FedEx delivered – and then some | Banks borrowed big from the Fed |

Hi John, here's what you need to know for March 20th in 3:12 minutes.

💰 Tax-free returns don’t come knocking very often – and when they do, you’d better open that door. Join Hargreaves Lansdown’s Sophie Lund-Yates for Five Shares For ISAs this Monday, and find out how to make the most of your tax-free allowance this year. Get your free ticket

Today's big stories

  1. Logistics giant FedEx shipped a gift to shareholders
  2. Here’s a smarter, speedier way to size up a stock – Read Now
  3. Cash-strapped banks have run cap in hand to the Federal Reserve

The Whole Package

The Whole Package

What’s Going On Here?

FedEx delivered investors a care package of tasty quarterly results late last week.

What Does This Mean?

FedEx was doing prodigious business back in the dark pandemic days, what with all the yoga mats, breadmakers, and board games folks were ordering. But deliveries have taken a hit since then, and households’ increasing focus on services instead of goods hasn’t helped matters. That’s got the logistics giant zeroing in on what it can control: costs. See, the company's made good progress on its $4 billion cost-cutting plan – closing offices, cutting flights, and nixing Sunday deliveries in far-off areas. It’s also upped its pricing game, with the biggest hike in FedEx history earlier this year. That helped the firm rake in more cash per package in every segment last quarter. So even though FedEx didn't quite hit its revenue goals, it still managed to shoot past profit expectations.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Not mailing it in.
FedEx has a good feeling about its future, with some more cost cuts in the cards and a hunch that deliveries will pick up too. That could be why its annual profit forecast was way stronger than expected. And if the firm plays its cards right, it could even start threatening its less bloated rival UPS – whose profit margins tend to be much higher on the whole. Investors are backing FedEx anyway: its stock has outperformed UPS’s by 19%, and the S&P 500 by 24%, so far this year.

Zooming out:
Feeling a-freight.
FedEx is clearly making strides in some areas, but logistics demand is weak right now, and that’s unlikely to change much until the economic outlook does. Uber’s also feeling the pinch: rumor has it the firm’s thinking about selling off its freight logistics division, a move that would actually make a lot of sense. After all, auctioning off that sideshow would let Uber concentrate on ride-hailing and food delivery – its real flywheel.

🖋️ License this story

Copy to share story: https://go.finimize.com/wp/news/the-whole-package/

🙋 Ask a question

Analyst Take

How To Analyze A Stock In Five Easy Steps

How To Analyze A Stock In Five Easy Steps

By Paul Allison, Analyst

Researching stocks can be an endless task. There’s an infinite amount of information out there from an unlimited number of sources. 

So over the years, I’ve honed a five-step framework for analyzing a stock, with built-in stopping points that allow me to pause and dive deeper or carry on. 

It’s simple enough that anyone can use it, and it delivers results that are good enough for the pros. 

That’s today’s Insight: how to use my five-step framework to analyze a stock, with Apple as an example.

Read or listen to the Insight here

SPONSORED BY SWEATER

A simple Sweater could turn your venture capital aspirations into a reality

Imagine a venture capitalist, and you’ll likely picture a linen-clad tycoon on a Mediterranean yacht.

And while that’s true for plenty of them, some might be wrapped up with a certain Sweater instead.

You can now invest in some of the world’s most exciting startups with Sweater’s venture capital fund, giving you the chance to diversify your portfolio and long-term strategies with as little as $500.

Plus, because the fund is managed by Sweater’s expert venture capital investment team, you can rest assured that your investments are in steady, experienced hands.

So if you want to invest in startups straight from your phone, you can try Sweater on for size.

Find Out More

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund and can be obtained by calling 1-888-577-7987 or by visiting the Fund’s website at https://www.sweaterventures.com/cashmerefund. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. All investments involve risks, and past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Spare Some Change

Spare Some Change

What’s Going On Here?

Data out late last week showed that banks have been jostling for loans from the Fed.

What Does This Mean?

The US government would love it if everyone just forgot about Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, but let's be real: it's going to be a hot minute before folk fully trust the banking system again. And the latest data won’t do much to help. The Federal Reserve (the Fed) made it easier for banks short on cash to borrow money in the wake of the crisis, and those loans swiftly hit a new record high in the week up to March 15th – blowing 2008’s out of the water. That shows a lot of players remained nervous about the amount of cash being withdrawn, suggesting the sector’s still in hot water. First Republic is probably biting its nails especially hard: even the tidy cash injection it’s getting from the nation's biggest banks has done little to reassure investors it’s on firm ground.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: One step forward and…
These numbers are a big deal when you consider how they affect the Fed's policy moves. See, the central bank’s been doing two main things in its fight against inflation: hiking interest rates and reducing the value of bonds on its balance sheet. But these emergency loans are thought to have undone half the good of those bond-offloading efforts. So if the Fed does hike interest rates this week, it'll be like fueling the blaze and taking a firehose to it at the same time.

The bigger picture: Follow the money.
Folks aren’t sticking all that withdrawn cash under their mattresses. But the dollar trail does lead to seriously low-risk investments, like government bonds and money market funds (which essentially invest in cash and safe securities). That stands to reason: worried investors tend to make safer financial choices in times of crisis, in a so-called "flight to quality".

🖋️ License this story

Copy to share story: https://go.finimize.com/wp/news/spare-some-change/

🙋 Ask a question

💬 Quote of the day

“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

– Mark Twain (an American writer, humorist, and entrepreneur)
Tweet this

Meet your future community

Let’s face it, even the best brands need a little push to reach the right audience.

Our one-million-strong community of modern investors is clever, clued-in, and keen to learn. In short, they’re exactly the type of folk you want to reach.

So whether you’re an established brand, scaleup, or startup, our promotional campaigns can help you reach the right audience at the right time.

Your tailored campaign will make the most of all the Finimize channels, including live event and Summit showcases, social media blasts, and curated newsletter placements – yup, right here.

Introduce yourself to your future community with Finimize.

Get In Touch

🌍 Finimize Live

🥳 Coming Up This Week…

All events in UK time.

📈 Five Shares For ISAs – How HL Researches: 5pm, March 20th
🌎 Three Ways Long-Term Investors Can Act On Climate Change: 12pm, March 21st
🚀 What Will Be The Next Big Thing In Artificial Intelligence?: 1pm, March 22nd

👀 And After That…

📚 A Guide To Maximizing Your Tax Allowance: 5pm, April 3rd
🔮 Future of Finance: Waking Up To The Retail Investor (London): 6.30pm, April 12th
🙋‍♀️ Women And Investing: Powering Up Your Pension: 5pm, April 25th
💥 Investing 101: The DIY Investor: 1pm, April 27th
🎉 Modern Investor Summit 2023: 12pm, December 5th and 6th

🎯 On Our Radar

  1. Bad news for the British Cabinet. TikTok’s being banned on UK government devices now too.
  2. Deserted metaverse. Nobody’s hanging out in Mark Zuckerberg’s cyberscape these days.
  3. The nineties are calling. And they’re telling you landline phones are back.
  4. Not feeling bearish. These college wrestlers took on a grizzly – and survived.
  5. Umami upheaval. Southeast Asian cooks are going all out with this distinctive ingredient.
❤️ Share with a friendYour Referrals: 0

Thanks for reading John. If you liked today's brief, we'd love for you to share it with a friend.

Share your unique link:

https://finimize.com/invite/?kid=12T6MV

You stay classy, John 😉

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Give feedback

Want to advertise with us too? Get in touch

Image Credits:

Image credits: max.ku - Shutterstock | BayB4y - Shutterstock

Preferences:

Update your email or change preferences

View in browser

Unsubscribe from all Finimize Emails

😴

Crafted by Finimize Ltd. | 280 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4AG

All content provided by Finimize Ltd. is for informational and educational purposes only and is not meant to represent trade or investment recommendations. You signed up to this mailing list at finimize.com or through one of our partners. © Finimize 2021

View Online