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Today's big stories

Coca-Cola reported better-than-expected earnings, even though sales are down
Bitcoin's just hit a new price milestone – Read Now
A major economic organization downgraded Asia’s economic growth forecast

1/3

Can-Do Attitude

What’s Going On Here?

Coca-Cola might’ve seen a drop in sales in its third quarter, but that didn't knock its mood: the drinks giant still reported better-than-expected results on Thursday.

What Does This Mean?

Both Coca-Cola’s revenues and profits beat analysts’ forecasts, though expectations weren’t necessarily high: the drinks giant’s last earnings update revealed a 16% drop in the number of drinks sold versus the same time last year. Things were still shaky this time around, sure, but they had improved: the drop was only 4%.

Coke’s sparkling soft drinks category saw the smallest decline, while its teas and coffees saw the biggest. And that might inform its response to this year’s plummeting demand: the company is cutting the brands it owns in half, so it can focus on the most popular and most promising of them. It might be hoping this – plus a slew of job cuts – will help it come out of the coronavirus crisis even stronger than before.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Staples hold the economy together.
Companies that sell everyday essentials – i.e. consumer staples – are having a good quarter. Nestlé and Procter & Gamble both reported increased profits at the start of the week, while Unilever followed suit on Wednesday with its own better-than-expected results. In fact, the 4.4% growth of its organic revenues – which excludes the impact of foreign currency swings, as well as buying and selling parts of its businesses – was more than double what analysts had been expecting.

The bigger picture: David versus Goliath.
Customers have been flocking toward niche or private-label products in favor of big-name brands in recent years, and consumer staples have been struggling to respond. But with shoppers stocking up on big brands’ more easily available products since the pandemic took hold, that trend’s broken down. Of course, there’s nothing to say it won’t pick up and hurt the big companies’ bottom lines once again – another reason investors might want to start avoiding consumer staples.

You might also like: How to profit from the retail and luxury sector.

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2/3 Premium

Bitcoin’s Making A Comeback

What’s Going On Here?

The price of bitcoin is up 25% in the past month to hit its highest since January 2018, but it’s not necessarily cool just because it’s popular.

Take the Bitcoin bandwagon out for a spin in today’s Premium Insight

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3/3

Small Fry

What’s Going On Here?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reckons the Asian economy will shrink by more than it thought this year, and it's downgraded the region’s growth forecast.

What Does This Mean?

The IMF – a major international economic organization – chopped Asia’s economic growth forecast for this year from negative 1.6% in June to negative 2.2% (tweet this). That’s mostly down to places like India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, all of which are struggling to bounce back from the coronavirus outbreak. Adding insult to injury, the move actually bucks a global trend that last week saw the IMF upgrade the economic growth forecasts of… well, everywhere else.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Morgan stans India.
India may be included in that grim economic picture, but it was only earlier this month that Morgan Stanley was telling investors to go all in on the country’s stocks. They’ve been doing better than those of other emerging markets for the last six months, and the investment bank reckons that’s set to continue. It puts that down to the Indian government’s improving economic policies, as well as to companies’ cost-cutting measures that should help them find their feet when things are under control. As for what’s hot and what’s not: Morgan Stanley’s backing consumer discretionary, industrial, and energy stocks, and recommends avoiding consumer staples and technology companies.

The bigger picture: China’s on a roll.
Asia might be dropping behind, but China’s still at the front of the pack: the IMF upgraded the country’s economic growth forecast for this year from 1% to 1.9%. And it’s easy to see why: the Chinese economy is already back to where it was before the coronavirus lockdown brought the country to a standstill at the start of the year. It makes sense, then, that Asian investors seem pretty excited about its stock market’s prospects…

Take action: How to put Morgan Stanley’s advice on Indian stocks into practice.

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💬 Quote of the day

“The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, it punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.”

– Lillian Hellman (an American playwright, author, and screenwriter)

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Grayscale’s family of investment products offers you access to digital currencies in much the same way you access other investment products. That way, you get secure crypto exposure without the challenges of buying, storing, or safekeeping cryptocurrencies directly.

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🌎 Finimize Community

🤚 All the fiscal ladies ✋

Put your hands up if you want to join us next week for our “The Future Is Female” event, feat. female-centric robo advisor Ellevest. Wuh uh oh, uh uh oh…

💰 Savings and Stability for All: 12.30pm New York Time, October 27th
🇺🇸 US Elections with Peter Tuchman: 1pm New York Time, October 28th
💵 Building Your Retirement Pay Cheque: 12pm Vancouver Time, October 28th
🙋‍♀️ The Future Is Female: 2.30pm New York Time, October 29th

😭 In case you missed it

Here’s some of our most popular Finimize Premium content this week…

Premium Insights:

💦 A water shortage could wash some opportunities ashore
🚀 High-growth stocks might still deserve your attention
💻 Microchips’ stellar performance could bode well for all stocks

Packs:
👶 The next generation is changing investing for good
👜 Can the luxury sector survive the pandemic?
🔨 How to build the perfect portfolio

📚 What we're reading

The problem with Bill Gates (Still Drinking)
How did the West get coronavirus so wrong? (Salon)
Man-children are back in fashion (Mel)

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Finimize - 📈 Coke adds Mentos

Today's big stories

Can-Do Attitude

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Bitcoin’s Making A Comeback

⚡️ Go digital with Grayscale

Small Fry

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

💸 Invest in digital currencies with Grayscale

🤚 All the fiscal ladies ✋

😭 In case you missed it

🚀 Boost your business cash with InvestEngine

Older messages

🐍 Bank of America slips and slides

🍾 Morgan Stanley bottles it

🙌 New Events: A Beginners Guide To Investing & The Future Is Female

😱 IBM is no more

📉 30 reasons to ditch US stocks

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