Blowin’ In The Wind

Hi, today we explore: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, (2) Wind energy installations and (3) The biggest pop stars on the planet. Good morning! We guarantee we’re the only newsletter in your inbox today with charts on Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, wind energy, and Taylor Swift. Happy Friday. - Black gold: Norway’s sprawling wealth fund. - Going green: Wind power installations hit new heights in 2023. - Streaming platinum: Taylor Swift is the biggest pop star on the planet. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply — we'd love to hear from you! TOGETHER WITH Norway’s nest egg The value of Norway's sovereign wealth fund rose 6.3% last quarter, adding a [whopping $110 billion]( to the country’s stockpile despite technically falling just shy of its target benchmark return. What started as the Norwegian government’s rainy day fund — somewhere to put its excess oil revenues in the 1990s — has become the largest investor on the planet. Today, 71% of its investment portfolio is in equities: a total of $1.1 trillion spread across more than 8,800 companies in 65 countries. Mirroring a diversified market index due to its sheer size, the fund has slices of every major sector. Visualized above are ~4,900 of the fund's equity investments: the smallest dots in the chart, the ones that you can barely see, represent $10 million stakes in individual companies. Keeping it public But, while its equities portfolio returned a respectable 9% in Q1, its fixed income and unlisted real estate investments saw losses, pulling down the overall return. Indeed, in the past 2 decades, the fund's equity investments have grown some 21x in value — and its success in public stocks is one reason why the Norwegian government last week confirmed it [wants nothing to do with private equity]( even as other institutional investors increase their exposure to the asset class. In case managing this behemoth portfolio wasn't enough, you can catch the fund's chief hosting his [podcast]( where he interviews the likes of Elon Musk and Satya Nadella — two CEOs of companies that the fund owns a large slice of. Slippery slope: When you're managing a pot of $1.6 trillion, even a tiny Excel error can result in a $92 million [miscalculation](. [Read this on the web instead]( Blowin’ in the wind 2023 was a huge year for wind energy. Indeed, 117 gigawatts of new capacity was installed around the world, up 50% on the previous year’s figure and reversing two years of stalling progress, per a [new report]( from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). While that’s an all-time high for global wind production and a promising step in the shift towards cleaner energy, the GWEC did warn that the goal to triple installed renewable energy generation by 2030 — which was agreed by more than 100 governments at COP28 [last year]( — would require growth within the industry to “rapidly accelerate”. New capacity would need to reach 320 GW a year by the end of the decade to track towards the goal. Cleaning up The world’s been increasingly turning to turbines as a source of renewable energy, with wind now accounting for more than 10% of utility-scale electricity generation in the US. That shift is expected to continue too: according to the [International Energy Agency]( wind and solar will account for 95% of all renewable growth until 2028. Global capacity from new onshore wind energy installations alone climbed to over 100 gigawatts for the first time ever last year. According to estimates from the [Department of the Interior]( that magnitude of new capacity would theoretically be enough to power 22.5-30M US homes each year. Go deeper: How 73,352 turbines are fanned out across [the US](. [Read this on the web instead]( [Sponsored by Percent]( Why investors are pivoting to private credit Private credit is a multi-trillion dollar asset class that’s grown over 1000% since 2006. But what is it? In basic terms: Private credit is when non-banks lend money to private businesses who need capital. Traditionally, only institutional investors have had access to investing in private credit. But thanks to [Percent]( individual accredited investors can also access private credit with a minimum investment of only $500. See why investors have funded [over $1 billion in private credit]( on Percent: - Attractive yields: [On Percent]( the current weighted average yield is 18.1% (as of March 31, 2024) - Shorter durations: Deals can range from 6-36 months with an average of 9 months - Diversification: With small business loans, merchant cash advances, trade finance, consumer loans, and more across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. [Open an account for free and get up to $500 with your first investment*]( The Tortured Chartmakers Department Another day, another piece about Taylor Swift’s continued dominance: the songstress’s latest effort, The Tortured Poets Department, was released today and ([surprise!]( it’s a double album, meaning twice as many songs to rack up mind-boggling numbers and break streaming records all over the world. The cold hard data doesn’t lie: Taylor Swift is the biggest popstar on the planet… and that’s before TTPD was released. We’ve plotted the 100 biggest stars on Spotify, and, while The Weeknd technically reaches a broader audience — with 113m monthly listeners to Swift’s 98m — Swifties are hitting that replay button much more frequently. The star, whose billion-dollar Eras Tour is not only the top-earning tour ever, but also the highest-grossing concert film of all time, was clocking more daily streams than any other artist earlier this week, with megahits like Blank Space, Cruel Summer, and Anti-Hero all contributing to her 75 million+ plays a day. P.S. Get stuck into the data yourself with the [interactive version of the chart](. [Read this on the web instead]( More Data • Champagne problems: LVMH says sales are down because people aren’t popping bottles like they [used to](. • Netflix reported a strong Q1 where subscribers, revenues, and operating income all grew… but shares were still down after the streamer announced it’ll stop reporting sub figures [in 2025](. • Traditionally, only institutional investors have had access to investing in private credit. But thanks to [Percent]( individual accredited investors can also access private credit with a minimum investment of only $500.* [See why investors have funded over $1 billion in private credit on Percent]( • Ex-port: Hong Kong has fallen out of the top 10 busiest port rankings for the first time [in history](. • Samsung is entering emergency mode and asking execs to work 6-day weeks to “[inject a sense of crisis](. **This is sponsored content. Hi-Viz • Stat analysis of how indie darling A24 broke into the [movie mainstream](. Off the charts: The price of what ingredient - a key input in many of America’s favorite sweet treats - is still soaring? [Answer below]. [Answer here](. Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi%2C%0A%0AI%20like%20the%20newsletters%2C%20but%20I%20had%20a%20thought%20for%20you...) or want to [sponsor]( this newsletter? *Advertiser’s Disclosure: Alternative investments are speculative and possess a high level of risk. No assurance can be given that investors will receive a return of their capital. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest. Investments in private placements are highly illiquid and those investors who cannot hold an investment for an indefinite term should not invest. This website is only available to certain qualified investors. Please review the Private Placement Memorandum for each offering carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. 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