Finimize - 🌾 This food crisis won’t fix itself

Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for April 11th in 3:01 minutes.

🚀 Blockchain is revolutionizing transactions and opening up a new world of investment opportunities while it’s at it. So join Superfluid Finance’s Francesco Renzi for How Investors Can Profit From Real-Time Payments on Monday, and discover the very best of them. Grab your free ticket

Today's big stories

Global food prices hit a record high
Our analyst has looked into whether now’s a good time to buy a home – Read Now
The UK government announced new rules to boost EV production in the country

Unamused Bouche

What’s Going On Here?

Fresh data out from the United Nations (UN) on Friday showed that food prices jumped to a record high last month.

What Does This Mean?

The world’s been getting hangry about food prices for a while now: harvests were disrupted by bad weather last year, and those dwindling supplies haven’t kept up with the post-lockdown bounceback in demand. But the Ukraine war has poured fuel on the fire: the country is the top exporter of sunflower oil in the world, and accounts for around 30% of the global wheat trade alongside Russia. That’s to say nothing of the damage the conflict has done to global trade more broadly. Put it together, and a UN index that tracks global food prices climbed 13% higher last month than the month before – meaning it’s now jumped more than 50% since mid-2020.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: The US is mealy-mouthed.
The UN has been vocal about the fact that the situation could get even dicier, especially now that some countries are limiting exports so they can feed themselves. The US, for its part, has floated the idea that Australia and India would be able to cover around half as much of Ukraine and Russia’s wheat output if they just upped exports. As for what it’s planning to do, the country’s reportedly thinking about the possibility of investing something sometime, maybe?

The bigger picture: Cheap and not-so-cheerful.
Brits are feeling the effects: data out last week showed that UK grocery spending was lower last month than it was in March 2021. Shoppers are swapping big-name brands for cheaper alternatives too, with sales of white-label goods on the rise. That might be why Lidl and Aldi – two German discount stores that have made waves in the UK specializing in own-brand products – were among the only retailers to gain market share last month.

You might also like: How the Russia-Ukraine crisis is impacting your portfolio.

Copy to share story: https://www.finimize.com/wp/news/unamused-bouche/

🙋 Ask a question

Analyst Take

Is Now A Good Time To Buy Your Dream Home?

Stéphane Renevier, Analyst

What’s Going On Here?

US homebuyers have been in a buying frenzy since the Covid recovery.

New homeowners have had to shell out $420 more a month for a median-price home (roughly $405,000), at a time when food and gas prices are already pushing budgets to the brink.

And now, mortgage rates are on the rise too: they’ve just seen their biggest three-month gain since 1987, with the 30-year fixed rate rising from just above 3% in February to 5% today.

But that could look like small potatoes soon enough, so you’d be forgiven for wanting to buy in even if house prices are pretty dizzying.

So that’s today’s Insight: should you buy your dream home, or should you wait a while?

Read or listen to the Insight here

You’re the landlord now

You’ve spent years building up your portfolio, and suddenly inflation could tear it all down.

So consider real estate investing: the price of rent – like everything else – is on the rise, which means more passive income for a building’s investors.

And with RealtyMogul, you’ll be able to compare and invest in different real estate opportunities based on your own investing criteria.

You’ll never be left in the dark, either: you can call up your own RealtyMogul Investor Relations member whenever you have a question about your investments.

RealtyMogul’s members have already invested over $850 million: join them today.

Discover Commercial Real Estate