The Bot Brief

"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."

- Victor Hugo

Bots in The News:

A massive gain by NVIDIA Corp. spurred the Bot Index up 1.09% for the week, significantly exceeding the 32 basis points gain of the broad market. With investors awaiting confirmation of progress in budget negotiations and vacillations of economic numbers which could influence the upcoming Fed decisions, the markets were quite volatile during the week.

NVIDIA的可观的收入和收入数字for the quarter helped push the stock up almost 25%. The company reported a surprise earnings gain of 24% based upon its leadership role in the rapidly expanding AI marketplace. The move allowed the company’s overall market valuation to the near trillion-dollar mark. The financial news has been extolling NVIDIA’s potential since the Wednesday report, hinting even greater expectations for the future of the company’s chip enterprise.

Faro Corp., whose fortunes were crushed with poor earnings in the May report experienced a significant rebound last week. After the stock was virtually cut in half following its extremely poor earnings report and the replacement of its CEO, an inside Board of Directors member Alexander Davern, recently bought US$269k worth of stock, paying US$11.19 for each share. Apparently, this vote of confidence was sufficient to stimulate a boost in the stock by 23.55% in the past week.

Tesla rounded out the major winners for the week within the Bot Index. The shares rose 7.23% as it was announced that the sale of Tesla vehicles replaced Toyota as the number one in car sales. According to data from Jato Dynamics published by Motor1, the Model Y became the best-selling car in the world in the first quarter of 2023. Around 267,200 units of the Model Y were sold worldwide in the first three months of the year, compared to 256,400 Corolla units and 214,700 RAV4 units.

AeroVironment was the worst performer for the week due to its absence from the list of contenders for the Army’s new Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft Systems. The company was considered the prime potential contractor, so the news helped drop the stock 23.55% prior to the Memorial Day weekend.

And in Economic News:

The Bot Brief has been somewhat critical of the economic community in the past with particular regard to its analytical focus on the impact of robotics and automation on mankind. In our estimation, humans will face no greater bearing upon their lives than the Robotic Revolution. Given the recent interest in and acceptance of ChatGPT by the general public however, certainly economic academicians will focus their attention on this growing force.

We were pleased to see that there were two sections out of 28 in the most recent edition of the American Economic Association’s Vol 113 of Papers and Proceedings. In past issues there has been little or no focus on the topic. In one section entitled, Economic Uses of AI and Applications of AI and Big Data, there were only four actual articles. Of those, there was little to gain on the effects that AI has on the general public. The second section contained only four additional tomes submitted from academia with narrow focus on the subject. With titles such as Robots and Female Employment in German Manufacturing there was still little attention to the broader analysis of just how much robotics and automation will influence our lives.

It is our hope that the members of the economic analytical community will recognize the need for a more exhausting review of the life changing influences that AI and robotics will carry. It is their responsibility to provide our political leadership with guidance as we navigate through unchartered waters.

Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association (now A3 Automation), Member IEEE.

The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists, and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured in the brief and its commentaries, analysis, opinions, and research represent the subjective view of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of the material presented.