World Street | Meta's AI assistant, Nordstorm's plans to go private, TSMC's selloff and more

World Street offers a sneak peek into the world of business and economy.

Meta launches an artificial intelligence assistant across its social media platforms. US retailer Nordstorm weighing going private. TSMC's Taipei-listed shares see a selloff after the release of its quarterly results. Norway's wealth fund clocks in record growth in the January-March quarter. All these and much more on World Street today.

Meta beings in Llama 

Meta has unveiled its new artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI, which is now available across its social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. This move marks Meta's significant foray into AI, with features like answering questions, creating animations, and generating images.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted that Meta AI is powered by their latest large language model, Meta Llama 3, and positioned as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini. In addition, Meta has also partnered with Google and Microsoft to integrate results from their search engines into Meta AI, adding a unique dimension to its capabilities.

Not impressed

TSMC's Taipei-listed shares dropped around 6 percent on Friday after its first-quarter earnings report, which maintained its capex and full-year revenue guidance but indicated a slow recovery for the chip industry.

Despite forecasting a potential 30 percent increase in second-quarter sales driven by AI demand, the company's unchanged capital spending plans and expectations of a modest recovery, excluding memory, led to market concern and the share price decline.

Minting Money

Norway's $1.6-trillion wealth fund, the world's largest, announced a record profit of 1.2 trillion crowns ($109 billion) for the first quarter of 2024, driven by strong performances in tech stocks and the ongoing growth of artificial intelligence.

This marked the fund's highest quarterly return since its inception in 1996, with a relative total return of 9.1 percent in the January-March period. The fund channels revenues from Norway's oil and gas production into investments spanning stocks, bonds, unlisted property, and renewable projects globally.

Feeling the heat

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai emphasised the need for "decisive" action to safeguard electric vehicles (EVs) against subsidised Chinese competition. As she finalises a review of Trump-era China tariffs and considers President Biden's proposal for higher tariffs on Chinese steel, Tai highlighted the importance of creating a fair playing field for American workers.

She also highlighted concerns about China's "anti-competitive practices" and state support, warning of potential losses in the EV and automotive sectors if Chinese competition remains unchecked.

No mad rush

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic isn't in a rush for inflation to hit the Fed's 2 percent target. He's okay with it happening slowly since jobs are being created and wages are going up. Bostic thinks interest rates might stay the same or possibly drop just once later this year, and there's a chance they won't change at all in 2024.

"I'm of the view that things are going to be slow enough this year that we won't be in a position to reduce our rates towards the end of the year," he said.

Going private

Nordstrom announced that its founding family expressed interest in exploring a potential go-private deal, hinting at the formation of a special committee by the board to assess any proposals.

CEO Erik Nordstrom and President Pete Nordstrom's move coincides with challenges faced by US department store chains due to weak sales amid inflation and borrowing cost concerns. The committee will also consider proposals from other parties, but analysts suggest that any offer must significantly exceed the current stock price for acceptance.