Finimize - 🍎 Apple's tasting sour

Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for November 8th in 3:13 minutes.

🧦 There’s only one thing better than grabbing a free ticket to our Modern Investor Summit, complete with expert speakers like Bill Ford, Cathie Wood, and Wei Li: getting a free swag pack. Well, be one of the first to grab a free virtual summit ticket between now and midnight this Tuesday, and you’ll get both – easy as that. Grab your free ticket

Today's big stories

Berkshire Hathaway's massive cash pile started to pay off last quarter
Here's why your portfolio could see a post-election rally this year – Read Now
Apple blames supply problems as it cuts its Chinese production targets

Buffeted But Still Standing

What’s Going On Here?

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported quarterly results over the weekend, which showed that healthy income from high interest rates made up for some of last quarter’s stock losses.

What Does This Mean?

Warren Buffett and his right-hand man Charlie Munger have beefed up Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves over the last ten years, and with good reason: when you own a goliath insurance business, you need to be ready to make big payouts when catastrophe strikes. Good thing they prepared: Hurricane Ian hit Florida last quarter, and the firm was smacked with a $3.4bn pre-tax loss as a direct result of the disaster. And holding cash is paying off in other ways now that interest rates are marching upward: the sprawling conglomerate made a mouthwatering $397 million in interest last quarter – nearly triple the amount it made at the same time last year.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: Hamstrung by stocks.
Berkshire’s insurance business may have taken a hit last quarter, but its other companies – which straddle industries from railways to utilities and energy – managed to turn a profit while the broader economy circled the drain. The good news is that helped tick its operating profit up a better-than-expected 20% last quarter. The bad news is the firm's stock portfolio – which includes big stakes in the likes of Apple, American Express, and Chevron – wasn’t looking quite as hale and hearty: its $20-billion drop in value last quarter meant the conglomerate made an overall loss of nearly $3 billion.

The bigger picture: Eye on the prize.
Buffett often calls these quarterly stock swings “meaningless”, which makes sense given that Berkshire’s aiming at stable, long-term success, not get-rich-or-die-trying moonshots. Case in point: while others shied away from see-sawing markets, Berkshire still swept in, buying almost $4 billion more in shares than it sold last quarter. And with the firm’s stock outperforming the S&P 500 by a healthy 17% this year alone, investors clearly aren’t knocking Buffett’s slow-and-steady philosophy. Retail investors, take note.

You might also like: Is it time to buy quality stocks?

Copy to share story: https://go.finimize.com/wp/news/buffeted-but-still-standing/

🙋 Ask a question

Analyst Take

Will The US Midterm Elections Be Good For Stocks?

By Luke Suddards, Analyst

We don’t often write about politics, but sometimes it’s worth making an exception.

See, the US midterm elections are upon us, and the months that follow this every-four-year voting ritual have historically tended to be good ones for stocks.

So before the ballots are counted, let’s look at how things are expected to play out, which sectors might be expected to rally, and what might temper any gains this year.

That’s today’s Insight: how the US midterm elections might affect stocks.

Read or listen to the Insight here

Finimize x Revolut

Pretty good stuff, right? Our analysts write Insights like this every day, and you can read every single one of them with Finimize Premium.

There’s no better time to get started: our new partnership means you can get six free months of Finimize Premium and three free months of Revolut Premium if you sign up for Revolut today.

We’ll even send you £10 (or equivalent) to your Revolut account to get you started.

Grab your free Finimize merch

You’ll meet everyone who’s anyone in finance at our Modern Investor Summit this December.

Plus, you’ll hear tips to help you invest during volatility, find out how to prepare your portfolio for the next five years, and discover which stocks, funds, and cryptocurrencies will shape 2023.

You’ll need something snazzy to wear in that case – yup, even if you’re tuning in from your living room.

We’ve got you covered: be one of the first 500 to register for a free virtual ticket before midnight this Tuesday, and you could win one of 25 free swag packs full of socks, tees, and more.

Give your portfolio and your wardrobe a makeover: grab your free ticket today.

RSVP Here

Far From The Tree

What’s Going On Here?

According to news out on Monday, Apple will produce three million fewer iPhones than expected ahead of the crucial holiday season.

What Does This Mean?

There’s an old economists’ saying that runs, “When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” But that old chestnut seems to describe China pretty well these days. The country’s battling an economic slowdown, a teetering property market, and a whole host of issues triggered by its on-again-off-again lockdowns right now. No surprise, then, that Zhengzhou’s Foxconn-operated iPhone hub is planning to make around 3% – that’s around three million – fewer iPhones than anticipated this year (tweet this). And whatever the reason for that production cut, it won't calm the already jangling nerves of Big Tech investors who just struggled through a treacherous earnings season.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: Supply or demand?
Apple’s insisting that its lowered iPhone targets are all down to supply snarls and not demand, but not that long ago the firm was planning an increase in production. So sure, a 3% cut in one quarter is no big deal in isolation, but such a rapid change in tone from Apple will have investors wondering if weaker demand is, in fact, at play here.

The bigger picture: Supercycles.
The iPhone’s getting on these days, and its years of rampant, reliable annual growth are in the past. Instead, demand for the product tends to jump every few years as major technology changes: the iPhone 6’s bigger screen led to a pop in sales, as did the first 5G-enabled device, the iPhone 12. That's natural enough for older products, but it does make predicting iPhone sales pretty hard: new features tend to be closely guarded secrets, after all. On top of that, Apple may well find it harder to create bigger and better product improvements within the already mature smartphone market. And if that does happen, those step-ups in sales might be less impressive too.

You might also like: How to pick tech stocks using the rule of 40.

Copy to share story: https://go.finimize.com/wp/news/far-from-the-tree-2/

🙋 Ask a question

💬 Quote of the day

“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.”

– Noel Coward (an English playwright, actor, and composer)

Tweet this

Upgrade your trading experience

Picture a professional trader’s setup: two coffees, four monitors, and all the tools in the world.

No wonder they’re always the first to spot the next big trade: pro-level tools like heat maps, stock comparison metrics, earnings alerts, and technical indicators sure make a difference.

Well, moomoo can get you all – okay, bar the monitors – of those swanky features, so you can trade like the pros from the comfort of your home. Or your mobile, even, if you’re on the move.

So with just a couple taps, you can compare stocks using hundreds of different metrics, keep tabs on earnings calls, and assess industrial chains around the world. And that’s only the start.

It’s just a shame the coffees aren’t included. Discover what moomoo can do today.

Find Out More

Disclaimer

Level 2 data is free to moomoo users that have an approved brokerage account with Moomoo Financial Inc. Terms and Conditions apply; please visit https://www.moomoo.com/support/topic490 for details. $2,000 value is based on the market price at the time of the gift. Moomoo is a financial information and trading app offered by Moomoo Techonologies Inc. In the U.S., investment products and services onMoomoo are offered by Moomoo Financial Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Any illustrations, scenarios, or specific securities referenced herein are strictly for illustrative purposes. Past investment performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk and the potential to lose principal.

When you support our sponsors, you support us. Thanks for that.

🌍 Finimize Live

🥳 Coming Up This Week…

All events in UK time.

💰 Strategies For Market Volatility: 1pm, November 8th
✨ How To Profit From Special Situations As A Value Investor: 5pm, November 9th
🔧 Tools Value Investors Use For Turbulent Times: 6pm, November 10th
🔥 How To Build Better Financial Habits In Your 20s & 30s: 3pm, November 11th

👀 And After That…

♻️ How To Build An Eco-Friendly Crypto Portfolio: 1pm, November 14th
💥 How To Diversify During High Inflation: 6pm, November 14th
🐻 How To Survive A Crypto Bear Market: 7pm, November 15th
✅ How To Successfully Invest In Dividend Stocks: 6pm, November 22nd
🚀 2023 Outlook: What’s Next For Crypto?: 6.30pm, November 23rd (in person, London)
🌍 Finding Opportunities In A Challenging Market With BlackRock: 1pm, December 2nd
🇦🇪 The Modern Investor Opening Party In Dubai: 6pm, December 6th
🎉 Modern Investor Summit: 12pm, December 6th – 7th

🎯 On Our Radar

Wacky Wiki. There’s a group of enthusiasts devoted to a strange, old Wikipedia device.
It’s hard work being woke. The tough life of an AI ethicist.
Eco-horror. A whole new genre’s just been born.
Basquiat’s blues. Here’s how music influenced the famed New York artist.
The real social dilemma. Online political ads are affecting the US midterms.

❤️ Share with a friend

Your Referrals: 0

Thanks for reading Reader. If you liked today's brief, we'd love for you to share it with a friend.

Share your unique link:

https://finimize.com/invite/?kid=177ZWC

You stay classy, Reader 😉

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Give feedback

Want to advertise with us too? Get in touch

Image Credits:

Image credits: Kent Sievers - Shutterstock | Sebastian Sonnen – Shutterstock

Preferences:

Update your email or change preferences

View in browser

Unsubscribe from all Finimize Emails

😴

Crafted by Finimize Ltd. | Bow Bells House, Bread Street, London, EC4M 9HH

All content provided by Finimize Ltd. is for informational and educational purposes only and is not meant to represent trade or investment recommendations. You signed up to this mailing list at finimize.com or through one of our partners. © Finimize 2021

three million fewer iPhones The US Midterm Elections free virtual summit ticket Modern Investor Summit free virtual ticket Chinese production targetsBuffeted stable longterm success fouryear voting ritual next five years crucial holiday season free swag pack three free months last ten years RevolutPretty good stuff six free months free Finimize merchYou goliath insurance business massive cash pile big storiesBerkshire Hathaway high interest rates quarterly stock swings

Finimize - 🍎 Apple's tasting sour

Today's big stories

Buffeted But Still Standing

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Will The US Midterm Elections Be Good For Stocks?

Grab your free Finimize merch

Far From The Tree

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Upgrade your trading experience

🥳 Coming Up This Week…

👀 And After That…

Key phrases

Older messages

💳 Paypal lost investors and gained friends

🐦 Musk's Elon-gating the drama

🏡 Investors take an Airbnb break

🚗 Toyota's breaking down

⛏ Tesla's digging for gold

You Might Also Like

Banning the non-compete

📉 Tesla's revenue couldn't steer itself

Can you pass this basic retirement knowledge quiz?

Sleep Training: "A Symptom Of Capitalism"?

Buy The New TSLA Before It Skyrockets [Here's Our Recommendation]

Earnings bulls

👀 Inside the weight-loss drug boom

Who's Afraid of Index Funds?

Rodney's Take 4-22-24 Get Shorties

📓 A test for the US economy