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, Russia fired PROPER SHOTS at Poland, Google got calls to cut up it's workforce, and regulators raised an eyebrow at FTX. 🔥

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary

• Indian stocks closed trading at a new all-time high. That's all. 🫡

• US markets traded flat and bounced a little bit. Not much news to be sad about.

• Dry powder is everywhere we look, and markets are in a chill mood for now.

Story Roundup

1 - There's now 8 billion of us. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Humans love having kids. We just crossed the 8 billion mark in global population. 

And it's all down to one big thing. Ageing. 

The number of people above the age of 80 is about 150 million. That is double the number 20 years ago. 

People are living longer, consuming more, and putting more stress on the world.

But this isn't enough - India is set to surpass China in population next Monday. 

Sit tight. 🚀

2 - Russia BOMBS Poland. For real. 💥

Stuff might have just got a little scarier in the Russia/Ukraine war. 

Yesterday, Putin and co. launched a barrage of missiles at key energy targets across Ukraine. They were trying to bring down important electricity infrastructure and stuff that keeps the country running. 

But it might have gotten out of hand. 

Reports are saying that a missile flew off target, and hit Poland. Killed 2 people while it did so. 

Yep. The same Poland who's invasion started WW2. The NATO member Poland. 

A little more digging is still being done, but this is not good news. 😬

3 - Regulators lap at the FTX fiasco. ⚖️

The regulatory sharks are circling in on crypto companies. 

Ever since FTX went bankrupt, bodies started floating to the surface all across the industry. Around 100 affiliated businesses went bankrupt too, giving us a list of creditors that's way too long for comfort. 

Initial reports are saying that there's a list of ~1 million creditors that are gonna take a hit when this blows over. 

The SEC has hired people to restructure, reshuffle, and pick apart SBF's dying brokerage.

Dark day to be a crypto bro. 🪙

4 - Alphabet gets calls from investors to fire some workers. 💣

A hedge fund that owns about $6 billion in Google stock has written quite a sharp letter. 

They called for "aggressive action" in the way Google is doing business.

In short, they want - a BIG cut in driverless car investment- an increase in share buybacks- a potential cut of ~10,000 jobs

They're complaining that this unnecessary spending has eroded their margins, which is partly true.

Google's operating profit margin was 39% last year, and is 32% this quarter. Their median salary is also 2/3rds higher than Microsoft's.

The founders control 51% of the voting shares, so final say is theirs. 

Shareholder value. 🌚

5 - Richer customers go bargain hunting at Walmart. 🛒

Times of high inflation mean that more people are hunting for savings. 

Who doesn't want a few extra dollars in their pocket? 

Walmart's earnings came in strong, and it looks like richer consumers are attracted to them. Revenues surged 9% and 3/4th of their largest customers are families that earn more than $100k a year. 

Consumer balance sheets are still looking pretty hefty, and demand is not being destroyed given how important buying staple goods is to the average person. 

Moon soon? 🤷

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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