Just a few years ago, we were all wondering whether cinemas would ever open again. Look at us now, entering Barbie’s world, taking a bite out of Wonka, and falling asleep in the last half hour of Oppenheimer. The box office is back, baby.

The lowdown

• 🤔 Fed minutes signal hikes are over, but rate-cut timing is uncertain.

• 🇨🇳 China’s services activity expands at the fastest pace in five months.

• 🤖 Microsoft is adding an AI button to PC keyboards.

Flex your finance muscle 💪

Negative rate exit

If you’ve worked in finance in the last five years, you’ll have heard talk of interest rates going negative. It’s difficult to believe now, but just a couple of years ago, rates in the US, Europe, and UK were so low there was speculation they may dip below zero, creating the topsy-turvy situation where borrowers pay to hold their money in a bank.

The only economy to have negative rates today is Japan, which bucked the global trend and maintained ultra-loose monetary policy. It may soon be time to hike, though, which presents an interesting challenge.

For years, investors have been parking their money overseas to earn interest, so if Japanese government bonds start to offer better returns, a flood of money could return home, disrupting financial markets. If the Bank of Japan moves too quickly, inflation could spike, ruining a long-standing attempt to stabilize prices. But if it acts slowly, the markets may test the BOJ’s appetite for maintaining yield levels, which could weaken the yen.

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US box office posts best year since the pandemic

The US box office took more than $9 billion in 2023, its best year since the pandemic, according to Comscore. Movie ticket sales were boosted by summer blockbusters Barbie, which brought in about $636 million, and Oppenheimer, which raked in $326 million. The headline figure includes estimates for this past weekend’s numbers, which was led by Wonka.

Box office earnings in 2023 were still 20% lower than 2019, which brought in $11.4 billion boosted by Avengers: Endgame. But there were 17 fewer wide release films in 2023, so each film grossed more on average than before the pandemic.

It was a special year for Universal, which knocked Disney off the top perch to take the biggest market share globally, which no studio has managed since 2016. The 24 movies released by Universal, which included Oppenheimer, generated an estimated $4.91 billion in worldwide ticket sales, compared to an estimated $4.83 billion from Disney’s 17 titles.

The content we're consuming today

• Yahoo News: Microsoft is adding an AI button to PC keyboards

• FT: Time is running out to fix the shortage of US accountants ($)

• CNBC: The 16-year-old who's become the UK's unlikely sports icon

Off-balance sheet items

• You’re not going to believe this, but someone has completed Tetris.

The bottom line