Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Wall Street left behind

The frenzy around artificial intelligence stocks has blindsided Wall Street forecasters, spurring a race among strategists to keep up with a stock market rally that’s already blowing past their expectations. Five Wall Street firms have already lifted their forecasts for the S&P 500 Index, which is up 7% to start the year. In the past week alone, Piper Sandler, UBS and Barclays boosted their targets. Two firms—Goldman Sachs and UBS—have done it twice since December. “I’ve been doing the strategy job for about 20 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever done something like that,” said Jonathan Golub, UBS Investment Bank’s chief US equity strategist. His second revision to his 2024 target, raising it to 5,400, ties him with Yardeni Research’s Ed Yardeni for the highest among the 25 sell-side strategists tracked by Bloomberg. —David E. Rovella

Commercial real estate lender New York Community Bancorp announced that it had discovered “material weaknesses” in how it tracks loan risks, wrote down the value of companies acquired years ago and replaced its leadership. The stock plunged. The news reignited a drama from January when the company, a major lender to New York apartment landlords, said it was stockpiling cash to cover potential problems with loans. Investors in regional banks have been on edge ever since.

Sam Altman became the face of AI through his role as chief executive of OpenAI. But his wealth goes far beyond the startup. How far? The 38-year-old is worth at least $2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is valuing his fortune for the first time. That figure however doesn’t include any stake in OpenAI, which was recently valued at $86 billion. Altman has repeatedly said he doesn’t own equity in the company. Rather, much of his traceable wealth is in a web of venture capital funds and startup investments, and is set to grow with the initial public offering of Reddit, where he’s among the largest shareholders.

The guy at the very top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index is suing Altman. Elon Musk—who is raising money for his own AI venture—filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, alleging they violated the startup’s founding mission. Musk zeroed in on OpenAI’s close relationship with Microsoft, which has invested about $13 billion in OpenAI, as part of his claim the company is placing corporate priorities first. Microsoft’s shares have soared 68% in the last year, making it the most valuable company in the world, as it seeks to become a leader in AI adoption.  

Elon Musk Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images

President Joe Biden announced the US would begin airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza, joining other nations in a bid to relieve dire conditions wrought by the Israel-Hamas war. Biden’s decision came a day after scores of Palestinians were killed during an outbreak of violence at a food convoy. Israeli soldiers opened fire near a crowd surrounding the trucks. Local authorities blamed Israel for the deaths while Israel denied its forces shot at the people. Biden said the US would also explore “the possibility of a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance” and insist that Israel opens up more land routes and facilitates more supply trucks with “no excuses.”

Thousands of people lined up to pay their final respects at the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny on Friday, in defiance of a heavy police presence aimed at deterring protests against Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. Biden and European leaders have joined Navalny’s family and allies in blaming Putin for the activist’s Feb. 16 death in an Arctic prison camp. Ambassadors from the US and a number of European states joined those gathered outside for the funeral. Mourners chanted “Navalny” and “we won’t forgive” as his coffin was brought to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Moscow’s southeastern Marino district. Some shouted “Putin is a killer.”

Pallbearers carry the coffin of Alexey Navalny following his funeral service in Moscow Friday Photographer: Alexander Nemenov/Getty Images

The UK government has privately urged Germany to provide long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week ruled it out. The British offered solutions to Berlin’s resistance to sending them, including a swap deal that would see Britain supply Ukraine with more of its own Storm Shadow missiles, and Germany then restock the UK with replacement long-range missiles. “Scholz’s behavior has showed that as far as the security of Europe goes he is the wrong man, in the wrong job, at the wrong time,” former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the Evening Standard. Scholz’s reticence isn’t earning him fans in Paris, either. French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week sought to unsettle Putin’s war planners by throwing out the possibility of European troops entering Ukraine. The remarks were said to be deliberately ambiguous, but they were quickly undermined by Scholz, who contradicted Macron.

Just 30 miles from Johannesburg, in a South African region known as the Vaal Triangle, 1.7 million people are living in the middle of some of the most dangerous emissions imaginable. From the highway into Vanderbijlpark, a heavy veil of smoke can be seen cloaking Africa’s biggest steel mill. To the southeast, near the town of Vereeniging, the Lethabo coal power plant, whose name means “happiness,” belches out ash and toxic sulfur dioxide. Further south, outside a petrochemicals plant in Sasolburg, an adjacent neighborhood regularly reeks of rotten eggs from hydrogen sulfide in the air. This is what it’s like to live in the most polluted place on Earth.

ArcelorMittal’s Vanderbijlpark plant, Africa’s biggest steel mill Photographer: Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg

• Saudis, UAE join condemnation of Israel after Gaza aid convoy deaths.
• Boeing in talks to buy ex-unit Spirit AeroSystems amid 737 Max crisis.
• There are 340,000 fewer accountants. Companies are paying the price.
• Trump’s $4 billion SPAC deal hit by wave of lawsuits over shares.
• Billionaire Fertitta buys $450 million luxury mall from JPMorgan.
• Bankers sick of the NYC commute are building a new Greenwich.
• How to find the best cities to watch the coming solar eclipse.

In a world where global warming has made food harder to grow while populations continue to rise, what humans plant, where they plant it and how they harvest and prepare it are increasingly critical issues when it comes to adapting to climate change and helping slow its advance. In this episode of the Bloomberg Originals series An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet, host Nikolaj Coster-Waldau introduces us to strategies being tested across the globe—from Kenya to Mexico, the Netherlands and the US—aimed at feeding humanity while doing less damage to the planet.

In Nourish, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau meets Charlot Magayi, right, a young entrepreneur in Kenya who has created a virtuous cycle of cooking centered on a new kind of stove.

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Bloomberg Power Players Jeddah: Set against the backdrop of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Bloomberg Power Players Jeddah on March 7 will bring together some of the most influential voices in sports, entertainment and technology as we identify the next potential wave of disruption for the multibillion dollar world of sports, media and investment. Join powerbrokers, senior executives, leading investors and world-class athletes who are transforming the business of sports. Learn more.