Happy morning, 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.

Yesterday, Walmart paid a $1 billion tax bill for moving to India, inflation in France fell HARD, and Salesforce fired a few thousand folks. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• European markets edged higher as markets waited on key economic data from the US.

• Traders in America sent stocks up in anticipation of the Fed's December meeting minutes. Looks like stuff is getting better. But we wait with bated breath for our monthly black swan event. 🤷🏼

• The Egyptian Pound sunk to it's lowest level ever. There are a lot of doubts over their FX reserves and they've let their currency fluctuate as part of a $3.1bn IMF deal.

Story Roundup

1 - Walmart gets a billion-dollar tax bill from India. 💸

India's payments market is lucrative for anyone that builds a strong business.

Turns out it's costly too.

PhonePe shareholders including Walmart will have to pay a combined $1 billion in tax. Now that's a hefty check.

They've been handed this tax bill because PhonePe's parent company -- relocated their HQ to India- had a massive rise in volume AND value

The good news?

When a company moves to India, there's a very high chance they list on local markets, since the Reserve Bank forbids India-HQ'ed companies from going public overseas.

Lots of $$$. 💸

2 - Europe dreams big for a post-inflation future. 🙏🏼

Inflation in France fell by a mammoth amount, and it blew economists out of the water.

Analysts across the street predicted CPI at 7.3%.

The actual figure?

6.7%.

This gives Europe's central bankers a lot of breathing room, since they can slow down with their plans to hike rates aggressively to destroy demand.

Eurozone inflation is expected to drop into single digits for the first time in a while, and we're all here for it.

Back to normal. Maybe. 🤷🏼

3 - Salesforce chops off 10% of their payroll. 🥊

A slowdown is forcing Salesforce to sour on underperforming employees

They'll be firing 10% of their workforce - which adds up to ~7,500 people.

It's all part of a big plan to improve margins in an environment where the strongest business wins.

They'll be cutting other costs like crazy, which includes shutting down some offices and restructuring their global operations.

At least Salesforce is honest about the reason behind it all - their CEO said that "they hired too many people", and then 2022 hit.

CRM-ing our way to the top. 🙏🏼

4 - Coinbase pays up $100 million to regulators. 💰

Crypto bros have been put under the spotlight, and they've been forced to pay up.

Coinbase reached a $100 million settlement with US regulators after they were found guilty of - - allowing customers to open accounts 'on a whim'- insufficient background checks- violations of anti money laundering laws- opening the platform up to narcotics trafficking and child abuse

They're gonna pay $50 million upfront as a fine, and spend $50 million on improving their compliance.

That kombucha is looking a little expensive for these folks. 😬

5 - Hollywood preps for a year of turmoil. 📽️

Hollywood execs reckon that this year is gonna be a brutal one.

The entertainment industry faces a few major headwinds - slower streaming growth, the death of cinemas, and a potential writers' strike.

You're seeing cost-cutting across the entertainment business, as banks as pressuring producers to cut down on debt.

They're also withholding extra capital - so money's not as free flowing.

Some actors are gonna be homeless soon. 💀

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