Microsoft buys stake in London Stock Exchange in cloud data deal (2 min read)
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Microsoft is buying a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) as part of a deal to create long-term revenue growth opportunities for both companies. LSEG’s data platform will migrate to Microsoft’s cloud services and expect to spend at least $2.8 billion over the next 10 years. Microsoft will also work with LSEG to develop new products and services for financial data and analytics. Shares of Microsoft and LSEG gained slightly after the news.

Private equity firm buys Coupa Software amid tech slump (2 min read)
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Coupa Software, which provides business spend management software, will sell itself to private equity firm Thomas Bravo for $6.15 billion in cash. Shares of Coupa Software jumped more than 27% after the announcement, but year to date it is still down about 50%. Economic challenges such as high inflation and weaker consumer demand have slammed the tech sector hard this year. This has allowed PE firms to buy high-growth software companies at lower valuations.

Treasury Secretary Yellen predicts major inflation cooldown in 2023 (3 min read)
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she believes inflation will cooldown close to the Fed’s target level in 2023. She added that the risk of a recession remains, but it is still possible to bring inflation down without achieving such an outcome. The latest wholesale inflation report showed that it increased in November at one of the slowest annual pace, which is a sign of inflation cooling down. The CPI report on Tuesday is widely expected to show a similar cooldown in consumer prices.

Stocks soar as all eyes turn to inflation data, Fed meeting (3 min read)
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US stocks rebound on Monday after having the worst week since September. The rally was mostly led by energy stocks as oil prices jumped roughly 3% from its new low in 2022. The consumer price data coming on Tuesday might serve as an indication on the pace of rate increases in the coming months. The Fed’s last meeting and interest rate decision of the year is on Wednesday where the market is expecting a milder hike of 0.5%.

Travel ETFs Rebound as Holiday Treks Return (2 min read)
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ETFs that focused on hotels, airlines, and cruise lines have soared in the last three months as Covid restriction continues to loosen and gas price dropping to yearly lows. Travel ETF like the AdvisorShares Hotel ETF (BEDZ) has gained 7.3% over the past three months while the S&P 500 lost about 1% during the same period. Analysts and fund managers anticipate the demand in travel will continue to increase during the coming holidays and carry into the new year.

Dimensional Debuts Large Cap Value, Real Estate ETFs (2 min read)
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Dimensional Fund Advisors recently launched a US large cap value ETF (DFLV) and a global real estate ETF (DFGR). DFLV uses a proprietary model to select companies with lower price shares and higher profitability than their peers. DFGR invests in stocks in emerging and developed markets that are involved in the real estate industry. Dimensional, who is well recognized in the mutual fund space, has been growing rapidly in the ETF industry, raising more than $22 billion in ETF assets just this year alone.

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Thomas

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