💰 Citadel's record year

Plus: Turf war | Monday, January 23, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Babbel   Axios Closer By Hope King and Nathan Bomey · Jan 23, 2023 😔 Our thoughts are with those impacted by Saturday night's shooting in Monterey Park, California. Today's newsletter is 689 words, a 2½-minute read. 🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up 1.2%. Biggest gainer? Advanced Micro Devices (+9.2%), leading chip stocks up as tech stocks across the board move markets higher ahead of a slew of earnings this week. Biggest decliner? Xylem (-8.0%), an equipment service provider for the water and wastewater industry, after announcing an all-stock deal to acquire Evoqua Water Technologies.     1 big thing: Banks look to stave off Big Tech Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios   A consortium of big banks is reportedly working to roll out a digital wallet to compete with PayPal and Apple Pay, Axios Pro's Ryan Lawler writes. Why it matters: With tech companies like Apple and Google making territorial grabs in financial services, banks are looking to defend their turf. "The new product is being built in order to prevent banks ceding customer relationships to Big Tech," CFRA Research's Angelo Zino tells Nathan. Details: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and four other banks are collaborating on the digital wallet, the Wall Street Journal reports. The service would link to users' debit and credit cards and ease online checkout at merchant websites. The product would be managed by Early Warning Services, the bank-owned technology provider behind peer-to-peer money transfer service Zelle. But the new digital wallet, which the banks are hoping to launch in the second half, would operate separately from Zelle. How it works: The banks' product would compete with popular one-click checkout services like PayPal and Apple Pay, which store user credentials in a browser or mobile device, enabling users to pay online merchants without entering credit or debit card information. Quick take: It's "hard to believe" the banks' product will catch on, Zino says. "Especially in the case of Apple Pay, most consumers are comfortable with the ease of use and likely have a greater sense of security utilizing Apple Pay over other forms of payment." Of note: Launched a little over five years ago, Zelle has 110 million users and is available to customers at over 1,700 financial institutions, EWS CEO Al Ko told Axios last September. Yes, but: Zelle has come under scrutiny by politicians in Washington for failing to stop fraudulent transactions. That means the big banks will be under pressure to develop a digital wallet that puts security first.     2. Charted: Go big or go home Data: 1985–2012 from Bureau of Transportation Statistics; 2013–2022 from S&P Global; Chart: Will Chase/Axios Bigger trucks are the American way. The big picture: In the 1980s, about half of pickup trucks were categorized as small or midsize, Axios' Will Chase, Joann Muller and Jared Whalen write today in a special visual report. But by the 2010s, small pickups had nearly vanished as Americans increasingly bought into the big truck lifestyle. Context: The Nos. 1, 2 and 3 best-selling vehicles in the U.S. are pickups — and they're all full-size rides, Nathan adds. Go deeper.     3. What's happening 🎧 Spotify is laying off around 600 people, 6% of its workforce. (Axios) 💨 Massive wind turbines from several different manufacturers have experienced structural failures, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. (Bloomberg)     A message from Babbel Broaden your ability to connect with anyone     Explore up to 14 languages with Babbel, the expert-led app helping users learn to have real-world conversations in as little as 3 weeks. Lessons even include context tips that offer useful cultural knowledge to help you better understand the words you learn. Get up to 55% off for a limited time.     4. A good year Citadel hedge fund boss Ken Griffin in 2019. Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images   The stock market got roughed up in 2022, but Ken Griffin's Citadel navigated the turmoil just fine, Nathan writes. The Republican megadonor's hedge fund racked up $16 billion in profits, according to LCH Investments. Why it matters: It's "the biggest dollar gain by a hedge fund in history and a haul that establishes his company as the most successful" hedge fund ever, the Financial Times reports. Context: Bloomberg noted that the earnings outpaced the previous one-year record — John Paulson's $15 billion windfall for his famous bet against subprime mortgages in 2007. Citadel was "trading everything from equities to commodities," piling up profits from "fixed income and macro, quant and credit" investments, Bloomberg reports. Yes, but: It wasn't a pretty picture for Citadel's contemporaries. Hedge funds lost $208 billion in 2022, LCH estimated. They ended the year with $3.3 trillion in investments on hand, Reuters reported.   Share Axios and earn rewards If you like this newsletter, your friends may, too! Refer your friends and get free Axios swag when they sign up. Be a good friend and share   5. Rex and the city Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Dog walking is apparently becoming quite lucrative, especially for those walking dogs with premium digs, Nathan writes. It's no Citadel, but "seasoned dog walkers with well-heeled clients" are making $100,000 or more annually, the New York Times reports. The big picture: A boom in pet ownership during the pandemic has created new opportunities for dog walkers. While prices in Manhattan can range as low as $14 per 30-minute walk, it can escalate quickly to more than three times that much, according to the Times. What they're saying: "I can go to whatever restaurant I want, whenever I want," one 35-year-old pooch walker tells the Times.     6. What they're saying Screenshot: @mmschocolate (Twitter)   Mars today said it is sidelining its M&Ms "spokescandies," after igniting a culture war over its decisions around candy boots.     A message from Babbel Spend 10 minutes a day escaping to a new world     Jumpstart your year with Babbel, the learning platform that offers daily language lessons for real-world use. You get to access: Podcasts, games, videos and articles. Live online classes with top teachers. Tailored lessons with topics you pick. Speak a new language in just 3 weeks.   Today's newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon and copy edited by Sheryl Miller. Why stop here? Let's go Pro. Join the thousands of professionals using Axios Pro to keep up with the companies, deals and trends changing their industries.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: