💲 Inditex went upmarket

Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest person | Inditex had a decent quarter in tough times | [Finimize]( Hi {NAME}, here's what you need to know for December 15th in 3:11 minutes. 👜 The booming world of luxury made Bernard Arnault the world’s richest person this week. Join financial expert Jan Rogers Kniffen for [The Best Luxury Stocks To Buy In 2023]( on Thursday, and discover how you can set yourself up for a life of luxe too. [Get your free ticket here]( Today's big stories - Musk is no longer the richest person on earth - Goldman sees these sluggish stocks gaining some ground – [Read Now]( - Clothing giant Inditex reported slowing quarterly sales growth Poor As A Church Musk [Poor As A Church Musk] What’s Going On Here? Data out this week showed Elon Musk has been dethroned as the world’s richest person. What Does This Mean? Once upon a time, Elon Musk was worth a cool $340 billion, but it's been a rough year for the love-him-or-hate-him tycoon. Central banks around the world have hiked interest rates like there's no tomorrow, which hit high-flying companies like Tesla particularly hard. After all, the value of any stock is the value of its future earnings discounted back to today, and those earnings – which Musk's companies are all about – drop when interest rates rise. That’s helped topple Musk's fortune by over $100 billion since January, leaving him with a measly net worth of $164 billion – poor guy. And now that Musk’s poor as a church mouse, French magnate Bernard Arnault has claimed the title of “World’s Richest Person”. Arnault owns about half of the luxury fashion house LVMH, and his empire's surfed a wave of strong post-pandemic demand for highfalutin goods, bringing the Lord of Luxury’s fortune to a staggering $171 billion. Why Should I Care? Zooming in: Home is where the Hermès is. You might assume that it's jet-owning, penthouse-dwelling socialites driving the luxury boom, but that’s not the whole story. According to Morgan Stanley, record numbers of young adults are [living]( at home with Mom and Pops these days, and they’re snapping up premium goods left, right, and center. Not paying rent means they’ve got cash to burn on tempting, big-label treats – but that’s got to feel like a poor tradeoff when bedtime rolls around. The bigger picture: Decreasing increases. Tech billionaires will probably buy themselves some high-end treats this week too, as they celebrate the news that pesky rate hikes are finally easing up. Sure, the Federal Reserve [increased]( rates to their highest level since 2007 on Wednesday, but that 0.5-percentage-point increase was a slowdown from the last four hikes of 0.75. You might also like: [Three investment ideas that Elon Musk and Warren Buffett actually agree on.](  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=Poor As A Church Musk&utm_campaign=daily-global-15-12-2022&utm_source=email) Analyst Take Here Are The Stock Stragglers That Look Poised To Start Sprinting [Here Are The Stock Stragglers That Look Poised To Start Sprinting]( By Luke Suddards, Analyst Maybe some of the stocks that have been [sluggish all year]( have actually been conserving their energy for [a new year sprint](. That’s the idea, anyway, behind what [Goldman Sachs]( calls the “laggards” trade, where a prior year’s stock [slowpokes tend to become leaders]( in the first quarter of the following year. It’s a pattern that’s [held up]( in 13 of the past 20 years, even in the market’s down years. And that’s today’s Insight: [here are the stock stragglers that Goldman sees gaining ground.]( [Read or listen to the Insight here]( Finimize x Revolut Pretty good stuff, right? Our analysts write Insights like this every day, and you can read every single one of them with [Finimize Premium](. There’s no better time to get started: our new partnership means you can get [six free months of Finimize Premium]( and [three free months of Revolut Premium]( if you [sign up for Revolut today](. We’ll even send you £10 (or equivalent) to your Revolut account to get you started. Get the exclusive EV scoop The timing of this one’s a good ‘un. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have noticed the spectacular collapse of [FTX](, and the subsequent arrest of the crypto exchange’s founder. So the scene was set for us to have [a dynamic sit-down conversation]( with one of the biggest faces in crypto, [Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano](. At our Modern Investor Summit, Pomp told us whether he sees this as [the end for bitcoin, or a turning point for crypto](. [Watch the video to discover his projections](. [Watch The Video]( Finery Fared Fine [Finery Fared Fine] What’s Going On Here? Clothing giant Inditex [reported]( respectable quarterly results on Wednesday, after making eyes at big spenders all quarter. What Does This Mean? Inditex navigated this year’s tepid consumer spending pretty deftly, upping its prices to protect margins. And while some rivals joined a race to the bottom, Inditex focused more on high-rolling luxury shoppers instead, producing a raft of high-profit, high-fashion offerings. The titan had another trick up its sleeve too: trusty supply chains that let it get designs on store shelves at double time. That kind of worked, but the firm’s quarterly report showed the giant’s not completely invincible. Sure, sales grew by 11% versus the same time last year, but that’s down from 15% the quarter before – and sourcing costs grew even faster. Overall then, Inditex saw its net profit grow a middling 6% this quarter – good, but not amazing for the world’s biggest fashion retailer, whose brands include Zara, Bershka, and Massimo Dutti. Why Should I Care? Zooming in: Dreaming of a strike Christmas. Analysts think Inditex’s cost pressures are set to weigh on the firm even more going forward. After all, Inditex has already been hit by a wave of strikes, including one on Black Friday in its biggest market, Spain. And since there are even more planned, that could thin out the firm’s festive results. But striking workers had better hope Inditex doesn’t copy its arch-rival H&M, which this month became the first European retailer to start laying off staff in a bid to cut costs. Zooming out: Price turning point. Higher costs are irking everyone right now, not just retail titans. But this week’s data suggested inflation’s easing in the US, and it seems that the UK is now following suit. Data out on Wednesday [showed]( that British prices rose by 10.7% last month, lower than expected and a welcome cooldown after October’s 11.1% jump. With a little luck, then, the UK’s inflation might already have passed its peak. You might also like: [How you can work out if Inditex’s stock is worth investing in.]( 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=Finery Fared Fine&utm_campaign=daily-global-15-12-2022&utm_source=email) 💬 Quote of the day “It’s not the hours you put in your work that counts, it’s the work you put in the hours.” – Sam Ewing (an American baseball player) [Tweet this]( Our community wants to know your name Building a good brand is hard work. So if you’re proud of the work you do, you best make sure everyone knows about it. You could start by [introducing yourself to our one-million-strong community](: they’re a global bunch of switched-on, savvy retail investors who want to take their investing skills up a notch. And if your tips, tools, or platform – plus whatever else you have up your sleeve – could help them do that, then this might be just the right spot for you to [show off what you have to offer](. Make sure everyone knows your name: [introduce yourself to over one million retail investors](. [Get In Touch]( 🌍 Finimize Live 🥳 Coming Up This Week… All events in UK time. 🇺🇸 [How To Prepare For What’s Next For The US Economy](: 1pm, December 15th 🥂 [The Best Luxury Stocks To Buy In 2023](: 5pm, December 15th 👀 And After That… 💰 [How To Tactically Invest In 2023:]( 1pm, December 21st 🌪 [Preparing Your Strategy For A Volatile 2023 And Beyond](: 12pm, January 11th 🎙 [Live Q&A With Finimize CEO Max Rofagha](: 1pm, January 12th 📑 [The Risks And Regulations When Investing In Crypto](: 10am, January 27th 🎯 On Our Radar - 50 years in 60 seconds. Here’s a bitesize overview of [Goldman Sachs’s forecast till 2075](. - K-Pop anthems. Listen to [the hottest tracks]( from the year that’s ending. - Heartbreak Hospital. A broken heart can take an all-too-real [toll on your body](. - Super-certified lover boy. Apparently Drake’s considered proposing [42 different times](. - YouTube’s naughty chair. The video-hosting giant is slapping misbehaving users [with timeouts](. ❤️ 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. Share your unique link: [ You stay classy, {NAME} 😉 We’d love to hear your thoughts. [Give feedback]( Want to advertise with us too? [Get in touch]( Image Credits: Image credits: Kathy Hutchins - Shutterstock | Epov Dmitry, sommai damrongpanich - Shutterstock Preferences: [Update your email]( or [change preferences]( [View in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( from all Finimize Emails 😴 Crafted by Finimize Ltd. | Bow Bells House, Bread Street, London, EC4M 9HH All content provided by Finimize Ltd. is for informational and educational purposes only and is not meant to represent trade or investment recommendations. You signed up to this mailing list at finimize.com or through one of our partners. © Finimize 2021 [View Online](