Happy Friday, Munchers! 🙏🏼

Hope you've had a fun week, and fingers crossed for an even better weekend. It's been quite a long wait.

As always, here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 5 minutes and 22 seconds.

Yesterday, central banks gave stocks a scooter to the ankle, America heated up the trade war with China, and a top FTX exec ratted the rotten internals to investigators. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What's hot, what's not?

Market Commentary

• Very hawkish commentary from central bankers around the globe sent stocks tumbling yesterday. It's finally kicking in that the big boys aren't playing around. They'll stay the course till inflation is back down, and destroy billions in the process.

• International outlook is seeming to sour as the impacts of sky-high rates are being felt all over economies, all over the globe. Party season over.

• Central banks are going ahead with their plans to tighten just about everything up, and Wall Street is feeling the heat.

Story Roundup

1 - Stocks take a beating as rates creep higher. 📈

Central bankers are menacingly holding their chainsaws - ready to destroy as much demand as they can to bring inflation back down.

The US Fed, British BoE, and the European ECB all opted to slow the pace of interest rate increases.

But markets expected precisely this, so what is the problem?

These guys gave guidance that rates are gonna stay higher for longer.

An environment like that is precisely what stocks hate, since higher rates affect the discount rates used to value assets.

When discount rates go up, valuations shrink (which you've noticed by now, I'm sure).

2 - US throws fuel into the trade war's flames. 🔥

America has placed about 40 more Chinese companies on a trade blacklist.

There's a common theme between these businesses - they all trade in advanced chips.

The US is taking some massive steps toward slowing China's development of semiconductors with superpowers, and China is not enjoying one second of it.

Xi Jinping and Co went to the WTO yesterday, asking them to knock some sense into the US.

So go ahead, buy that "made in USA" toaster with pride. Just don't be surprised when it sets your kitchen on fire. 😏

3 - Top FTX exec snitches on the fiasco. 🤑

British rapper Dave said it best.

"One eye on my opps, two eyes on my friends. At least with my opps, man knows their intentions."

One of Sam Bankman-Fried's closest friends told Bahamian authorities that FTX funds were being channeled to SBF's hedge fund.

This guy was the co-CEO of FTX Bahamas, a role that directly put him in the echelons of the fiasco.

What's next? News about FTX hiring a team of clowns to supplement their risk management activities?

4 - West attacks rich Russians with fresh sanctions. 💸

Russia's richest tycoon is now in Western crosshairs.

Vladimir Potanin is a nickel billionaire, and he has hands in almost every cookie jar imaginable.

A lot of his family's personal property is being sanctioned along with companies that he owns stakes in. That means banks, commodity shops, and tons of startups.

He's apparently gonna lose his ski chalet in the Swiss Alps too.

But don't feel bad for him. He can always use his other ski chalet. And if that one gets taken away, he has a third to fall back on. 😂

5 - Elon Musk keeps pressing down on Tesla stock. ⚡

The 2nd richest guy in the world has dumped yet another boatload of Tesla stock - frustrating tired investors and making things worse for bagholders.

That's his third stock sale since he said that "there'll be no more stock sales" in April.

But hey, you can't criticize him for running a tight ship.

Twitter can run without 75% of it's employees.

Tesla can run without 75% of it's market cap. 😏

A few nibbles from Pasiv 🍪

Investing can be difficult, or it can be passive!

As the little guy, you’re up against - - the computer that is faster than you - the fund that has more money than you - the insider with more information than you

So it's no surprise that 90% of retail investors lose 90% of their money within their first 90 days of trading.

Pasiv wants to give you an edge.

They're Dubai's hottest fintech, and their goal is simple; provide long term investors with a platform to invest responsibly and manage risk better. That means things like in-app chat support, a passive income builder, a portfolio backtest engine, ESG filters and more.

Pasiv is here to help you build wealth. Their membership package comes with access to exclusive finance meetups, a basket of 5000+ stocks, fractional shares, and ETFs, all at zero commission.

The suits don’t need to win every time.

Check 'em out here.

PS - Investing involves risk. Conduct your own research before you invest. Pasiv Financial Ltd is regulated by the DFSA.

Hope you enjoyed this issue of the Market Munch. If you've got any feedback - good or bad (😏) you can hit reply to this email. Thanks a ton for reading!

You might also wanna follow up on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Cheers, and have a lovely day. 🙏

Aryaansh