Happy new year, Munchers! 🙏

Watching the Dubai skyline ripple in flames was out of this world. I firmly believe 2023 will be the best year yet. Onward we march.

As always, here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 4 minutes and 58 seconds.

Over the weekend, Indian manufacturers stocked up on inventory, oil majors enjoyed bumper profits, and Jeremy Hunt splashed taxpayer cash on bailouts. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• New year weekend, so not much rocking markets. Everyone's out partying and buying gym memberships.

• Turkish stock markets have had their best year yet. Locals are seeking shelter from 80% inflation, which made the index pop 2x in 2022. Hungry for returns.

• The BoJ made unscheduled bond purchases for the third straight day on Friday, casting a shadow across markets.

Story Roundup

1 - Indian manufacturers stock up on inventory. 📦

A resurgence in COVID has battered supply chains, and the Indian economy is feeling the heat.

Consumer durables producers are stocking raw materials at a fast pace, with ~3 months of runway in warehouses.

That makes input costs higher - which means everyone is worse off.

If China's COVID situation gets worse (which it looks like it will), supply disruptions to India are on the cards.

Every element of the supply chain is coming under the lens.

All hopes for a cheaper iPhone, up in smoke. 🤦🏼

2 - OpenSea CEO says that NFTs are safe. 🤷🏼

A crypto winter isn't fazing OpenSea. They reckon that NFTs are on a rollercoaster ride to the top.

Monthly volumes at OpenSea (in eth) are down over 95% in the last year. ($4.9bn in Jan -> $253mn in Nov)

Their CEO reinforced that the company has a healthy runway, partly because of the stacks of cash they hustled from investors over 2021.

Crypto execs are convinced that it's just a general market slowdown and that we are at the start.

But their money is where their mouth is. 🤩

3 - Oil majors power through to a profit party. 💸

Businesses that sell dead dinosaurs are in for the payday of a lifetime.

ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to rake in over $100bn in profit over 2022, which represents a tax bonanza for governments.

Joe Biden called them "profiteers of war" and Exxon recently sued Europe over an increase in windfall taxes.

It's a stunning reversal in fortunes, when just 18 short months back we saw oil companies struggle with a corona-induced slowdown in demand.

Greta Thunberg is just speechless. 😶

4 - Britain considers bailing steel makers out. 🪙

British ministers want millions to bail out struggling steelmakers.

A taxpayer rescue of British Steel's blast furnaces in on the cards, and the bill is coming out to $350 million.

If they close, the UK economy will take a big blow.

Economists have done the maths, and it looks like $2.5 billion is on the line.

Lots of job cuts may be in store, along with a long-term dent in the UK's manufacturing capability.

Heavy metal. 🤘🏼🪨

5 - Egypt suffers from a forex crunch. 🫰🏼

Across the world, a lot of stuff is in short supply.

In Egypt however, there's a big lack of Dollars. US dollars.

Over 2022, many billions of dollars flew out of Egypt as investors sought safer havens for their money.

Businesses are unable to import since they literally can't pay the bills, and they're being forced to eat out of their savings.

If this wasn't bad enough, Egypt is the world's biggest grain importer, putting more pressure on their FX reserves.

Sticky situation. 📉

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