US Retail Sales Dropped In January As Weather, Weak Gas Prices Weigh

'Crypto Spring': StanChart Sees Ethereum Outperforming As Mt. Gox Moves $739M BTC From Cold Wallets “Over the past week, we acquired 26,497 ETH,” Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chair, Tom Lee, said in a statement on Monday. “In our view, ETH prices are not reflecting the strengthening of Ethereum fundamentals, but then again, this is not surprising given we are in the early stages of crypto spring.” As CoinTelegraph reports, Bitmine is the largest Ether treasury company with 5.4 million ETH worth more than $10.5 billion. It had slowed its pace of buying earlier this month after scooping up more...

Petrochemical Supply Shock Begins Idling Asian Factories For weeks, we mapped out for readers how the Gulf energy shock dominoes would fall, spreading outward from the Middle East and striking Asia first through tightened energy-product flows that risk destabilizing the global economy. That transmission of tightening energy flows is now becoming alarmingly visible on factory floors across Asia. Goldman analysts, led by Georgina Fraser, warned clients on Monday that the petrochemical shock is worsening across Asia, with textile and packaging plants emerging as the first major downstream casualties. "The supply shock...

Can We Have Our Humans Back? Companies Rethink AI Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times, The artificial intelligence revolution may not be eliminating human jobs as quickly as some feared. Rising computing costs, operational headaches, and inconsistent results are prompting some companies to change course and bring workers back. It’s a hard lesson learned in the throes of the early AI boom, in which bold claims of big savings have enticed many businesses to downsize their staff. Many industry professionals now say that roles requiring sound judgment, creativity, customer interaction, and...