Fed Kills the Rally | The Daily Peel | 11/18/22

The world’s elite—those that jet off to Davos and St. Moritz every year—have assets all over the place. Sure, they’ve got stocks and bonds like the rest of us Joe Schmoes, but they also have alt assets like art and wine that keep them diversified.

These hard assets have a lot of benefits—they tend to appreciate over time, and people have a connection to the craftsmanship involved.

If smooth bourbon is more your speed than art and wine, CaskX is the platform for you. America’s native spirit has seen a surge in popularity lately, and experts see the trend continuing.

Our friends over at CaskX are letting you get in on the action, allowing you to participate in the gains without needing to keep barrels in your garage. Because they know Daily Peel readers will love their platform, they’re giving out a free bottle of bourbon to one of the first 50 Peel readers to schedule a consultation in the next 24 hours.

Yup, we’re serious. Schedule a consultation today and win free booze.

The stock market has been nuts in the past few years. If you want a real, tangible asset that steadily gets more valuable over time, it’s time to get in on the bourbon game.

• JPMorgan is laying the foundation for a nation of renters after investing $1 billion in a built-to-rent joint venture
• Yale and Harvard want nothing to do with bullsh*t U.S. News rankings going forward
• Bosses in Europe have done a complete 180 and are now asking workers to log in from home so they can save on energy bills
• TikTok is zagging the industry and scooping up laid-off workers from the likes of Meta, Twitter, and Amazon

Go Ahead and Ask for That Raise

Bosses around the country have been salivating at the thought of a recession lighting a fire under employee asses, forcing them to sprint back to their cubes.

High-profile layoffs from Big Tech seemed to point to a big spike in unemployment on the horizon, but all the high-fiving in corporate boardrooms might be premature. Unless robots start doing all the work, the American economy has way too many structural workforce issues to lay off workers en masse anytime soon.

Despite the recent parade of tech layoffs, a toxic cocktail of demographic trends points to worker shortages for the foreseeable future.

• Boomers can only hold on to the corner office for so long. They’ve already been retiring in waves, which will only accelerate as their gray hairs accumulate
• It was widely expected that 50-somethings who left the workforce during C-19 would be forced back due to inflation, but they’re not budging
• Pre-pandemic, about 1 million immigrants were flowing into the country each year, padding employee ranks across industries. That’s slowed to a paltry quarter-million
• The kids aren’t baby-making at the same rate as their parents, which will steadily shrink the working population going forward

Employers are pulling their hair out trying to find people, but they may have to just take the L and hike wages to lure them in. Pay raises have been higher than usual this year but are still well behind inflation.

2023 could see an airtight labor market continuing and further wage gains that people desperately need. Households are running up huge credit card balances and even tapping into hellish HELOCs to stay afloat, and widespread layoffs could blow up their balance sheets.

For the economy to keep chugging along as rates march higher, Main Street needs a steady paycheck that’s within a stone’s throw of inflation. We’ll see how employers respond.

Source

Macy’s ($M) ↑ 15.02% ↑

• Bears have been patiently waiting for the Macy’s collapse, but the 97-year-old retailer ain’t dead yet
• Shoppers are snapping up suits and other high-margin dressy clothes and aren’t trading down to Nordstrom Rack despite higher prices

Bath & Body Works ($BBWI) ↑ 25.18% ↑

• $BBWI did its part to blow up retail puts Thursday after doubling EPS estimates in Q3
• It has threaded the inflation needle incredibly well, slimming itself down while continuing to unload products through promotions and loyalty programs