Happy Friday, Munchers! 🙏

Happy New Year to all of you lovely people. This year has been a brilliant one, and 2023 will be bigger and better. Have a great one, and hit it out of the park.

As always, here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 4 minutes and 52 seconds.

Yesterday, Europe ditched plans to test for COVID at airports, America bet on a soft landing, and Russia sent tons of bombs over the border. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• Investors are looking for cheer at this time of the year. US stocks rose sharply as markets hunt for cheap tech stocks. It's a great time for big money to buy the dip. Unless you're Cathie Wood.

• Indian markets were buoyed by a similar trend, along with general Asian markets rising as China softens their COVID curbs and attempts to get their economy roaring again. 🐲

• Cryptos are taking a big beating to their reputation. One year in stock markets is equal to a decade of crypto. 🤣

Story Roundup

1 - Europe greets COVID with open arms. 🤗

Corona's making a comeback, and Europe thinks we'll be fine.

They will not impose travel restrictions on arrivals from China - which is pretty weird, since they were the first people to shut down back in 2020.

Italy was the first country to slap mandatory testing on all China-inbound travelers. They warned everyone else that it would be ineffective if it wasn't followed Europe-wide.

But a recession is catching up with Europe in the rearview mirror, and they're worried about shutting their economy down.

Officials reckon that Western vaccines are far superior to the COVID variants sweeping China right now - so there's nothing to worry about.

Pfizer gang, where we at? 💉

2 - America believes a recession will leave them unscathed. 💪🏼

The US economy has been like a bad microwave meal.

Searing hot in some parts, but ice-cold in others.

And the White House has the will to believe.

They reckon that the US can still nail a 'soft landing' - when an economy shifts toward flat growth and narrowly avoids recession.

The biggest source of strength is the labour market, which has been immune to the Fed in the last few months.

Inflation has also started easing, with food and energy prices coming down a notch.

Strong multiplier effects are ricocheting through the economy with a barrage of private sector + public sector investments.

Maybe it will all be just fine. 🤷🏼

3 - Russia rains fire down on Ukraine. 💥

Putin is sending across a cruel New Years' present to his neighbours.

Scores of missiles were pelted into Ukrainian borders in the largest day of shelling, as Russia marks it's month-long campaign to cripple energy infrastructure.

Neighbouring Belarus has also decided to join hands with Putin.

They're actively shooting down Ukrainian missiles as well, making Zelensky's job 10x harder.

Residents are being urged to charge their phones & power banks while stocking up on water.

Scary situation. 😬

4 - Reliance splashes some money on it's sweet tooth. 🍫

Reliance Retail can't resist chocolate.

They just bought 51% of a little-known cocoa manufacturer for $10 million.

The company's called Lotus Chocolate (not the biscuit sadly), and they're a rising star in India's cocoa business.

Reliance wants to dive headfirst into the daily-use products market, and they need to strong portfolio of essentials if they want to compete.

Looks like the Ambani's sweet tooth has helped them build big dreams. 🚀

5 - SEC lawyer steps down after being bribed by FTX. Maybe. 💀

This is something the media won't tell you.

I could probably bet that you haven't heard about this anywhere.

The guy that led general counsel at the SEC just handed his resignation in.

But that's not the interesting part.

He was seen having dinner with FTX execs 2 days before they went bankrupt.

If there was ever a narrative about how everything is rigged against the little guy, this would be a kicker.

The only silver lining? Their dinner was at an Indian restaurant. Looks like paneer tikka helps SBF commit fraud better. 🤷🏼

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. 🙏

One love. ❤️

Aryaansh