Presented by The Motley Fool

Hi John, here's what you need to know for December 12th in 3:06 minutes.

⏳ Keep it brief

• Saudi Aramco’s stock rose 10% on its first day of trading as a public company
• The US Federal Reserve confirmed it’d leave the country’s interest rates unchanged until at least next year

Go Big Or Go Home

What’s Going On Here?

Saudi Aramco towered over the rest on Wednesday: its almost $26 billion initial public offering (IPO) was the world’s biggest.

What Does This Mean?

Saudi Aramco initially wanted to sell $100 billion worth of shares, and the company’s advisers expected global investors to give the entire company a $2 trillion valuation – as well as the coveted title of world’s most valuable public company. But when those investors shrugged off the opportunity, Aramco turned to Saudi Arabia’s. Sure, that meant the company sold fewer shares at a lower valuation than it had hoped, but its share sale was still the biggest ever.

Aramco’s shares rose 10% on Wednesday – the maximum possible, given limits placed on how much Saudi-listed shares can move in a single day. That rise made it worth almost $1.9 trillion, and a further increase before the end of the week could see it cross the $2 trillion mark after all (tweet this).

Why Should I Care?

For markets: The value of scarcity.
Despite its record-setting IPO, Saudi Aramco only actually sold off 1.5% of the company’s shares. Compare that to the more-than 80% of Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet shares available on the stock market, and Aramco’s popularity suddenly makes a lot more sense. Plus, if ordinary retail investors hold onto their current stakes, they’re reportedly in line to receive extra shares. Funds that track emerging market indexes – groups of closely related stocks that Aramco will join – are scrambling to buy into the company too, pushing demand and Aramco’s share price even higher.

Zooming out: Chevron feeling green.
American oil company Chevron slashed the value of several parts of its business by $11 billion this week. It’s blaming the too-high supply of oil and natural gas, which has caused the prices of both – and therefore the value of Chevron’s businesses – to fall. But investors didn’t seem to mind: its stock fell just 1%.

Got a question about this article? Ask us here

Powell’s Unmoving Castle

What’s Going On Here?

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) confirmed what most investors had already expected: it had no magic left to weave this year, and kept the country’s interest rates where they were.

What Does This Mean?

When the Fed cut interest rates back in October, it said it probably wouldn’t tweak them again for a while unless the state of the US economy changed significantly. And things have been pretty steady-going since then, especially where the Fed’s two key responsibilities – its “dual mandate” – of job growth and stable prices are concerned. Take the country’s unemployment rate, for one: it fell to its lowest level in 50 years last month. And while fresh inflation data out on Wednesday was higher than the Fed’s target, it didn’t shift far enough to justify an immediate change of tack.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: 2020 vision.
Investors are already looking forward to next year, and expect economic growth in the US – the world’s largest economy – to be higher than in 2019. That’s partly down to this year’s three interest rate cuts driving spending in the next – and partly down to an over 50% likelihood of more cuts in 2020 (based on investors’ current buying and selling activity). That’d encourage even more spending and, as a consequence, growth – and will likely set positive mood music for the global economy…

For you personally: Hey, big spender.
Most investors expect US unemployment to remain low and wages to continue increasing faster than product prices. And if that’s the case, consumer spending – which has helped the American economy throughout 2019 – will likely keep climbing in 2020 too. One group of companies likely to benefit from that trend is ad platforms like Google, whose ads make up 80% of parent company Alphabet’s revenue (thanks to a 70% market share in the US). Tech stocks – favorites among Finimizers – might then continue to lead the way throughout 2020.

Got a question about this article? Ask us here