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Premium Income Investments is a free weekly newsletter that discusses interesting ways to generate alpha in the market. It ranges from value investing, quantitative analysis, technical analysis, and even dabbles in a bit of crypto. If you are looking for a fun and easy way to digest some of the trending financial concepts and investing strategies, give the Premium Income Investments newsletter a try!

Google to lay off 12,000 people (3 min read)

Alphabet joined the tech layoffs train on Friday after the company said it will cut 12,000 employees, which is about 6% of its workforce. Shares of Alphabet were up 5% after the news. Rising interest rates and inflation are the two biggest challenges faced by technology and media companies that have severely impacted their stream of income and revenue in the past year. Along with Alphabet, Vox Media, Wayfair, and Fandom also announced job cuts on Friday.

Bed Bath beefs up legal team ahead of possible bankruptcy filing (2 min read)
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Bed Bath and Beyond has hired a team of legal advisors for the preparation of a potential bankruptcy filing that would take place in New Jersey. The company has been in discussions to secure financing to keep it afloat if it were to file for bankruptcy. It is also in the process of selling assets in hopes of keeping the business alive. If they do decide to proceed with the bankruptcy filing, it will likely be in the coming weeks, according to the source of the report.

Stocks close higher Friday, Nasdaq notches third straight week of wins (2 min read)

US stocks finished strong last Friday, with the Nasdaq up for the third week in a row. Although the S&P 500 and the Dow closed higher after three days of losing, they were still down for the week and broke their two-week winning streak. The Nasdaq managed to stay in the positive for the week, up by 0.5%, mostly led by the gains of mega-cap tech shares like Netflix and Alphabets on Friday. So far this year, all major indexes are still in the positive territory.

Inflation in Japan hits highest level in 41 years (2 min read)
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Japan’s core consumer prices rose 4% from a year ago in December, hitting a new 41-year high. The annual rise has exceeded the Bank of Japan's 2% target for nine consecutive months. The central bank announced last week that it will keep the interest rate at -0.1%, one of the few in the world to maintain a negative-rate policy. The latest data will likely push market expectations that the central bank will soon end its yield control policy and allow interest rates to rise.

Investors Pour Money Into Emerging Market ETFs (2 min read)
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Emerging market ETFs brought in more assets than any other ETF type in the recent week. Most emerging market ETFs were up between 14% to 18% in the last three months, while the S&P 500 only gained about 8.9%. The dollar falling and China’s reopening have contributed a lot to the gains in this asset class. Although it is anyone’s guess whether the momentum will keep up, some investors believe this market is still undervalued and owes a long overdue rally.

Smart beta rewards discerning devotees in 2022 (4 min read)
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Smart beta-ETFs, a factor-based indexing strategy, delivered returns as high as 15% last year when the market lost a fifth of its value. The best performing factor was “low investment”, followed by momentum and value. Smart beta ETFs had significant inflows in 2022 and currently account for 16% of all equity ETF assets in the US. Analysts expect interest to sustain in these types of ETFs given the outlook for 2023, especially in factors like dividends or low-volatility.

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Thanks,
Thomas

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