest rates shot up and put investors off riskier, loss-making companies. But it’ll take more than monetary policy to keep the company down: the firm is rumored to be going public later this year, eyeing up a $20 billion valuation that’s roughly halfway between that peak and valley. Why should I care? Zooming in: Credit scores matter. Klarna charges retailers a fee every time a shopper uses the service to fill their bags. And clearly, the high cost of living has made its loans even more popular. Klarna bagged 22% more revenue last year than the one before, enough to shrink its net loss by 76% in the same period. That’s come at just the right time: if Klarna wants investors to buy shares when it lists, the lender needs to show that it can fix its own finances as well as its customers’. The bigger picture: Klarna eats its own dog food. Klarna often takes out short-term loans to fund the ones it hands out. That might sound risky, but with central banks tipped to cut interest rates this year, the cost of borrowing could become a lot cheaper. That wouldn’t just help Klarna’s costs, it would encourage consumers to spend instead of save – a winning combination for the company’s books. It bodes well, too, that investors seem to be backing buy-now-pay-later firms again: publicly listed rival Affirm has seen its stock price-to-sales ratio triple since the start of 2023. You might also like: [The next big disruption to the fintech industry.]( Copy to share story: [( 🙋 [Ask a question](mailto:questions@finimize.com?body=Ask us a question: Where are you writing from? Let us know and we'll mention it when we reply.&noapp=true&subject=Hoard Mentality&utm_campaign=daily-global-29-02-2024&utm_source=email) 💬 Quote of the day "Every failure is a step to success." – William Whewell (an English polymath and scientist) [Tweet this]( Connect your brand with the next generation of investors Our one-million-strong international [financial community]( has some big plans. [Your brand could help them]( do just that: whether you provide information, tools, or tricks, you could help retail investors around the world make smarter decisions. 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