Good Morning,

Apologize for the delay this morning! There was an issue with the email getting out and it has now been fixed. 

CVS to buy home health giant Signify Health for about $8 billion (2 min read)

CVS health has reached a deal to acquire Signify Health for about $8 billion. Signify is an in-home healthcare company that provides patient care through virtual or in-person visits. Signify surged 45% last month and traded at $28.77 as of Friday’s close. CVS will pay $30.50 a share in cash for Signify. In recent years, CVS has been adding portfolios of healthcare companies to tacked on more services to its drugstores. The deal came at a time when competitors Amazon and Walgreen are also moving further into the healthcare sector and expanding their services.

US Treasuries sell off as upbeat data sharpen Fed rate rise fears (3 min read)

Stocks and bond prices dropped on Tuesday as the market reacted to a better than average ISM survey that might potentially push another big rate hike by the Fed. The recent ISM survey shows that services activity in August is better than the previous month and the economists’ expectation. This meant growth in business activities have accelerated last month despite higher prices and interest rates. This survey might serve as an indication for the Fed to remain hawkish to stomp inflation, with the market pricing in a 75% likelihood the rate hike in September will be by 0.75%.

Volkswagen and Porsche Take a Huge Risk With a Big Bet (3 min read)
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Volkswagen has confirmed the IPO of Porsche in Frankfurt sometime at the end of September or early October this year. Investors expect a valuation of 60 billion euros to 85 billion euros. Issuing an IPO during an uncertain time in Europe reflects their determination to catch up with Tesla in the EV market. The company hopes the IPO will bring additional funding to help speed up the effort to offer more electric models where they plan on spending 89 billion euros in developing the next five years. Their goal is to see EV sales representing a quarter of the company sales by early 2026.

Inflation Reduction Act May Boost Allure of Infrastructure ETFs (3 min read)

The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August and along with it was a range of energy reforms related to streamlining environmental permitting. The Biden administration will vote on the reforms by the end of year that would result in prioritizing 25 energy infrastructure projects of strategic national importance. This might be an opportunity to invest in energy infrastructure ETFs. Currently there are only four infrastructure ETFs that are US focused and the largest one is the iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA) which has $1.6 billion AUM. Year to date IFRA dropped 3.4% but has pulled in more than $880 million in asset inflows.

Meme Stocks May Hit Headwinds as Investors Shun Risk (2 min read)
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Meme stock rallies might be coming to an end as inflation and interest rates are on the rise, and market volatility continues amid the fear of a recession. Analysts believe that in a slowing economy, the cost of capital will be higher and investors tend to favor lower risk and profitable businesses. Meme ETFs like the Roundhill Meme ETF (MEME) and the VanEck Social Media Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) were down 60% and 39.1% respectively this year while the S&P 500 was only down 18%.

Single workers, families, retirees: How much cash you need in an emergency fund at every career stage, according to advisors (4 min read)

This article gathered advice from experts on the amount of emergency funds needed in different situations. For dual income earners, the recommended savings are at least three months of living expenses. Single income earners should have a minimum of six months or more. Business owners should try to set aside one year of business expenses. And retirees are suggested to keep one to three years of expenses readily available but can be less depending on other sources of income like pension or Social Security.

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

Thanks,
Thomas

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