Happy weekend, Munchers! 🙏

Hope the Friday partying went great. Happy holiday season - tis' the season of cheer! A very merry Christmas Eve to those of you that celebrate, and have a lovely one.

As always, here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 4 minutes and 59 seconds.

Yesterday, Congress said yes to a $1.7 trillion spending bill, China bet that millions got sick, and Google lost its dominance on the ads market. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• Tame inflation data reassured traders that more aggressive rate hikes are off the table.

• Pressure on stocks eased a little bit with major benchmarks across the globe beginning to rise. Not so much in Asia - Dalal Street was still heavily in the red.

• Looks like the start of the Santa Claus rally is upon us! 🎅🏼

Story Roundup

1 - America stretches their government's lifeline by a year. ❤️

The US House just said yes to a $1.7 trillion spending package. All it needs now is Good ol' Joe's signature. 

Without this bill, the US government would literally shut down. 

Businesses in America are cheering the package on, since it includes about $750 billion in domestic spending. 

An interesting thing to note about this one is that it does not include an increase in the US debt limit. 

The way the world is going, we might see a Republican vs. Democrat showdown soon. 🤷🏼

2 - China thinks that 250 million folks have COVID. 💉

China's COVID situation is balancing on a knife's edge. 

The guys in charge think that about 250 million people have been infected. That's 1 in 5 people. 

An explosion in cases was expected, as Chinese cities roll back their zero-COVID policies.

But they definitely didn't prepare for shockwaves this big. 

The reason COVID travels so easily in China is because most of the population is either unvaccinated, or vaccinated with the Chinese-manufactured vaccine. It doesn't do a great job at holding up against the virus, and Pfizer gang puts it to shame. 

It's a scary state of affairs. 🦠

3 - Meta and Alphabet lose their tight grip on ads. 👊🏼

Google and Facebook are a 'Digital Duopoly'. 

They've tightly controlled the global advertising market for a long, long time. 

Every year, over 50 cents of every dollar ever spent on ads goes to them. That's over 50% market share without fail, and many a time even higher.

But David seems to be unsettling Goliath. 

Google and Facebook don't have the lion's share this year, with their combined share slipping below 50%. 

Companies around the globe are cutting their ad budgets, and tech groups are fighting harder than ever to scavenge for the remains. 

It's a hard-knock life. 😬

4 - EY preps to spin their business off. 💫

EY wants to publicly list their consulting business, and they're pruning the bushes to make it look good. 

Next year, their consulting division is gonna be listed on stock markets as part of "Project Everest".

As a part of their grand plans, costs are being cut to optimize for valuation. 

Hiring, travel for internal events, and staff Christmas parties are all being frozen - which is pretty ironic. 

There's a huge clampdown on expenses, and it's because the tightest ship wins. 👑

5 - SBF's besties plead guilty. 😳

FTX's upper echelons are disintegrating real quick. 

Two of the co-founders have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with US authorities. 

That's a very hefty snag for regulators, and it makes things even worse for SBF. 

Caroline Ellison (the CEO of Alameda and SBF's weird girlfriend) pleaded to guilty to stuff that carries a total sentence of 110 years, and Gary Wang (COO of FTX) got handed with about 50 years. 

Hear this from the government themselves - "FTX assets were used to pay Alameda's debts". 

Oh man. 

Someone's in trouble. 

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!

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Cheers, and have a lovely day. 🙏

Aryaansh