Happy Monday, 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.

Over the weekend, Microsoft’s Activision deal inched toward success, TikTok tried distancing itself from China, and GPT got some schooling. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• The Fed kept their foot on the accelerator despite all the banking boom and bust. Looks like someone’s trying to regain lost trust. 💀

• Crypto bros have taken some time to emerge from their dens as Bitcoin crossed the $30k mark for the first time in a long, long while.

• Markets remained pretty muted otherwise. Not much action from the suits.

Story Roundup

1 - Britain thinks Microsoft’s $75bn marriage is alright. 💸

It’s not everyday you decide to splash $75bn on an acquisition.

And when you do, the government always wants to take it’s cut.

When Microsoft announced their takeover of Activision, the UK anti-competition regulator went into a frenzy.

They said that the deal would lead to "higher prices, fewer choices, and less innovation" for gamers (not that anyone cares).

Turns out that the concern just got dropped. UK is perfectly fine with the deal.

If it goes through, this will be their biggest-ever purchase and make them the 3rd largest gaming company in the world.

Shopping spree. 🙉

2 - TikTok tries to take a step away from China. 👣

TikTok’s CEO just appeared in front of Congress, and he had to answer some tough questions in front of the government’s big, bright lights.

Joe Biden and his buddies want to get TikTok banned in America over security concerns, so Mr. CEO was trying his best to de-Chinafy his app.

America isn't loving the widespread grasp of Chinese tech on their consumers - because a lot of traffic, attention, and dollars go Eastward.

The average American spends 48 minutes per day on TikTok - that's 48 minutes not spent on other US-based networks.

The US wants that power back… 😂

3 - GPT gets a Wharton MBA. 🎓

What can't AI do?

It can do your homework for you, it can help you write crazy smart research papers, and it can replace all your friends.

Turns out it can also get a Wharton MBA.

Professor Terwiesch from the Wharton school just authored a research paper - "Would ChatGPT get a Wharton MBA?" and the results are pretty off-putting.

The bot got a B on the exam. Not the greatest, but it's still in it's infancy.

It did some amazing work with process analysis questions and hit every single case study question out of the park. One interesting bit was that GPT failed horribly at 6th Grade maths questions. The whole paper is here.

Dumb and dumber.

That's what we're all gonna become. 😔

4 - Oil prices could get set to pop. 🛢️

The International Energy Agency tracks the world of oil, and they think that we might start having heart-attacks at the gas pump.

Demand for crude could rise to ~101.7mn BPD with two very, very wild cards dominating outlook.

These two are none other than Russia and China.

China's reopening is likely to send oil markets roaring. Xi Jinping has told us time and time again that he wants to consume to the moon.

But you can’t do that with everyone locked in their homes.

Once folks are back on the streets and scuttling around in their cars, oil demand is very likely to skyrocket.

And Russia is a giant that’s slowly morphing into something bigger.

They just became toppled Saudi to become China’s largest oil supplier, and they have no signs of stopping that romp.

Get ready to shell out some more for your Premium 95. 😭

5 - Europe’s growth goes on a U-turn. 🤦🏻

There are only 2 things that are fickle in this world. Fate, and whatever economists say.

Turns out that the "hot water" Europe was in has cooled pretty quick, and analysts are betting on a quick Eurozone turnaround.

Lower energy prices, blockbuster government support, and a reopening Chinese economy are gonna be kickstarting Europe's economic engine.

The reason this is “weird”?

Just weeks ago, the chief of the IMF said that "half of the EU would be in a recession soon".

Looks like that recession never came. 🙈

Hope you enjoyed this issue of Market Munch. If you’ve got any feedback - good or bad (😏) you can hit reply to this email and I'll get a ping in my inbox. Thanks a ton for reading!

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Cheers, and have a lovely day. 🙏

- Aryaansh ⚡