Hello! Nikki Haley has suspended her presidential campaign this morning, after losing in 14 of the 15 states that voted on Super Tuesday. Today we’re exploring:
Emergency landing
JetBlue and Spirit have officially grounded their $3.8 billion merger agreement, just weeks after a federal court judge blocked the deal due to antitrust concerns originally raised by the Justice Department last March.
The acquisition, which was announced over 18 months ago after JetBlue forced out Frontier in an extended bidding war, would have seen the 2 merge to form the 5th largest airline in the US — its breakdown now has some pondering the chances of Spirit’s survival altogether.
Spirit in the sky
Having become synonymous with the fee-heavy-low-fare airline model — leading the way by charging its customers for everything from checking bags to picking your seats — Spirit, and its low-cost carrier competitors, has revolutionized cheap travel. But, despite hauling hundreds of millions of dollars in baggage fees, the airline struggled to turn a profit, as everything from fuel, to aircraft rent, to landing fees took the carrier to a $495m operating loss last year.
The deal with JetBlue might have given the combined entity the ability to share certain overhead costs, optimize flight schedules, and win more market share in the low-cost segment. The last piece of that puzzle was exactly what regulators were concerned about, with judges blocking the deal on concerns that it would harm cost-conscious customers and restrict competition in the space.
Low spirits: Shares in the airline have dropped 15% in the last 48 hours.
Hot water
Off the back of the hottest year on record, climate indicators are already climbing to new heights. Alarming ocean temperatures seen throughout last year have continued to surge in January and February, with data from the NOAA (reported by the University of Maine) recently clocking a temperature reading of 21.2°C on March 4th — a seasonal record, following 10 months of seasonal highs being reached every day.
These temperatures are astounding climate scientists, as the ocean warming recorded is more extreme than many forecast. A simple look at decade-long intervals reveals the pace of the change and, so far, 2024 is tracking 0.33°C warmer than 2023.
Turning tide
Climbing sea temperatures have long been linked to global warming, and the world's atmosphere has risen more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. But the stark increases of late are also thought to be the result of several concurrent shorter term factors, including the El Niño weather event, slow wind speeds affecting ocean water mixing, and sulfur emissions from ships.
Looking forward, the overall warming trend is “virtually certain” to continue accelerating, according to the IPCC, and related environmental consequences like ocean hypoxia, acidification, and coral bleaching are likely to have devastating impacts on marine wildlife.
Bitcoin bubblin’
Having endured the "crypto winter", Bitcoin has once again climbed over the $69,000 threshold, trading at a new record high on Tuesday — a milestone mirroring a number of major stock indices in the US, Europe, and Japan, all of which have reached new peaks in 2024.
Part of the recent surge is attributed to the approvals of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, greenlit by US regulators in January, which have widened access to the world’s largest cryptocurrency, with the 10 US Bitcoin funds currently available ballooning in size to nearly $50 billion since then. Another potential factor is the upcoming “halving” — a predetermined schedule that cuts the reward for mining the cryptocurrency in half approximately every 4 years, limiting the growth of new supply of Bitcoin.
Rising tide lifts all coins
Whether it’s the ETFs, the halving event, or just a renewed enthusiasm for digital currency, Bitcoin continues to drive the wider crypto economy. Indeed, the 15-year-old coin remains by some distance the largest in the crypto universe, with its market capitalization exceeding the value of the 99 next most valuable cryptocurrencies combined, most of which have also gained in value during the latest surge.
The argument for Bitcoin playing the role of “digital gold” as a store of value gains credence with every year that the asset remains relevant. But, as though a reminder of how volatile it can be, Bitcoin suffered a mini crash after reaching its new peak, slipping more than 10% in the space of a few hours.
• Haiti went into a 72-hour state of emergency on Sunday night after gangs, including nearly 4,000 prison escapees, attempted to seize control of the main airport.
• Apple's iPhone sales in China are estimated to have plummeted 24% in the first 6 weeks of the year.
• Competition in AI intensifies as Anthropic unveiled Claude 3, a model boasting "near-human" abilities that purportedly surpass the current capabilities of ChatGPT.
• China outpaced the US in filing patent applications in 2022, as the innovation arms race accelerates.
• The White House Photo Competition crowned some of the best political images of 2024.
• Amazing plot of the population density of Africa.
