iPhone Exports from India Double to Surpass $2.5 Billion (4 min read)
​
Apple exported more than $2.5 billion of iPhones from India between April to December, nearly doubling the previous year’s total. The rapidly growing export numbers illustrate how Apple is ramping up operations out of China where the country’s volatile Covid policy had repetitively affected the outputs from its largest iPhone factory. However, a meaningful shift from China will still take some time. Analysis estimated it would take roughly eight years to move just 10% of Apple’s production capacity.

Lululemon stock plunges after announcing margin cut (2 min read)
​
Lululemon announced on Monday that it expects gross margin to decline by about 1% in the upcoming quarter. The company had previously forecast that its gross margins would increase instead. Shares of Lululemon fell more than 9% after the news. Although it's not clear what is driving their margins down, many retailers have faced profit challenges amid bloated inventory levels and an inflationary environment that has put pressure on sales.

Nasdaq gains for a second day as investors buy beaten-up tech shares (2 min read)

Tech stocks rose for a second straight day as investors and traders are betting that inflation may be easing. Of the three major indexes, only Nasdaq was in the positive with a jump of nearly 1% that was pushed up mostly by the 6% rally in Tesla stocks. Monday was the fifth trading day of 2023 and a reminder of the classic “first five days” rule. Historically, the S&P 500 has ended the year positive 83% of the time if the first five trading days of the year were also positive.

Canada Labor Market Crushes Forecasts (3 min read)
​
Canadian employment grew for a fourth straight month while the unemployment rate fell to near a record low of 5%. Canada’s economy is being helped by the US as well where it also showed similar resilient growth in jobs. The consecutive months of job gains in Canada strengthen the case for the central bank to hike interest rates again later in the month. Traders priced in nearly 90% chance that the rate will increase by 0.25%.

YouTuber ETF Sees Assets Skyrocket After December Launch (3 min read)

The Meet Kevin Pricing Power ETF (PP) managed by YouTuber Kevin Paffrath was launched on Nov 29 with only $500,000 in assets. After about a month, it now has over $11 million in assets that were mostly derived from viewers of Kevin’s YouTube channel. Kevin said the marketing expenses are nearly zero because of the channel’s popularity. Despite the growth in assets, PP has dropped nearly 14% since launched with Tesla shares accounting for 9.28% of the decline.

Subversive Launches ETF to Focus on Mental Health (2 min read)
​
Subversive launched a trio of ETFs a few weeks ago and the highlight was the Subversive Mental Health ETF (SANE). A mental health only ETF is rare as most ETFs typically have a broader healthcare scoop. Subversive’s Portfolio Manager believes mental health is a neglected sub sector that needs urgent attention and capital allocation. SANE invests in companies working on tools, treatments, and medications designed to help ongoing mental health issues.

That's it for today! You can reply to this email if you have any comments or feedback.

Thanks,
Thomas

No longer want to receive these emails? Click here to unsubscribe.