Happy morning, Munchers! 🙏

As always, here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 4 minutes and 53 seconds.

Yesterday, a corruption scandal rocked Ukraine, manufacturing slowdowns hit 3M hard, and America's obesity issues ran rampant. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• Markets briefly ripsawed with big names like Wells Fargo, McDonalds, and Nike plunging up to 12% for a short while. They picked right back up, and trading was halted for a bit. Pretty odd.

• European debt is a little harder for them to service after a bloodbath in bond markets. Remember - when prices go down, yields go up. Borrowing costs are through the roof.

• Brussels is dealing another big blow to crypto with the rollout of some strict regulations.

Story Roundup

1 - Ukraine gets plastered with corruption concerns. 😬

Money talks, but wealth whispers.

And the whispers that run across Ukrainian streets aren't sounding too good.

15 senior officials have either been dismissed/have resigned - and 6 of those folks have corruption allegations against them. 

For example, Ukraine's infrastructure minister allegedly inflated the prices of winter equipment and siphoned off $400,000. 

Another dude used a government sports car for his personal use when it was meant to go toward "humanitarian causes". 

I don't know which soldiers arrive to battle in a Lambo, but that's what the stories say. 

Not all publicity is good publicity.🤦🏼

2 - Manufacturing takes a big dent. 💥

Corporate America's layoffs are starting to trickle down to the manufacturing sector. 

3M said that consumer-facing demand fell faster than expected and weaker customer spending wreaked havoc on their sales. 

They'll be firing 2,500 people too - with 95% of those job cuts coming from their manufacturing arm. 

One big problem that hardcore industrial business have is higher raw material costs. 

To combat this, a lot of suppliers have tried to raise prices. 

It's basic economics - supply and demand. Price goes up, demand goes down. 

3 - Argentina bets big on a gas comeback. ⛽

While everyone on the street is chatting about a new South American currency, Argentina has a game plan to get their economy roaring. 

They will start exporting gas, lithium, and other minerals. 

Sounds awesome, right?

Gas exports to Chile are starting next week and they'll be able to export to Brazil by September. Reminder - emerging markets are SUPER energy hungry. 

This is gonna boost Argentina's ability to repay creditors... although only from 2025. 

Quite the economic challenge. 🤔

4 - Eli Lilly mints millions from America's obesity. 🍔

Drugs that treat obesity are selling like hotcakes in the USA. Along with the hotcakes themselves. 

And Big Pharma is making a $500 million bet on it. 

Eli Lilly is gonna be throwing half a billion dollars at a manufacturing facility, and the goal is to increase production for diabetes drugs. 

Demand for their flagship diabetes medications has surged along with obesity rates in America. 

They sold a stunning $5.5 billion of it last year, with almost double the demand slated for 2023.

But hey - correlation isn't causation. 🤫

5 - British businesses lose their confidence. 😅

A hop across the English Channel tells you that something isn't quite right. 

Business confidence hit a 2-year low, and that's the steepest drop in a long, long while. 

The biggest culprits (as usual) are higher rates and lower consumer confidence. 

This is particularly the case for businesses like restaurants, pubs, and hotels - you won't dine out as much if your wallet gets lighter. 

Household incomes are also being squeezed, and it's the perfect cocktail for something bad to happen.

This one reeks of a recession. 🦨

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