Twelve months. Twelve journals. Rate cuts, port strikes, an election, AI going mainstream — and a look ahead to 2025.
5 min read · December 2024
Good Morning, Good Evening, and Good Night — wherever you're reading this. Welcome back to the Daiiv Journal.
2024 delivered everything: rate cuts, a historic port strike, an election reshaping trade policy, AI going mainstream in supply chain, and Bitcoin reaching all-time highs. If 2023 was about surviving the freight recession, 2024 was about adapting to a world in rapid transformation.
January started strong: Manufacturing PMI crossed 50, Bitcoin ETF launched, and AI adoption moved from pilot to production across supply chains. UPS's ORION system delivered 15% transit time reductions. Aurora's autonomous semis hit Texas highways.
NVIDIA Blackwell unveiled. OpenAI Sora previewed. SAP's AI copilot Joule delivered measurable workforce productivity gains. Digital twins moved from concept to competitive advantage. Quantum computing entered operational planning conversations.
September's 50bps rate cut was the watershed moment markets waited for since early 2023. Consumer spending expectations improved, business investment picked up, and small-cap sector rotation began.
October's port strike exposed deep automation-vs-labor tensions. November's election reset trade policy expectations — tariff exposure analysis is now mandatory for every supply chain team. December closes the year with cautious optimism.
Three forces will define 2025: (1) The tariff and trade war playbook — reshoring and nearshoring will accelerate; (2) AI moving from supporting tool to operational core across every supply chain function; (3) The automation-vs-labor tension crystallized by the port strike will define workforce and investment decisions across the industry.
My positioning heading into 2025: diversified across domestic equities, crypto, treasury bonds, and real estate. Cautiously bullish on AI, semiconductor, and logistics technology. Watching tariff policy closely for supply chain investment themes.
"2024 was a year of adaptation. 2025 will be a year of execution."
"Huge thanks for joining me on this journey. Not only did I learn more — writing these journals has been one of the best decisions I've made."
— Daivik Suresh, December 2024-DAIVIK SURESH-
Supply Chain + Business Analytics Enthusiast · December 2024Not financial advice. All opinions are personal. Investing involves risk including potential loss of principal.