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Today's big stories

US retailer Best Buy reported better-than-expected earnings
There's a simple way to invest in the biggest renewable energy opportunities, from electric vehicles to solar, all at once – Read Now
The company behind Germany’s main stock index announced plans to expand and change its membership criteria

1.

Christmas Is Canceled

What’s Going On Here?

Best Buy reported better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday, but the US consumer electronics retailer opted not to give an outlook for the holiday season at all.

What Does This Mean?

It almost goes without saying that yet another company’s ecommerce business benefited from homebound customers last quarter, but Best Buy probably wouldn’t want us to stop now: its online sales climbed 174% compared to the same time last year. The retailer’s success wasn’t limited to the online world either, with sales in stores that have been open for a year or more growing by a better-than-expected 23%.

And then everything went wrong: Best Buy admitted it’s facing a season of fewer products, higher shipping costs, and lower profits from video game consoles – this year’s hottest gift. So while it wouldn’t give an official outlook for next quarter, it did say it wasn’t expecting last quarter’s sales trends to keep going.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: The emperor’s new sweatpants.
America’s retailers have been in two camps this year. On the one hand, you have the Best Buys and the Walmarts, which have flourished by selling necessities and boredom-killers at affordable prices. And on the other, you have struggling clothing outlets and department stores like Macy’s, which are just trying – and failing – to convince sweats-wearers everywhere to upgrade their closets.

The bigger picture: That’s a wrap.
With US retail sales missing expectations in October, investors are looking for signs of how retailers will hold up in the last few weeks of 2020. And they won’t have to look far: the National Retail Federation is expecting holiday sales to grow by between 3.6% and 5.2% on the same time last year – compared to the last five years’ 3.5% average. This year, after all, gift-buyers are likely to spend more money on “wrappables” – a word we just made up – than on experiences, workshops, and sports tickets.

You might also like: How to work out which retailers will do the best this holiday season.

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2. Analyst Take

How To Clean Up From Clean Energy

What’s Going On Here?

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, wind and solar power – both of which need batteries to operate – will meet 56% of the world’s electricity demand by 2050.

That means demand for large-scale battery storage is only going to grow.

See, if renewable sources want to be able to contribute a major portion of the grid’s capacity, you’ve got to be able to set excess electricity aside for use when there’s no wind or sun.

That’s why battery storage setups could attract the next major wave of investment in the clean energy revolution. And of all of them, we think we’ve found the winner.

You can find out what it is – and how you can invest in it – in today’s Insight.

Get the full Insight here

🍑 Self-care starts from the bottom up

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3.

Very Important Partnership

What’s Going On Here?

Germany’s DAX index is set to introduce tougher membership criteria and expand from 30 companies to 40, its operator Deutsche Boerse announced on Tuesday.

What Does This Mean?

This is the biggest-ever overhaul of the DAX – Germany’s stock market equivalent of the US’s Dow Jones Industrial Average and the UK’s FTSE 100 – and it has the Wirecard fiasco to blame. When Wirecard collapsed after failing to account for $2 billion in June, the DAX’s existing rules didn’t allow it to eject its first-ever bankrupt member right away. And Deutsche Boerse has no intention of letting that happen again: the index’s new criteria will now expect its members to publish quarterly statements and audited annual results – with a fast exit waiting for those that don’t release them on time.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: The DAX-chelor rose ceremony.
There could be some big benefits ahead for the newcomers’ stocks – not least because they’ll get a bump when investment funds tracking the index are forced to buy into the companies. That’s no small thing: there’s currently $17 billion invested in exchange traded funds that track the DAX, a quarter of which will need to be invested in its 10 new names. As for which ones will make the grade: heavyweights like airplane manufacturer Airbus, fragrance producer Symrise, and ecommerce company Zalando all stand a good chance.

The bigger picture: That’ll do, Tesla.
Tesla knows a thing or two about the value of joining an index: the electric vehicle maker is all set to be added to the S&P 500 – which tracks the 500 biggest US companies – on December 21st, and the announcement alone was enough to send its stock up by 13%. It could have plenty further to go too: some of the biggest funds that need to own its shares haven’t bought in yet, and that’ll add up to roughly $8 billion worth – or 1.5% of the company’s current market value (tweet this).

You might also like: How to buy an entire market like you would one stock.

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💬 Quote of the day

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

– Steven Wright (an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer)

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📚 What we're reading

How to build an internet community (YouTube)
It’s not just moms changed by parenthood (Aeon)
Let’s all move to the moon (Vice)

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Finimize - 🎄 Best Buy brings tidings of despair

Today's big stories

Christmas Is Canceled

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

How To Clean Up From Clean Energy

🍑 Self-care starts from the bottom up

Very Important Partnership

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

🤯 All your assets, all in one place

Older messages

🎉 Meet our Next Gen Investor Summit speakers

👋 Meet the Finimize analysts

📈 Ackman's 9,500% strategy

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