Tim Cook and Elon, once the tech giants, have been outshined by Nvidia, the new stock market leader.

Hey there!

Welcome to another edition, in case you missed it, here’s last week’s article: Fed Rates, Crypto Moves, & Weekly Spotlight

Reading time: 3 minutes 34 seconds

NEWS

Nvidia Becomes the World's Most Valuable Company

Nvidia has become the world's most valuable company, beating out Apple and Microsoft!

Their stock has been on fire, and their market cap is over $3 trillion. This surge is because Nvidia is a big player in the AI chip market, which is now booming.

With all this growth, even major ETFs like the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund are changing their holdings to include more Nvidia shares. It's crazy how much AI is shaping the tech world right now!

Buffett Doubles Down on Occidental Petroleum

So, Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, just bought 2.57 million more shares of Occidental Petroleum for over $150 million.

In case you're unfamiliar, Occidental Petroleum, or Oxy, is a big oil and gas company that explores and produces crude and natural gas.

They also make chemicals for various industries and have a segment for transporting and trading oil and gas. Plus, they're working on carbon management tech to reduce emissions and be more sustainable.

Now they own about 250.6 million shares of the company.

Fisker’s Filing for BK

I’m sure you’ve heard of Fisker. Well, their subsidiary, Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

They're going through a restructuring process because they've been having money troubles and need to figure out how to get enough funding to keep things running smoothly.

Fisker needs approximately $170 million to navigate through its current financial difficulties and continue its efforts in the electric vehicle market.

While the exact number of jobs at risk isn't specified, Fisker's financial troubles could impact hundreds to possibly thousands of jobs given the company's scale and investments.

CONCEPTS

Secrets of the Trade 

If there is one thing the news has been right about, it's the shortage of blue-collar workers in The United States. While you can go to a traditional school or a vocational (trade) school, there is also another way to tap into this thirsty job market. On-the-job training, but you do not meet the experience and qualification requirements. Most of us right now need money like yesterday, the world is becoming more expensive and that is no secret. What is a secret though, certifications and licenses?

While some companies do hire from trade schools A LOT of companies right now need individuals that are willing to learn and will show up to work. Crazy right? An example is HVAC, you actually could study for all the EPA Universal licenses yourself and take the exam, within your first year making over $60,000.00/year.  Sure you would have to commit to learning and studying something schools do well at, but the cost of student loans versus a study course + exam fee is a no-brainer (read more). 

Several trades have a similar route where OJT is more affordable if you are trying to break into a trade but unsure if this is the right path, trade school works for a lot of individuals but from a financial point you’re going to start from the bottom regardless so mine as well do it debt free. 

Who is this guy? Probably Hollywood’s Screen Writing Guild’s favorite Celebrity for starters. From Airbnb, Pinterest, Reddit, and Stripe this guy is a nerd. I’ll be honest all we are hearing about these days is AI, AI, AI, pretty soon the toaster is going to have some sort of AI implemented in it, Thanks, Sam!

Rant aside, Sam Altman has made a huge impact on technology recently with OpenAI, spurring new job markets and accelerating the freelance economy. OpenAI is open sourced which has its pros and cons but generally speaking it would be better for consumers if more companies went this route.

Sam Altman is new to the scene for the general public so its difficult to say whether or not the people can count on him to have there backs, as of now in any interview he has done he does a great job at saying the right things.

That’s it for this week, don’t let the excitement end here - stay tuned for next week!

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