Germany Faces Second Year Decline

FINANCE
Germany Faces Second Year Decline

The German economy contracted by 0.2% in 2024, marking its second consecutive year of decline, according to data from Destatis. This follows a 0.3% contraction in 2023. Economists had anticipated the drop, with both the European Commission and Germany’s leading economic institutes forecasting a slight dip. Ruth Brand, president of the German statistics agency, attributed the slowdown to “cyclical and structural pressures,” including rising competition in export markets, persistently high energy costs, elevated interest rates, and ongoing economic uncertainty.

Destatis also released preliminary data for the fourth quarter of 2024, showing a 0.1% decline in GDP compared to the previous quarter. This quarterly slowdown aligns with broader economic challenges, as Germany faces difficulties in maintaining growth amid global headwinds. Analysts and policymakers continue to monitor developments closely, with the regular first reading of Q4 GDP expected later this month to provide further insights into the economic trajectory.

TECH
Meta Targets Low Performers in Cuts

Meta Platforms Inc. plans to cut around 5% of its workforce, equating to approximately 3,600 jobs, through performance-based terminations, as outlined in an internal memo by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This move is part of an effort to raise performance standards and focus on retaining top talent. Zuckerberg emphasized the need for "extensive performance-based cuts" and plans to hire new employees to fill key roles in 2025.

The layoffs, which will conclude Meta’s current performance cycle ending in February, aim to position the company for an “intense year” focused on artificial intelligence, smart glasses, and the future of social media. Affected U.S. employees will be notified by February 10, with global notifications following later.

Meta expects its headcount to be down 10% by the year’s end, including attrition. Zuckerberg also announced changes to Meta's diversity initiatives and hateful conduct policies, aligning with efforts to rebuild relations with the incoming administration.

TECH
Tesla FSD Shows Promising Progress

Elon Musk recently celebrated what he called “exponential improvement” in Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, citing significant advancements in highway driving performance. Using crowdsourced data from TeslaFSDTracker.com, Musk highlighted a leap from 85 miles to 724 miles per critical intervention in the latest software version (v13.2). He described this progress as Tesla’s “ChatGPT moment” and reaffirmed plans to launch unsupervised FSD in Texas by year’s end, fulfilling a long-delayed promise for Tesla's autonomous driving technology.

However, this optimism comes with important caveats. Highway driving is simpler than city streets, where critical interventions remain at 40 miles, up from 21. Furthermore, Tesla’s switch to an end-to-end neural network in September 2024 makes earlier comparisons less meaningful. Critics also note the performance gap between Tesla's newer HW4 vehicles and older HW3 models, leaving some owners feeling excluded from progress.

Despite Musk’s claims, Tesla’s technology remains far behind competitors like Waymo, which averages over 17,000 miles per intervention.

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