Read this Tuesday’s edition of the FolhaMercado newsletter (21) – 11/21/2023 – Market

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New chapters of the Altman-OpenAI novel

The summary expulsion last Friday (17) of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, became a soap opera.

In the last 24 hours alone, we have a CEO who stayed in office for just over a day, Altman being hired by Microsoft but intending to return and a scientist identified as responsible for the dismissal asking his own colleagues to resign.

A timeline can help you understand the last few chapters:

↳ Friday (17): OpenAI board fires Altman on the grounds that he was not frank in communications with the board.

• Behind the scenes, however, the termination was attributed to concerns about the executive’s commitment to the mission of ensuring safe and beneficial AI.

• The person appointed as the main person responsible for the decision was the company’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever (keep this name).

↳ Sunday (19): OpenAI announces Emmett Shear, co-founder of streaming platform Twitch, as new interim CEO.

• Hours earlier, Altman had gone to the company with a guest badge and posted on X (formerly Twitter): “First and last time I use one of these.”

↳ Monday (20): In the early hours of the morning, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announces the hiring of Altman and Brockman to lead the company’s AI research team. Shares of big tech, which is OpenAI’s main investor, closed up 2%, at their all-time high.

• 738 of OpenAI’s 770 employees sent a letter to the board asking for Altman’s return and threatening to join his team at Microsoft if the board members did not resign.

• Signatories include CEO for a Day Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientist, who posted on X that he deeply regrets his “participation in the board’s actions.”

• Also making up the body are Adam D’Angelo, chief executive of Quora, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner, from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

• According to the website The Verge, Altman’s move to Microsoft is not closed and he could return to OpenAI with the resignation of the startup’s current advisors.

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Olive oil shoots

If you’ve been grocery shopping recently, you may have noticed olive oil inflation, which has skyrocketed.

It’s not just an impression: product prices have jumped 30% in the last 12 months, and last month alone the item was, on average, 5.32% more expensive, according to the IPCA.

What explains? The drought in large producing countries, mainly Spain and Italy, which saw a drop in 56% it’s from 27% in production, respectively.

• Along with Greece and Portugal, the countries are responsible for around 70% of all olive oil in the world.

• Olive trees require heat and dry weather to grow, but in high temperatures, they stop producing fruit.

As a background, the climate crisis is to blame, which has made the occurrence of extreme events more frequent – ​​other examples are last week’s heat in much of Brazil and the current floods in the south of the country.

As Brazilian olive oil production is still in its infancy – 1% of everything the country consumes –, prices here are directly affected by what happens in the olive trees abroad.

Will it get better? Not in the short term, say representatives of companies that sell in the country.

• The current harvest has just started, but it should have a production similar to that of 2022, recorded as the worst in history.

It’s not just here: In Spain, supermarkets started putting padlocks and anti-theft labels on larger packages of olive oil. It reminds me a little of what happened here when meat prices soared.

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Bayer sentenced to billions of dollars

A jury in Missouri, USA, determined that Bayer, owner of Monsanto, pay US$1.56 billion (around R$7.6 billion) to four people who claimed that the herbicide Roundup caused injuries and illnesses, including cancer.

The decision: the jury found Monsanto guilty on allegations of negligence, design defects and failing to warn people about the potential dangers of using Roundup.

Three people have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. They claimed that the disease was caused by the use of the herbicide on their family properties.

Punitive damages may be reduced on appeal as they exceed guidance from the country’s Supreme Court.

Other side: Bayer said decades of studies have shown that Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.

• She also said she has strong arguments to reverse the recent decisions on appeal.

The decision is the fourth consecutive court defeat for Bayer, after the company was found exempt from liability in nine consecutive trials.

Reaction: After the decision, Bayer shares fell almost 18% this Monday, reaching their lowest level in 14 years.

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Scholarship for a maximum of 2 years; Argentine stocks soar

On a day of reduced trading due to the Black Awareness Day holiday in some cities, the Brazilian Stock Exchange once again broke the recent record by closing at a high of 0.95%The 125,957 points. It is the highest level since July 2021.

• The dollar retreated 1.10%for R$ 4.85the lowest level in three months.

Which explains: once again the external scenario set the tone for business here.

• In the USA, last week’s inflation data and the confidence that the Fed (Federal Reserve, American BC) will not raise interest rates kept the markets in a good mood.

• In Chinagovernment support measures for the real estate sector boosted iron ore prices and carried Vale’s shares, which rose 2.45%.

Argentine shares rise… in the USA, as the local market did not open with the country’s holiday.

… And peso should open in fall: This is the market’s expectation for this Tuesday, given Milei’s proposal to dollarize the economy.

• The absence of the measure in the victory speech, however, drew attention.

• For analysts, it raised doubts about the future government’s priority on the matter, and should avoid a greater fall in the Argentine currency.

• Investors are also paying attention to who will be named as the country’s future Economy Minister.