😠 Meta's back with a vengeance

This time, it's virtual | Deutsche Bank cashes in | [TOGETHER WITH]( Hi {NAME}, here's what you need to know for April 28th in 3:14 minutes. 🙌 Very few people know how to successfully scale and exit a startup, but our founder and CEO Max Rofagha has done it twice now. Tune into his episode of the [Secret Leaders podcast](, and listen in awe as the wunderkind imparts his entrepreneurial wisdom. [Listen here]( Today's big stories - Meta posted a mixed set of quarterly results - Our analyst has laid out why the beleaguered Japanese yen could be about to make a comeback – [Read Now]( - Deutsche Bank reported its highest quarterly profit in nearly a decade Reality Check [Reality Check] What’s Going On Here? Meta [reported]( a mixed set of quarterly results late on Wednesday, even as the tech giant tries to bring new meaning to the phrase “online shopping”. What Does This Mean? Meta’s last earnings update was a disaster: the company’s stock price collapsed 25% after Facebook [posted]( a drop-off in active users, triggering the biggest one-day valuation drop in US history. But the scrappy underdog has picked itself back up again, posting 6% more monthly active users across all its platforms than the same time last year. Its Reality Labs segment – which specializes in VR and the metaverse – performed well too, with revenue up 30%. And sure, Meta’s ad revenue missed expectations, probably partly because it decided to focus on formats like Reels – a short-form video that tends to earn less ad revenue than Feed and Stories. Still, more users is more ad revenue up for grabs, and Meta’s shares initially jumped 19%. Why Should I Care? The bigger picture: Your body is holding you back. There’s a lot resting on the success of the metaverse for Meta, but the company has some work to do on that front: its metaverse brand Horizon Worlds only [has]( 300,000 users to Facebook’s 3 billion-odd. So to get the word out, the company [announced]( this week that it’ll be opening its first-ever retail store in California next month. It’ll use the store to showcase its virtual reality headsets and other hardware, in hopes of convincing you to abandon your feeble corporeal form once and for all. Zooming out: Snap vs. TikTok. Meta’s not the only one with advertising problems: Snap [reported]( worse-than-expected results last week, as rising inflation took its toll on companies’ marketing budgets. That’s the last thing it needed after Apple rolled out new privacy settings that have made it harder for companies to target their campaigns to the right prospects. Throw in stiff competition from Gen Z-favorite TikTok, and its outlook for this quarter missed expectations too. You might also like: [Meta is betting big on the metaverse. Should you be too?]( 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=Reality Check&utm_campaign=daily-global-28-04-2022&utm_source=email) Analyst Take Can The Yen Pull Itself Back Together? [Can The Yen Pull Itself Back Together? ]( [Photo of Stéphane Renevier] Stéphane Renevier, Analyst What’s Going On Here? The Japanese yen is quickly becoming one of the biggest macro stories of 2022. The currency has [fallen 11%]( versus the US dollar, and it’s hit lows not seen for more than 20 years. There are a few reasons for that, chief among them that investors are [abandoning the country]( – which has managed to keep inflation low – for those with higher interest rates. But with everyone betting heavily against the yen, is it time to be contrarian and [buy the dip](? That’s today’s Insight: why Japan’s currency has fallen from grace, and [whether you should buy the dip](. [Read or listen to the Insight here]( SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL The $5 million crypto bet [Crypto]( might be volatile, but that hasn’t stopped some of the world’s top investors from buying in. Bill Gates, for one, has called bitcoin a “technological tour de force”, and Elon Musk has bought more than his fair share of bitcoin, ether, and – yup – dogecoin. And now [The Motley Fool]( has joined them: it just used its own money to buy $5 million worth of [one cryptocurrency]( that it thinks could go the distance. The Motley Fool tells you [which coin it bought – and why – here](. [Find Out More]( No Chill [No Chill] What’s Going On Here? Deutsche Bank [reported]( its highest quarterly profit in nearly a decade on Wednesday, but Germany’s biggest bank can’t relax just yet… What Does This Mean? There’s been a flurry of dealmaking in the last couple of years, but the threat of higher interest rates – which drives up the cost of borrowing – has helped bring that to a halt. That’s less than ideal for Deutsche Bank, whose revenue in its deal advisory segment fell 28% last quarter compared to the same time last year. Still, it made up for the shortfall elsewhere: its fixed income and currency trading business grew revenue by 15%, as traders took advantage of the recent market volatility. Its interest income from both corporate and private clients rose too, which – along with some savvy cost-cutting – helped bring up its overall profit by a better-than-expected 18%. Why Should I Care? For markets: Profit beats caution. Deutsche did warn that the Ukrainian war – which is pushing global prices even higher – posed a real risk to its growth going forward, as did a weakening global economy. That might be why the bank put aside $320 billion last quarter in case customers can’t pay back their debts. That’s three times more than it tucked away in the first quarter of 2021, and it warned it’ll add “significantly” to that stockpile throughout the year ([tweet this](). Investors, though, seemed to favor short-term profit over long-term caution, and they sent its stock down 6% on the news. Zooming out: Two can play at that game. No wonder Deutsche Bank is such a Debbie Downer: the bank [warned]( this month that Germany – its biggest market – would fall into recession if there was a meaningful disruption to Russian gas supplies. And there could well be, given that it’s been [pushing back]( against Russia’s demands to pay for its gas in rubles. After all, that principled move just backfired on Poland and Bulgaria: Russia’s [cut]( them off, sending European gas prices up 20%. You might also like: [No one’s ignoring energy prices, so why is everyone ignoring utilities 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=No Chill&utm_campaign=daily-global-28-04-2022&utm_source=email) 💬 Quote of the day “You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.” – Maya Angelou (an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist) [Tweet this]( 🤔 Q&A · [RE: Antisocial Media]( Q: “Why are Twitter’s shares still worth less than the $54.20 per share that Elon Musk agreed to buy the company for?” – From Katie in the UK A: “While it’s true that the deal was agreed at that price, it isn’t done until it’s done – and that isn’t expected to happen for a good few months yet. The fact that Twitter is trading at around $50 a share rather than $54.20, then, reflects the perceived risk among investors that the deal won’t actually happen. And there’s certainly risk here: the deal still needs to be approved by regulators, and Elon still needs to put his money where his mouth is and come up with the cash.” [Finimize] 🙋 [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=I have a question Finimize!&utm_campaign=daily-global-28-04-2022&utm_source=email) 🌎 Finimize Live 🎉 Coming Up This Week All events are in UK time. 🪐 [Impact Investor’s Guide to Web3](: 6pm, April 28th 🎙 [Live Crypto Community Q&A](: 5pm, April 29th ✅ [How To Choose An Exchange Traded Fund](: 12.30pm, May 3rd 🌱 [How To Turn Your Portfolio Vegan](: 6pm, May 3rd 💪 And then after that… 💥 [What Is ReFi Anyway?](: 5pm, May 5th 🎉 [How To Invest In The Metaverse: Land, Stocks, And Crypto](: 6pm, May 6th 🚀 [How Space Is Changing The World](: 5pm, May 9th 👉 [What’s Next For Crypto Regulation?](: 6pm, May 11th 📚 [How To Go From Ideas To Execution](: 5pm, May 12th 💻 [How To Invest In The Up-And-Coming Tech Landscape](: 5pm, May 13th 📈 [How To Identify High Growth Metaverse Stocks](: 12pm, May 16th 🙌 [How To Invest In Community-Led Projects](: 5pm, May 16th 🌎 [How To Invest In The Global Chip Shortage](: 5pm, May 17th 🏡 [How To Buy A Digital Condo](: 12pm, May 18th 🚗 [The Leaders Of The EV Revolution](: 5pm, May 19th ♻️ [How To Pick Winning ESG Stocks](: 5pm, May 20th 📈 [How To Invest Thematically](: 12pm, May 24th 🎯 On Our Radar - Steel houses were the future. It’s a wonder [we still use bricks](. - CNN Plus is canceled. The streaming service that lasted [a month](. - Want to feel more manly? Try [shining a red laser]( at your nether regions. - Surgeons are ready to fix your hearing. [“What?”]( - Pizza night just got better. You won’t even need to [order anything](. ❤️ Share with a friend Your Referrals: 0 Thanks for reading {NAME}. If you liked today's brief, we'd love for you to share it with a friend. If they sign up on your unique link, you’ll earn some sweet swag. Share your unique link: [ You stay classy, {NAME} 😉 We’d love to hear your thoughts. [Give feedback]( Want to advertise with us too? 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