Good morning, Munchers! 🙏

TGIF - we're on the home stretch of the week. Excited for another weekend of blissful sleep. 🤞

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

Anyhow - let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• The British Pound continued selling off - hit an all time low. Scone szn is over❔

• Weak global cues are pushing markets across the board lower - nothing good to look forward to.

• UK stocks continued a tumble - businesses are bracing for higher costs amid a fall in Sterling.

Story Roundup

1 - Liz Truss isn't budging despite market disappointment. 📉

People, investors, and businesses alike are losing all confidence in the UK government.

Liz Truss is now facing record pressure to overturn course on their not-so-Mini Budget that has been rocking markets over the last week.

Since she came into power, UK stock and bond markets have lost a total $500 billion.

That's an eye-wateringly high number, and it's one that highlights how quick investors have decided to press escape on the UK.

Banks have pulled mortgage products, pension funds have warned that they'd have been insolvent, and the Bank of England had to reverse their monetary policy.

Hot water. No other way to describe it. 🧨

2 - Germany drops a $200 billion aid package after hot inflation. ⛑️ 

Inflation in Germany accelerated yet again - now sitting at 10.9%.

This sudden spike has the economy spooked, as we all pay the price for criminally lax monetary policy.

To combat this, Germany's unveiled a $200 billion aid package, which includes a cap on gas prices and measures to protect businesses that were called a "double kaboom" by the Chancellor.

Ministers are apparently working on a "huge protective shield", which will take some pressure off pensioners, workers, families, and "bakeries round the corner".

Electricity bills in Germany have almost quadrupled this year - and that squeezes the poorest the hardest.

Fingers crossed. 🤞

3 - Facebook presses pause on hiring as ad revenue goes boom. 💥

Internal documents from Meta show that they're gonna implement a hiring freeze.

Starting today, Meta will "pause hiring" and won't make any offers until "the freeze is lifted".

The social media group is battling two big enemies - slowing ad revenue, and rising competition.

Their 2023 budget looks like it'll be pretty tight, and it's gonna bite hard.

Meta's given us pretty weak guidance for this quarter - between $26bn and $28bn, falling short of the $30bn expected.

Slowdown's coming in hot! 🐌

4 - Nike stock goes up in flames after poor earnings. 🔥

Your favorite sneaker company was on fire yesterday, as Nike reported lower profitability, supply chain disruption, and higher freight costs.

Nike's gross margin fell 2.2%, and they blamed this on "elevated shipping costs".

A strong Dollar also cast a lull on it's overseas earnings. Looks like the USD is the only 'asset' in the green this year.

They also reported a 22% drop in net profit, sending their stock barreling 13%.

Let's see how they pick this one back up. 👟

5 - Russia scoops up some Ukrainian territory. 💀

Today, Vladimir Putin will officially annex 4 Ukrainian regions.

It's the most substantial escalation of the war - and shows that Russia means business.

Russian forces say that they held votes in these areas, asking people whether they wanted to be a part of Ukraine or join Russia.

But the West refuses to accept these "sham referendums" - where Russia was voted with margins of up to 99%-to-1%.

Ukrainian President Zelensky pledged a "tough military response"...

Time will tell where this one goes. 🙏

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.

Cheers, and have a lovely day. 🙏

Aryaansh