ASX News Live | ASX Opens 0.45% Higher As US Economy Grows 2.9% in December Quarter

Buzzfeed’s decision to use ChatGPT for some of its media content may have something to do with this:

A freelance writer says ChatGPT wrote a $600 article in just 30 seconds https://t.co/0vuSppXG6j

— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) January 25, 2023

Why should a publisher like Buzzfeed pay freelance writers when it can get similar output in 99% less time for no cost? (These words are still being written by a human).

Or will ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI start demanding a cut? How much value can ChatGPT contribute to users and how much of that can it capture and monetise?

Will #ChatGPT's creator #OpenAI start demanding a cut?

How much value can ChatGPT contribute to users and how much of that can it capture and monetise? pic.twitter.com/DOWWIKFbFP

— Fat Tail Daily (@FatTailDaily) January 27, 2023

 

Online publisher Buzzfeed (NASDAQ:BZFD) rose nearly 120% on the news it will work with OpenAI, creator of generative AI ChatGPT, to generate quizzes and other content pieces.

In a staff memo seen by the Wall Street Journal, Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti said AI will play a larger role in both editorial and business operations in 2023.

Mr. Peretti expects AI to assist the creative process and enhance the company’s content, while humans play the role of providing ideas, “cultural currency,” and “inspired prompts,” he wrote in his memo. In 15 years, he wrote, he expects AI and data to help “create, personalize, and animate the content itself,” rather than just curate existing content.

ChatGPT’s public launch couldn’t have come at a better time for the media company, it seems.

Last month, Buzzfeed let go of 12% of its staff to cut costs.

Needing to retrench and already working with less writers, a tireless AI chatbot gorged on near limitless data seemed like the perfect solution.

But if a company can double overnight on news it’s using a free service, how long will that service stay free?

The ten most shorted stocks on the ASX as of January 20th are printed (shamed?) below:

1. Flight Centre, with 14.1% short interest
2. Perpetual with 13.5%
3. Betmakers with 12.6%
4. Megaport with 9.8%
5. Sayona Mining with 9.5%
6. Core Lithium with 9.1%
7. Lake Resources with 7.7%
8. Liontown Resources with 7.4%
9. Breville with 7.0%
10. NEXTDC with 6.9%

But with markets rallying to start 2023, what is the performance of these stocks this month?

Betmakers is the only stock of the ten to be in the red.

The lithium stocks are all up, with juniors Sayona and Liontown spiking.

Is this the worst “recession” ever?

2022 is behind us and maybe the talk of recession with it.

The R-word dominated discussion around the financial watercooler — especially in the key US economy — but it failed to materialise.

Economist Justin Wolfers quipped it was the worst recession ever.

Worst. Recession. Ever.

Q4 GDP growth comes in at 2.9%.

And now we have complete data for 2022, a year in which recession talk reached new highs: The level of real GDP was 2.1% than in 2021 (a growth rate roughly in line with average growth in the 2000s). pic.twitter.com/T5UaWLFRHw

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) January 26, 2023

Wolfers said all the talk of recession, ‘all that energy, all that bluster, was nonsense all along.’

The economist thinks the US economy is ‘splendidly … boring’. The 2.9% annual growth in the December quarter is the ‘sort of number that an economy delivers in normal times. It’s normal, amazingly normal.’

Consumer spending — more than 2/3 of the economy (and a key category you’d think would struggle in a recession) — remained strong.

Actually, US consumer spending is running 1.3% above the US Congressional Budget Office’s pre-pandemic forecast.

The big story for economic growth was the consistent strength of consumer spending, which is more than two-thirds of the economy. It has been consistently running well ahead of CBO's pre-pandemic forecast.

Likely continued impact of huge fiscal support in 2020 and 2021. pic.twitter.com/J5LeC8WhSx

— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) January 26, 2023

Will there be a recession or won’t there be a recession? That is the question.

US stocks ended overnight higher on hopes a recession can be avoided as the US economy rose a solid 2.9% in the December quarter on an annualised basis, better than expected.

Washington Post reported Heather Long noted, that the United States has ‘recovered all output lost in the [pandemic] crisis and gotten back on trend.’

Sometimes you need to look at the big picture: It's been an incredible rebound from the 2020 pandemic recession.

The US has recovered all output lost in the crisis and gotten back on trend.

GDP
2022: +2.1%
2021: +5.9%
2020: -2.8%https://t.co/gAM6bebF0l via @abhabhattarai pic.twitter.com/cEExbsVH95

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) January 26, 2023

The sturdy GDP data is raising traders’ hopes the US economy will cool just enough to avoid a recession.

In case you missed it, Bill Gates is in town.

The tech billionaire has spent the past few days in Australia, attending events and giving out speeches.

In particular, Gates has been talking about the pandemic and the global response — a topic that certainly gets divisive when you dig into the weeds of it.

But that’s not what I want to discuss today. The bigger story that Gates mentioned, in my view, is Australia’s position on nuclear power. Because as Gates himself told the Australian Financial Review:

‘Australia should watch over the next 15 years and see what the progress is on nuclear fission and fusion…

‘…it’s a lot simpler for Australia, instead of dealing with a political challenge, just to see if it does emerge, and in which case, if it is worth reconsidering.’

In other words, we’re too late to the nuclear party. A fact that I’m sure many critics will be more than happy about.

It’s hard for people to look past the nuclear power disasters of the past. Events like Chernobyl and Fukushima are etched into our minds because of how climactic we’re told they are.

No one wants to risk that in their own backyard.

And yet, it’s a shame because I expect Australia will miss out on a huge energy market disruption because of it…

https://www.moneymorning.com.au/20230127/why-australians-might-miss-out-on-the-nuclear-renaissance.html

Lake Resources issued a further 25 million fully paid ordinary shares at nil consideration to Acuity Capital, a firm who provides at-the-market capital to ASX-listed companies.

Acuity Capital now holds 65 million LKE shares.

Lake and Acuity first entered an at-the-market subscription agreement in 2018. The ATM provided Lake with up to $250 million of standby equity capital.

It was due to expire this month but the pair have extended the ATM to 31 January 2026, with Lake agreeing to issue the 25 million additional shares.

So far under the ATM Lake has raised $43.8 million. $206.2 million remains available.

Lake Resources isn’t the only well known lithium stock to have dealings with Acuity.

Acuity also has a $200 ATM with Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA), although Sayona has only raised $6.4 million under the deal so far.

Lake Resources remains Acuity’s biggest ATM at $250 million, followed by Sayona at $200 million and AVZ Minerals (ASX:AVZ) at $50 million.

$LKE issued a further 25m shares to Acuity Capital.

Acuity now holds 65m $LKE shares.

The pair first entered an at-the-market subscription agreement in 2018.

The ATM provides Lake with up to $250m of standby equity capital, of which $LKE has $206.2m available.#ASX #lithium

— Fat Tail Daily (@FatTailDaily) January 27, 2023

Lithium developer Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) released its December quarterly, showing free cash outflows of $29.3 million.

LKE ended the quarter with $133.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and no debt — or about 11.6 quarters of funding available.

Year to date (six months), Lake has spent $31.8 million on exploration and evaluation and $19.7 million on admin and corporate costs.

Surprisingly, in the six months Lake has only forked out $1.3 million on property, plant & equipment, having held $641,000 in property, plant & equipment on its balance sheet in FY22.