Leo Kolivakis on LinkedIn: ValueStockGeek posts on X: “Retire in 1999 with $1 million, take out… (2024)

"It's my first experience on Via Rail, and will probably be my last experience on Via Rail," he said Monday in an interview from his home in Austin, Texas."It was like being in prison."On Sunday VIA Rail Canada issued a statement apologizing for the "inconvenience" to passengers. It confirmed they were stuck for 10 hours on Saturday when a train broke down between Montreal and Quebec City after experiencing two consecutive mechanical issues.Link: https://lnkd.in/e6kFwkV8My take: I used to like taking train to Ottawa and even Toronto (first class). What a nightmare, further evidence that monopolies don’t work in Canada’s travel industry (Air Canada is a total disaster). Simple economics, when there is no competition, there are no incentives placing customers first.

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Nicholas Bennett shed "everything" tears during O Canada at the Paralympic Games pool Monday.The 20-year-old swimmer from Parksville, B.C., won Canada's first gold medal of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris with his victory in the 100-metre breaststroke."It's a mix of everything," Bennett said after the medal ceremony at La Defense Arena."It's the joy of being able to compete against the best athletes in the world and be the best out of them. Also the relief of finally showing the world I'm here and one of them, one of the best."Bennett is the first Canadian man to win a Paralympic gold medal in swimming since Benoit Huot in 2012 in London."Heavy," was Bennett's assessment of his prize. "Man, it's a beautiful piece of history with me."He stood atop the podium two nights after taking silver in the 200-metre freestyle.Bennett is the reigning world champion and holds the world record in the 200-metre individual medley, which he'll race Wednesday.The Canadian was the only man in Monday's breaststroke final to swim under one minute four seconds in a time of 1:03.98.Link: https://lnkd.in/ex_AVEu8My take: Congratulations to Nicolas Benett for clinching gold and to all our athletes representing Canada at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. You make us all proud.

Central banks around the world are set to kick off or continue interest rate cuts this fall, bringing an end to an era of historically high borrowing costs.In September, the U.S. Federal Reserve is all but guaranteed to join the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the People’s Bank of China, the Swiss National Bank, Sweden’s Riksbank, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of Mexico and others in cutting key rates, which have been held at levels not seen since before the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008.Money markets had already fully priced in a rate cut from the Fed, but last week investors gained even more confidence in the path of easing ahead.At the annual Jackson Hole symposium, Fed Chair Jerome Powell not only said the “time has come for policy to adjust,” but that the central bank could now equally focus on doing “everything” it can to keep the labor market strong and continue progress on inflation.Current pricing suggests high expectations for three 25 basis point cuts by the Fed before the end of the year, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. That will keep the Fed roughly in-line with its peers, despite it moving later.The European Central Bank is seen cutting rates by 25 basis points at least three times in total this year; and the Bank of England by the same increment a total of three times, according to LSEG data. All three central banks are seen further continuing monetary easing at least in early 2025, even as stickiness in services inflation continues to trouble policymakers.For the global economy, that means a broadly lower-rate environment next year, along with significantly reduced pressures from inflation. In the U.S., a recent spike in recession fear has largely abated, and despite where there is weakness in big manufacturing-oriented economies such as Germany, the likes of the more services-focused U.K. are recording solid growth.What all that means for markets is less clear. European stocks, as measured on the regional Stoxx 600 index, rebounded in 2023 from a downturn in 2022 and gained nearly 10% in the year-to-date to reach an intraday record high on Friday. On Wall Street, the S&P 500index is 17% higher so far in 2024.The VIX volatility index — which spiked amid the global equities downturn at the start of August — is back below average, Beat Wittmann, chairman and partner at Porta Advisors, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.“The market, in terms of price momentum, in terms of valuations, of sentiment, has pretty much recovered, and we are going into the seasonally weak September, October period here. So I would expect choppy markets driven by various factors, geopolitics, corporate earnings, bellwethers like from the AI sector,” Wittmann said.Link:https://lnkd.in/eiAJ2ymtMy take: Fed rate cuts are coming and it will be a massive sell the news event. Enjoy while music still playing…

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Israel says its forces have recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the bodies were located on Saturday in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.The IDF named the hostages as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino.Spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said an initial assessment was they were "brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them".A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, insisted Israel was responsible for their deaths, as it has refused to sign a ceasefire deal.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not rest until those responsible for their killing are brought to justice.In a statement, he also said his government was committed to achieving a deal to release those remaining in captivity and protects the country's security."Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal," he added.A group representing the families of those held hostage in Gaza has demanded that Mr Netanyahu "address the nation and take responsibility for abandoning the hostages".The Hostages Families Forum said that all six held captive were "murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture, and starvation in Hamas captivity"."The delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages," they added in a statement.The group has also announced plans to "bring the nation to a halt" on Sunday, asking the Israeli public to join protests in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel to call for a hostage exchange deal.A Bedouin Arab man rescued in Gaza last week by Israeli troops urged Israel to reach a deal with Hamas to free all the remaining hostages.After returning to his village in southern Israel on Wednesday, Mr Elkadi said his "happiness is not complete as long as there are detainees" on both sides.In its statement on Sunday morning announcing the deaths, the IDF said the bodies had been "returned to Israeli territory"."They were all taken hostage on 7 October [2023] and were murdered by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip."The statement added that their families had already been notified.Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the "heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces with the news" of their killing."On behalf of the State of Israel, I embrace their families with all my heart, and apologize for failing to bring them home safely," he added."I have gotten to know his parents, Jon and Rachel. They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable," Mr Biden said.Read more: https://lnkd.in/e9us-d69My take: Very sad to learn this, was hoping they’d find all hostages safe and bring em home. Oct 7 around corner, too much bloodshed there.

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Wow, this is extremely impressive…A significant portion of the donation will be used to finance the construction of the Vagelos Innovation Laboratories. This building will house a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility at 167th Street and Audubon Avenue on the Washington Heights medical campus.This new building will offer more than 55,000 square feet (5,110 square meters) of laboratory space and will be the “first fully-electrified, university-owned laboratory building in New York City.”This generous donation of the Greek American Vagelos family to Columbia University will also be used for other projects. The University statement notes that the donation will “provide major support for the medical school’s programs in cell engineering and gene therapy and will expand innovative collaborations that harness recent breakthroughs and new technologies.”This research will be fundamental in advancing “next-generation therapies,” which will “revolutionize treatment for a wide variety of diseases ranging from disorders of the blood and immune system to cancers, metabolic disorders, and inflammatory, neurological, and cardiovascular conditions,” the American academic institution stated.Thanking the Greek American Vagelos family, Columbia University said “We want to express our deep appreciation to Roy and Diana, both for their truly visionary leadership and for their faith in Columbia, its people, and our shared future.”

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Interestingly, Microsoft, OpenAI's largest investor, will reportedly be participating in the round of funding, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. However, it's unclear how much the Redmond giant will invest. Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership continues to become more complicated, especially after the latter officially listed the ChatGPT maker as a competitor in AI and search despite its multi-billion investment in the business. In an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple and NVIDIA could potentially join OpenAI's round of funding, pushing its market capitalization well above $100 billion.Link: https://lnkd.in/ev-jjSBCMy take: A tech entrepreneur on my chat group who sent us this article notes: “The sharks are circling. Those server farms cost a fortune. Imagine if they hadn’t stolen the data.”

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(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs plans to cut more than 1,300 employees from its global workforce as part of an annual review process to cull low performers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.The bank will likely cut between 3% and 4% of its workforce across various divisions, the report said, adding that the layoffs have already started and will continue through the fall.Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.The bank's global workforce stood at 44,300, as of quarter ended June 30. Job cuts between 3% to 4% will likely impact an estimated 1,329 to 1,772 employees.Goldman reinstated performance-related job culls in 2022 after it was halted for two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the exercise reportedly resulted in between 1% and 5% of employees losing their jobs.The range of job cuts done under Goldman's 'strategic resource assessment, has fluctuated over the years based on market conditions and its financial outlook, the WSJ report said.The bank took on multiple rounds of workforce reductions in 2023 as dealmaking suffered due to an years-long drought and higher-for-longer interest rates weighed on the macroeconomic outlook.The operating environment for banks has since improved with Goldman reporting second-quarter profit that more than doubled and beat market expectations in July on strong debt underwriting and fixed-income trading.The resilience of the U.S. economy has given corporate executives the confidence to pursue acquisitions, debt sales and stock offerings. Still, despite an industry-wide recovery, dealmaking activity has remained below historical averages.Goldman shares turned positive in afternoon trading and were last up 0.3%. The stock has surged nearly 32% this year and has outperformed broader markets.Link: https://lnkd.in/eG4mhcDAMy take: When Goldman starts cutting jobs, start to pay attention, the US economy is about to slow considerably. All eyes on next Friday's jobs report.

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Shares of Intel Corporation popping 10% Friday morning on news they are exploring splitting off its foundry business and scrapping plans for new factories: https://lnkd.in/emtiGBcbMy take: Stock has decimated investors and I'm not sure this pop will be sustained but repeat after me, there's no way the US government is going to allow Intel to go out of business. Never going to happen. Pretty sure Pelosi is long now. 😁

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My latest on how Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's former CIO Ziad Hindo was hired at Bridgewater Associates:https://lnkd.in/efW4XXYC

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