Happy morning, Munchers!

Here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 5 minutes and 10 seconds.

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not

Market Commentary

• US jobs data dropped yesterday, and they added 580k jobs instead of the 250k estimate. This "unusually large" surge in jobs paves the way for an "unusually large" rate hike. ⚒️

• Stocks were a little nervous at the start of the session over this news, sliding intraday but paring losses to close flat. 😅

• Asian stocks trended higher over Taiwan escalation fears subsiding. 💣

Story Roundup

1 - Amazon wants to sweep the home electronics market up. 🧹

Yesterday, Amazon agreed to buy home electronics maker iRobot - best known for making Roombas.

It's an all-cash deal, $1.7bn for the company, and it adds to Amazon's growing portfolio of tech products that can be used at home (Ring doorbell, Alexa speaker, etc).

This news comes right after a string of $1-4bn sized acquisitions by Amazon - since they literally can't buy anyone bigger than them without triggering antitrust regulators.

iRobot recently reported Q2 results, with a 30% fall in sales, and an operating loss 21x bigger than the same period last year.

But Jeff Bezos is one of the richest guys in the world for a reason - he definitely has a plan.🙏

2 - Pfizer's been running the bill up with their Covid cash. 💉

Pfizer is close to buying Global Blood Therapeutics for almost $5bn.

If you don't know Pfizer, their COVID vaccine is probably floating around in either you or a loved one. They sold almost $40bn of their vaccine in 2021, and are now splashing that cash on acquisitions.

Global Blood Therapeutics recently got FDA approval for it's drug to treat sickle-cell disease - which turned some potential acquirers' heads.

3 - Indian central bank hikes rates by 50bps to 5.4%. 🔥

The Reserve Bank of India hiked their benchmark lending rate to 540 basis points - the highest it's been since 2019, and the third time it's hiked this year.

They've already announced a "gradual withdrawal" of their very accommodative monetary policy, showing that they are ready to fight raging inflation and a sliding rupee.

This news buoyed banks a little bit, which generally benefit from times when rates

4 - SoftBank might ditch it's OG investment in Alibaba for $22b. 🙊

The world's largest tech investor has raised about $22bn from deals that could possibly reduce their stake in Alibaba over the next few years.

SoftBank has been hit very hard by an unfavorable macro environment, with a ravaged portfolio and slim profits.

Alibaba's $20m series A round that SoftBank led was ultimately the one that helped SoftBank become a force to reckon with in the tech investing world.

If they're selling down their stake now, it shows how their mindset toward China is changing. 🤷

5 - Asia and Europe race for gas supplies ahead of winter. ❄️

Japan and South Korea - the world's 2nd and 3rd largest importers of natural gas are looking to stockpile some more.

This heightens risks of a further surge in commodity prices - adding fresh fuel to an already rampant cost-of-living crisis.

Gas is very high in demand - especially with Russia playing around with Europe, which has led to Europe looking to diversify their gas reliance. Currently, Europe gets about 40% of it's gas from Russia.

Looks like the late purchasers will be the ones that will bear the brunt of higher prices.

Aaaand that’s a wrap.

Happy weekend y'all. Peace out.

Thanks a ton for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Any feedback is open - positive or negative. Hit my line at [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryaansh/.