Happy morning, Munchers! 🙏

Back to a new week we go - hope you had a chill weekend.

As always, here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 4 minutes and 57 seconds. 

This week, we'll make a little stop-over in Africa. Say hi to our guest Caleb. If you want to know anything about Africa - shoot him a message. He knows the scene like it's the back of his hand.

Anyhow - let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• Markets closed - so not much noise. Cryptos down about 6% this week. These bags are getting heavier by the day. 😔

• Bonds are amid their worst sell-off since 1949. Investor mood is not bright.

• UK government bonds and the British Pound sold off heavily with the Pound notching a 40-year low. The government seems to like gambles. 🎲

Story Roundup

1 - US takes Putin's nuclear bluff seriously. 😬

The West is seriously worried about Russia's nuclear threats. 

Last Friday, Vlad Putin ordered all Russian reserve forces to jump into their camo suits and warned of "nuclear retaliation". 

This sudden shift in attitude seems to have spooked quite a few people. 

White House security advisors said that it's "a matter to take deadly serious".

After all - there are no winners in a nuclear war. 

2 - Investors pile into insurance against market Armageddon. 🛡️

Market mood seems to be getting sloppier by the day.

Month-to-date, investors bought record amounts of put options - contracts that make money when asset prices fall.

In total, they've splashed $34.3 billion on these contracts - the highest number on record since 2008. 

A lot of this can be explained by the big funds wanting to insulate themselves from a further market rout as the economy balances on a knife's edge. 

As they say, follow the money. 💀

3 - Housing crash billionaire says "it's different this time". 🏚️

John Paulson rose from an obscure money manager to financial legend overnight. 

What did he do?

He successfully called out the 2008 financial crisis - shorting $25 billion of securities right before the crash.

And his gut feeling is telling him that this time is different. 

His primary reasons are - - a much stronger and more robust banking system- higher credit quality - hardly any subprimes in the market

Let's hope he's right. 😬

4 - India's 2nd richest guy takes the fight to Flipkart and Amazon. 🥷

Reliance's digital commerce business JioMart is gearing up for the Hindu festive season - and it's ready to clash with FlipKart and Amazon.

They're gonna be running month-long discounts on everything, full stop. 

Spending on gifts, sweets, and typical festival stuff is set to accelerate past $32 billion, and Reliance wants a hand in this cookie jar. 

The average Indian consumer still seems to have a strong 'balance sheet' - so consumer confidence and consumer spending still haven't been battered despite a lot of monetary tightening. 

Lots of $$$.

5 - McKinsey puts African fintech onto a rocket ship. 🚀

Hey guys, Caleb here. 👋

The most hype opportunity for African startups is fintech. That’s because:

• Africa has a population of 1.7 billion

• 60% of Africans own a phone

• More than 2/3rds of Africans dont have a bank account

‘Banking the Unbanked’ is the African opportunity of the decade.

Of Africa’s 8 Unicorns, 5 of them are fintechs.

And McKinsey thinks we’re at the end of the beginning of fintech in Africa.

In their 47-page report on Fintech in Africa, McKinsey said to brace for a ‘fintech disruption,’ while revenues from African fintech’s will 8x by 2025.

I summarised the whole thing  into 6 points, but Aryaansh’s only letting me write 100 words so you’ll have to check it out here. 👇

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. 

If you want more top-notch insights from someone who's living, breathing, and investing in the African startup ecosystem, go sub to Caleb's newsletter. You won't regret it ;)

Cheers, and have a lovely day. 🙏

Aryaansh