Good Morning Everyone!

The crypto community could not have asked for a better way to start the new year.

Prices as of 4 pm EST, 1/4/22; % YTD

MARKET UPDATE

Is Bad Good?

• Example: Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

• Grew headcount by 25,000 in the past 2 years

• This does not include headcount added via acquisitions

• Now they are laying off 10% or 8,000 employees to protect their operating margins

• Layoffs are not a good sign for future growth, which the Fed likes (slower growth = lower inflation)

• Expect more companies (like Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL)) that added during the pandemic to cut now as growth slows

8:30 a.m. jobless claims

• 204,000 in December 31

• Fell 19,000 last week  

• Private payrolls increased 235,000 last month, more jobs added than forecast

• Job gains were concentrated in businesses with less than 500 employees

Yesterday: Federal Reserve December meeting minutes

• Fed determined to stamp out inflation

• Warning investors not to underestimate the Central Bank’s determination to hold rates higher to bring down inflation

• Next meeting in February: a hike of 25 or 50 basis points expected

Fed officials speaking today:

• 7:30 a.m. Patrick Harker

• 9:20 a.m. Raphael Bostic

• 1:20 p.m. James Bullard

Crude 73    

• Bounce higher today after falling 9% in the past 2 days

• API inventories were weaker than consensus

• China continues to be the biggest driver of oil prices

Auto

• December 2022 SAAR weak at 13.6 million as incentives remain at historic lows

• 2022 sales at 13.9 million

• Incentives down 26.7% year-over-year

T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS)

• Released preliminary Q4 subscriber results

• 927,000 postpaid phone net adds > street

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

• Laying off more than 18,000 employees (5% of workforce)

• This includes reductions made in November

• November: 10,000 corporate jobs

• Now: an additional 8,000

• This is the biggest reduction in their history

• Majority of the cuts are in retail not Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Dell (NYSE:DELL)

• Aims to substantially reduce the number of “Made in China” components over the coming years

Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY)

• Company said there is substantial doubt it can continue as a going concern

• Sales down 33% y-o-y ending November 28

• Vendors cutting them off so reduced inventory available

• They have 967 stores

Earnings

• Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ)

• Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA)

• Conagra (NYSE:CAG)

CRYPTO UPDATE

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) $100 million settlement

• Settles with NY regulator over compliance

  • $50 million towards compliance practices + $50 million in settlement

• Violated anti-money laundering laws (2018 and 2019)

  • Didn’t perform complete background checks on customers opening accounts

• One of crypto's largest settlements ever

  • Biggest since BlockFi (also $100 million) in February 2021

Animoca Brands slashes fund target

• Previously seeking $1 billion for metaverse investments (before that, $2 billion)

• Now trying to raise $500 million

• Animoca owns stake in +380 crypto firms

• Plenty of cash