🍋 Cathie's Cry for Help

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Good Morning! Ben Bernanke, who led the US central bank during the 2008 financial crisis won the Nobel prize in economics along with two others. The tech stock tumble continues as Spotify announced the company will cut eleven original podcasts and lay off nearly 5% of its staff. CEO of JPMorgan Jamie Dimon warned that the US is likely to tip into a recession in the next six to nine months.

Careful if you bought an iPhone 14 as the new crash collision is accidentally dialing 911 when users are on roller coasters - or even when dropping their phones while driving. And the most expensive diamond (per carat) in history was sold on Friday for over $57 million.

Inflation has been hitting your wallet at grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations all year. Upside has come up with a way to get your money back, check 'em out.

1. Story of the Day: Cathie's Cry for Help

Cathie Wood is not happy with the economy right now - and is demanding to speak to the manager of interest rates... In an open letter to the Fed, Cathie suggested the central bank “has shocked not just the US but the world and raised the risks of a deflationary bust.”

Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, is not having the best year. Her ARK Innovation ETF is down over 60% YTD.

Cathie says the Fed is looking at the wrong indicators - it should focus on falling commodity prices and growing inventory, not the traditional inflation and employment metrics when deciding whether or not to raise interest rates.

She thinks the Fed is too aggressive in trying to control factors out of its reach. She points to rising food prices, impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, as one of the several economic woes the Fed can't alleviate by merely raising interest rates.

Fed is not alone in raising interest rates, ~40 central banks around the world approved interest rate increases September.

Fed has approved three consecutive interest rate increases of 0.75 percentage point and is expected to approve a fourth when it meets in early November. It's expected to follow that with a 50 bps hike in December and another 25 bps in early 2023. (As Billy Ackman would say hell is coming)

Takeaway: Despite the memes and her creative way of getting her message across, maybe Cathie is just saying some of the widespread silent worries out loud. While critics accuse Cathie of picking and choosing the economic signals that will benefit herself, other economists and investors have warned this year that the Fed’s overzealous approach to fighting inflation is misguided and even harmful. We’ll have to wait and see whether Cathie is right about economic forces or just a bad investor but, sadly, most of our portfolios are down bad with Cathie, too.

2. Markets Rundown

Stocks started the week lower due to a chipmaker stock tumble and recession fears.

Movers & Shakers

• (-) Five9 ($FIVN) -26% after the software company's CEO resigned.

• (-) Rivian ($RIVN) -7% after the company announced a massive recall.

• (+) Kraft Heinz ($KHC) +12% after bullish outlook on consumer staples.

Private Dealmaking

• Nested Therapeutics, a stealth cancer prevention startup, raised $125 million

• Jiko, a digital banking startup, raised $40 million 

• The Rounds, a sustainable home restocking service, raised $38 million

• Tidal Financial Group, an ETF investment and technology platform, raised $32 million 

• Noodle.ai, a supply chain tech startup, raised $25 million

• Elpha Secure, a cybersecurity insurance startup, raised $20 million 

Top Reads

• Pumpkin spice trend is a $500 million industry in the U.S. (Reuters)

• Why the stock market may skip the usual midterm election rally (YF)

• Bank of America warns economy will start losing 175,000 jobs a month (CNN)

• Tech earnings matter more than ever (YF)

• Fed’s Brainard warns higher interest rates will slow economy (Fox)

• Latest jobs earnings show some industries struggling, others thriving (CNN)

• Chinese chip stocks tumble as U.S. calls for new restrictions (CNBC)

• IMF, World Bank warn of increasing risk of global recession (YF)

• Weak online holiday expected after months of discounts (CNBC)

• Who’s really spending longtermist billions (Axios)

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4. Book of the Day: Homecoming

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Thomas Friedman, in The World Is Flat, declared globalization the new economic order. But the reign of globalization as we’ve known it is over, argues Financial Times columnist and CNN analyst Rana Foroohar, and the rise of local, regional, and homegrown business is now at hand.

With bare supermarket shelves and the shortage of PPE supplies, the pandemic brought the fragility of global trade and supply chains into stark relief. The tragic war in Ukraine and the political and economic chaos that followed have further underlined the vulnerabilities of globalization. The world, it turns out, isn’t flat—in fact, it’s quite bumpy.

This fragmentation has been coming for decades, observes Foroohar. Our neoliberal economic philosophy of prioritizing efficiency over resilience and profits over local prosperity has produced massive inequality, persistent economic insecurity, and distrust in our institutions.

This philosophy, which underpinned the last half century of globalization, has run its course. Place-based economics and a wave of technological innovations now make it possible to keep operations, investment, and wealth closer to home, wherever that may be.

With the pendulum of history swinging back, Homecoming explores both the challenges and the possibilities of this new era, and how it can usher in a more equitable and prosperous future.

“The popular belief that the wave of globalization is now over is wrong in almost every way.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

• The new rules for getting face time at the office

• 23 sentences that will 7x your productivity in 2 minutes

• The three types of meetings - and how to do each one well

• If you want to give yourself a personal MBA in 6 months, read these books

• The top 10 worst saving tips you should probably ignore

A Message from BioTech Stock Trends

Meet the Biopharma company with a diversified pipeline looking to disrupt a $2.8 billion market.

Alzheimer’s Disease. Multiple Sclerosis. Rheumatoid Arthritis. Fibromyalgia.

What do all of these have in common? They are all large, underserved medical markets.

One company, who recently uplisted to the Nasdaq, currently has 5 patents issued and provisional, 4 patents pending, and has 5 novel drug candidates that are under development that could disrupt these markets in unimaginable ways.

Get the full report here.

6. Daily Visual: US Venture Capital Fundraising

Annually 2012 - 2022 (as of Sept 30)

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: Habits of the Calmest People

"Have learned to laugh at themselves.

Those who have something to protect can’t help but make it a very serious business, which drains the energy out of the room.

Include at least 20 minutes of movement daily, whether walking, yoga or lifting weights.

Find ways to enjoy even the ‘harder’ things in life.

They know that perspective is malleable, so they change their view accordingly.

Prioritize themselves first.

Stressed people put others before themselves, and then wonder why they struggle.

Create things.

Calm people create more than they react. They are builders and nurturers, passionate about bringing beautiful things into existence, whether paintings, raising children, relationships, or new projects.

Are attuned to their personal dietary needs.

They don’t follow the herd and the junk they eat but instead consume foods that maintain a stable, high mood, low anxiety, and the best health."

Source: Alex Mathers

8. Crypto Corner

• The fight to cut off the crypto fueling Russia’s Ukraine invasion

• Former crypto employees find home in traditional finance

• Why the U.S. is one of the most crypto friendly countries in the world

• New political Super PAC to back pro-crypto candidates

• Record number of Brazillian companies bought crypto in August

• Bitcoin falls to start the week as investors await inflation data

9. Memes of the Day

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