💰 Toyota's eyeing Tesla's 1 trillion

The UK: whoops, my bad | Toyota is slow on the uptake | [TOGETHER WITH]( Hi {NAME}, here's what you need to know for December 15th in 3:12 minutes. 🍷 Finimized over a mulled wine at the [Lamb & Lion Inn]( in York, UK (🌥 8°C/47°F) Today's big stories - Job vacancies in the UK reached a record high last month - Our analyst has laid out how to prepare for 2022 amid all this uncertainty – [Read Now]( - Carmaking giant Toyota announced it’ll be investing $35 billion into battery-powered EVs Abandonment Issues [Abandonment Issues] What’s Going On Here? Data out on Tuesday [showed]( UK job vacancies hit record highs last month, as the country starts to realize Brexit might not be the tourist attraction it thought it was… What Does This Mean? The UK might’ve added a record number of new jobs last month, but there are still plenty going spare: openings rose to a record 1.2 million in November. And the trouble is there just aren’t many people going for them – a stark contrast from this time last year. In fact, [data]( has shown that half a million fewer people are employed or looking for a job than there were before the first lockdown. That could be because hundreds of thousands of workers have left the UK for good during the pandemic, including around 200,000 from Europe alone. Or it could be because Brexit – remember Brexit? – has made it harder than ever for those Europeans who do want to pitch in to do just that. Why Should I Care? The bigger picture: More competition, more inflation. A scramble for staff means one thing: companies will have to sweeten the deal to win would-be employees over, which might be why survey data earlier this month showed UK employers upped starting salaries at a record rate last month ([tweet this](). That’s good news for Brits, not so good for the Bank of England (BoE): the trend looks set to push inflation higher, which could put pressure on the central bank to hike interest rates when it meets later this week. Zooming out: British banks get an A+. At least the BoE’s got one thing off its plate: it’s been running stress tests – created as an early-warning system after the 2008 financial crisis – on the UK’s biggest eight banks, seeing how they’d hold up against a “doomsday scenario” of triple the unemployment rate, a sharp fall in property prices, and a shift into economic contraction. But here’s something to stick on your fridge: the BoE announced last week that all eight banks passed with flying colors. You might also like: [Should you invest in bank stocks?]( Copy to share story: [( 🙋 [Ask a question](mailto:questions@finimize.com?body=Ask us a question: Where are you writing from? Let us know and we'll mention it when we reply.&noapp=true&subject=Abandonment Issues&utm_campaign=daily-global-15-12-2021&utm_source=email) Analyst Take How To Prepare For A Year More Uncertain Than The Last [How To Prepare For A Year More Uncertain Than The Last ]( [Photo of Stéphane Renevier] Stéphane Renevier, Analyst What’s Going On Here? Let’s face it, no one knows what the economy will look like in 2022. The [market’s best guess]( is that economic growth will be robust if slower, and inflation will stay higher than average but not high enough to warrant the Fed stepping in. Of course, [the worst-scenario]( could also happen: if inflation rises more or stays high for longer, the Fed will be forced to hike rates faster and more significantly. That could, of course, go the other way, and investors could equally be underestimating the likelihood of the [best-case scenario](. So that’s today’s Insight: how three [very different-looking 2022s]( could pan out, and [how to prepare]( no matter what. [Read or listen to the Insight here]( SPONSORED BY CROWDSTREET Experience the great indoors Investing in America’s fastest-growing industries sounds like a good idea, sure. But [investing in the bricks and mortar]( that makes them all possible sounds even better. With [Crowdstreet](, you can do exactly that: you’ll find real estate investment opportunities across the country, from Boston’s biotech hub to the Bay Area’s tech facilities. That’ll help you diversify your portfolio, so you’re not just relying on risky stocks and waiting till bond yields start to climb. [Real estate]( can even help you hedge against this pesky inflation. Crowdstreet’s already closed over [560 deals](, and its investors have done pretty well out of it: they’ve earned [over $360 million](. And you can join them for the next $360 million: [invest in real estate with Crowdstreet](. [Tap Into The Boom]( Final Notice [Final Notice] What’s Going On Here? Toyota [said]( on Tuesday that it’s finally planning to invest billions into battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs). About time too. What Does This Mean? Toyota was one of the very first carmakers to roll out hybrids, but it’s been left way behind its competitors as far as battery-only EVs go. Clearly the company thinks now’s the time to change all that: it announced plans to build a new line of 30 battery-powered EVs by 2030, and sell 3.5 million of them a year by then too. That number’s particularly ambitious given that it represents roughly a third of everything the carmaker sells today, but Toyota’s got the money to make it happen: it’s planning to invest $35 billion into the space by the end of the decade. Why Should I Care? The bigger picture: Toyota tries to have cake, eat it too. Toyota’s not putting all its eggs in one basket, mind you: it wants to plough another $35 billion into other types of EVs, including those powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The carmaker says it wants to keep its options open in case the market ever shifts away from battery EVs, which might also be why it didn’t join other carmakers in pledging to phase out fossil fuel-powered cars at COP26. Still, the last thing it wants to do is antagonize an increasingly green investor: it’s aiming to make its manufacturing plants carbon-neutral by 2035 instead. Zooming out: Everyone wants a piece of EVs. There’s a simple reason Toyota is going big: the EV market grew last year even as the wider car market shrank, suggesting there’s a lot more potential in the new technology than there is in the old. The company can’t have missed the moment Tesla’s market value hit $1 trillion in October either – more than the value of Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, Ford, and General Motors combined. You might also like: [Where the experts see the auto industry’s biggest opportunities.]( Copy to share story: [( 🙋 [Ask a question](mailto:questions@finimize.com?body=Ask us a question: Where are you writing from? Let us know and we'll mention it when we reply.&noapp=true&subject=Final Notice&utm_campaign=daily-global-15-12-2021&utm_source=email) 💬 Quote of the day “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison (an American inventor and businessman) [Tweet this]( SPONSORED BY GOTRADE Big stocks, little investments Alphabet, Tesla, Netflix: everyone wants a piece of the [big-name stocks](. But that can be tricky when a single share costs more than $1,000. Good thing, then, that you can [invest in fractions of US stocks]( with [Gotrade](. And we mean fractions: you can buy as little as 0.00001 of a share at a minimum of $1. That means there’s no barrier to the big names – you could own them all if you wanted. Plus, Gotrade is totally [commission-free](, so you won’t be paying any sort of premium to do just that. The [Gotrade app]( is straightforward and snappy to use, and you can even make deposits with Wise. Get your hands on the big guns: [download Gotrade today](. [Trade The Biggest Stocks]( When you support our sponsors, you support us. Thanks for that. 🎯 On Our Radar - So much for little green men. Whatever’s out there might not be [organic](. - Welcome to the Private Deal Room. [Exclusive investment opportunities]( you can’t get anywhere else – from early-stage startups to pre-IPO companies.* - First came the shooting. Then came the [cats](. - This startup is changing the way people retire. The economy’s in a bit of a state, so it’s probably time to rethink your financial plans. Luckily there’s [an easy way]( to do that.* - A hard day’s work. It can all get [a little much]( sometimes. When you support our sponsors, you support us. 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