IMF Raises Growth Forecasts & The Wed Five
SOMETHING INTERESTING:
This is a great thread with a bunch of short, pithy insights on business and life.
What I’m reading — The Intentional Father
What I’m watching — Accused
One Article -
This was such a fun NYT opinion piece—on the topic of having fun again.
According to scientist Catherine Price, we experience "fun" at the center of three states: playfulness, connectedness, and flow.
As the article so playfully highlights, there are a lot of ways to reclaim fun in your life (and most of them involve slowing down and disconnecting):
Quote I’m pondering - "The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it." - Henry David Thoreau
Anything you do is a trade of your finite remaining time for something else.
Time is the most precious asset. Trade it carefully.
WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKET?
Eurozone Leads Global Growth. Figures released by the European Union’s statistics agency Tuesday showed the currency- area’s economy grew at an annualized rate of 0.5% as higher energy costs weighed on household spending. This translated into 3.5% growth in gross domestic product for 2022 as a whole, a faster rate than seen in either China or the U.S.
Spotify Boosts User Base Despite Loss. Spotify reported 489 million monthly active users, a 20% increase year over year, with growth in India and Indonesia* as a result of marketing campaigns and strength from its eighth annual Wrapped campaign and the holiday season.
McDonald's Profits Soar Amid Inflation. McDonald's profits continued to rise with 2 consecutive quarters of increasing traffic, Many consumers have cut back restaurant spending in response to inflation and McDonald’s has largely benefitted from the change in consumer behavior since many have traded down from full-service restaurants.
GM Outperforms Automotive Industry. General Motors exceeded expectations with full-year 2022 revenue of $156.7 billion and a net income of $9.9 billion, showing strong results even as the US automotive industry normalizes. The strong report suggests GM is hanging onto record results even as the U.S. automotive industry begins to normalize after several years of record-low inventories and resilient consumer demand.
Caterpillar Sales Up 20%. Caterpillar's sales hit $16.6 billion for the quarter, up 20% due to strong demand for its construction and mining equipment and energy generation engines, driven by growing investments in oil and natural-gas production also drove higher demand for Caterpillar’s engines. Sales came to $16.60 billion for the quarter, topping Wall Street expectations.
WHAT’S WORTH WATCHING?
Apple Sets Sights on New Business Opportunity. The new Apple Business Connect suite is a set of tools that allows small businesses to update how their location place cards look across Apple apps like Maps, Messages, and Wallet. The suite also provides an insight dashboard to show how customers find a business and interact with the place card. That last detail could be the essential groundwork for building a massive advertising segment.
Buy with Prime Threatens Shopify. UBS analyst Kunal Madhukar reiterated a sell rating on Shopify. Madhukar claimed that Buy with Prime could lead to between 6% to 14% of Shopify's revenue and 2% to 6% of its gross profit being at risk. But there's a lot of upside potential for Shopify if it can neutralize the Buy with Prime threat.
EV Fuel Costs Surpass Gas Cars. In Q4 2022, typical mid-priced ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car drivers paid about $11.29 to fuel their vehicles for 100 miles of driving. That cost was around $0.31 cheaper than the amount paid by mid-priced EV drivers charging mostly at home, and over $3 less than the cost borne by comparable EV drivers charging commercially.
IMF Raises Growth Forecasts. It says most countries will avoid a recession and the IMF expects the global economy to grow 3.2 percent between the final quarter of last year and the final quarter of this year. It’s an upgrade from its last forecast. The FT’s Colby Smith says a big factor is China’s decision to scrap its restrictive zero-Covid policies. Source(0:44)
Interest Rates Remain Key Concern. The big question is whether or not the Fed will continue to hike interest rates, as this implies quantitative tightening and could have a significant impact on the market. As long as they continue, even with baby steps of 25 basis points at a time, as long as that continues quantitative tightening rolls on in the background. What they talk about the least is actually the most important which is quantitative easing. Source(7:35)
One Podcast:
The Science of Happiness
Fascinating discussion with Dr. Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor, best-selling author, and one of the leading thinkers on happiness.
The most interesting thing I learned was his perspective on the three "macronutrients" of happiness:
Enjoyment: Enjoy your life.
Satisfaction: The feeling of reward from a job well done.
Purpose: Big picture meaning and significance.
To be a happy person, you need to have these three in balance and abundance.
Listen to it here.
Rooting for you,
Jon
**By the way: It’s an honor to have the opportunity to be in touch with you, but if it’s no longer of interest, no worries! Just click the “unsubscribe” link**
Disclaimer: Jonathan Smith is not a practicing CPA or a licensed attorney or financial adviser. Therefore, the information in these videos shall not be relied upon as tax, legal, or financial advice from a qualified perspective. If you need such advice, please contact a qualified CPA, attorney, or financial adviser. We have taken reasonable steps to check that the information in this video is accurate but we cannot represent that it is free from errors. You expressly agree not to rely upon any information contained in this video - it is for entertainment purposes only.