What’s in the News?
- US CPI was higher than expected at 3.7% vs 3.6% due to higher shelter costs with main decliners in appar- el, medical and used vehicles. CPI rose 0.40% in Sep, slightly higher than the expected 0.30% forecast.
- China’s exports fell less than expected despite continuing headwinds providing some relief though it is too early to tell if policy support is sufficient. Exports declined 6.20% in Sep vs expectations of 7.60%.
Earnings
Markets
Deal Flows
- Hulu was given a minimum valuation of USD 27.5B, as Comcast & Disney hire investment banks to begin the process of putting the streaming platform under one owner. Currently Comcast holds 1/3rd of Hulu.
- The deal would allow Disney to acquire full control of Hulu and bundle its Disney+ and ESPN+ services together. Hulu has over 48M subscribers but the impact is difficult to assess as a pure streaming service at this scale has never been sold before.
- AMD plans to buy AI startup Nod.ai for an undisclosed amount to compete with Nvidia. The acquisition of Nod.ai fits helps AMD to deploy AI models for data centers that are tuned for AMD’s chips more easily.
India Corner
- India’s domestic air traffic in September rose 18.3% YoY with approximately 1.23 crore passengers last month. The data shows that air traffic in India now exceeds pre covid levels of 1.15 crore passengers.
- India’s inflation eased to a three-month low of 5.02% in September on the back of softer vegetable prices from 6.83% in the previous month.
- Food accounts for nearly half of the CPI basket, and bans on some exports of rice and wheat have helped it trend lower. The RBI will likely continue to target a 4% inflation rate and wont cut rates till June 2024.
Investment Themes By Decade
- Looking back seven decades we see performance leadership has never repeated and a different asset classes have emerged every time. Will this decade be different? It is difficult to say for sure, but a well diversified portfolio would be the best hedge.
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