Garrison Fathom

Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on a staggering $373 Billion in Cash, enough to buy 480 companies in the S&P 500 🚨🚨

80% of Gen Z say they feel financially behind and believe speculative investments can grow their wealth faster than traditional approaches, per Northwestern Mutual.

"Lowe’s is investing $250 million to train plumbers, carpenters, and electricians as its CEO says skilled trades are ‘critical to the future’," per FORTUNE

The biggest threat to the AI boom is not better algorithms, but the power needed to run them. Can energy infrastructure scale fast enough to meet AI’s demands?

Jamie Dimon’s annual JPMorgan letter has a section on AI and here 5 key quotes: ▫️ “I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that AI will cure some cancers, create new composites and reduce accidental deaths. It will eventually reduce the workweek in the developed world. And people will live longer and safer." ▫️ “There will be a wide variety of AI models — open and closed, large and small — and no single tool will dominate." ▫️ “AI will also introduce serious new risks — from deepfakes and misinformation to cybersecurity vulnerabilities. These risks are real, but they are manageable if companies, regulators and governments prepare.” ▫️ “AI will definitely eliminate some jobs, while it enhances others…AI will create many jobs — some we can see today in cybersecurity and AI itself, and some we can't see. But we do know that there is a huge workforce shortage for many well-paying white- and blue-collar jobs.” ▫️ “huge technological shifts like AI always have second- and third-order effects as well that can deeply impact society. Some of these are, for example, cars bringing about the development of suburbs and shopping malls; agriculture enabling cities; and the original internet (invented back in 1969) leading to mobile phones, apps and social media. We should be monitoring for this kind of transformation, too.”

While about two-thirds of executives reported using AI, that usage amounted to only about 1.5 hours per week, and 25% of respondents reported not using AI in the workplace at all. Nearly 90% of firms said AI has had no impact on employment or productivity over the last three years, per National Bureau of Economic Research

US technology employment is contracting: The tech sector lost -43,000 jobs over the last year, the biggest YoY drop since early 2024. This exceeds the declines seen during the 2020 pandemic and the 2008 Financial Crisis. Technology employment has fallen for over 2 years straight now. Since the November 2022 peak, information technology jobs have declined -330,000, to 2.79 million, the lowest since mid-2021. This is now below pre-pandemic levels, returning to levels last seen in 2016. Tech sector employment is dropping sharply.

JUST IN 🚨: Private Credit losses will be larger than previously feared warns Jamie Dimon 🚨🤯👀🫂

Mortgage rates continue to rise while homebuyers looking to buy continue to collapse. There are only an estimated 1.36 million homebuyers in the market with an estimated 1.99 million home sellers. The largest gap and the best buyers market since they began tracking back this data in 2013. The reason? Homes are 36% overpriced at 6.5% mortgage rates assuming a strong economy and good jobs. Your house that was worth $462,107.54 at 2.70% mortgage rates. Is worth $295,760.60 at 6.5% mortgage rates

⚠️ The US labor market is EXTREMELY weak under the surface: Since December 2024, healthcare and social assistance has added ~855,000 jobs, while the rest of the private sector has lost -322,000, according to Labor Department data. That means a single sector is masking a broad-based CONTRACTION across the rest of the world's largest economy. Excluding healthcare, private-sector job growth has been NEGATIVE for over a year. Healthcare and social assistance now represents NEARLY ALL net private-sector job creation since the end of 2024. Remove one sector and the labor market is already in a RECESSION.