the minutes

I started my career in Finance as a macro trader- I traded european government bonds, and at the time I used to read religiously “the minutes”, which is what the FED (US central bank) and the ECB (europe’s central bank) and other major central banks published as statement release and commentary about interest rates and the status of the economy under their jurisdiction.

I recall the entire trading floor devouring those press releases and breaking them down meticulously to extract alpha for our next trades- and so I developed a habit of reading: reading a ton. “At the time”, there was no AI summarising anything- it was me, myself, and my bloomberg terminal reading press releases and commentaries from several news sources- think of Reuters, The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and more. They all, though, were thought pieces on the same press release: the central bank’s minutes.

As I entered the tech space, I brought with me my ‘reading skills’ (aka being “chronically online”) and I couldn’t help but notice how many friends and colleagues in the (new to me) world of tech always pointed to me how ‘plugged in’ I am- folks ranging from operators, to founders, to VC investors and the likes. I am definitely flattered- after all, an AI summarising an article will just never be the same as you digesting it yourself: and once a trader, always a trader. This die-hard habit of reading, absorbing, digesting, and sharing the news with others, is something I just thoroughly enjoy and, for how cringe it might sound, it just makes me feel alive.

So, welcome to the AI minutes- a place where I put on writing all the things I have kept an eye out throughout the week and offer, at times, my thoughts and takes through it all.

So glad to have you- benvenuti! Un abbracio,
ciao,
vitoria