Omi-C’mon — If you’re the kind of person that eats food, listen up. You may have noticed an uptick in empty shelves and disappointed moms in grocery stores across the country lately. If this is true, I assure you that you’re not alone.
Like bell-bottom jeans and leather jackets, empty shelves are coming back in style. This time, however, it’s not because of pandemic hoarders, but rather issues on the supply side. The Omicron variant and its success of going viral have stifled the recovery of global supply chains, from keeping workers at home to making sure groceries don’t reach your home, more than ever right now according to some industry executives. Looking at the chart from the WSJ below, you can get a sense of just how problematic this is.
It’s been nearly two years since C19 pulled up to the party but we’re still trying to kick this guy out. Since then, U.S. labor force participation rates have yet to fully recover, while a Census bureau report from a few weeks ago highlights that 9mm Americans were temporarily out of work on account of falling ill with the O or its parental variants or taking care of someone else who did. It goes without saying that nearly 10mm people being unable to work is not a great sign for a nation’s labor market.
Still, as we’ve said before, the pandemic has arguably given the power to the people for the first time since the steel strikes of the early 20th century. There’s good, there’s bad, we’ve seen the ugly, and now we’re hungry. Here’s a tip — if you can, hit the grocery store in the AM, you just might be the old people to that last Bang Energy.
This Week — Apes, it’s gonna be a fun week. Not necessarily in stock price returns of course, but we got a Fed meeting on deck later today and plenty of earnings coming. Buckle up, it’s gonna be volatile.
The FOMC will start their first meeting of the new year later today. When I say all eyes are on JPow, I mean literally every single eye. Even Hellen Keller would be watching because this meeting is set to be the most consequential in months as investors are dying to hear the Fed’s thoughts on everything from inflation to geopolitical tensions to interest rate policy. Bear in mind the Fed is still actively buying bonds and will continue to do so until March, so if we hear any change of course in our planned monetary policy tightening process, you might need two seatbelts.
Wrapping up on Wednesday, the end of the FOMC meeting doesn’t mean the fun is over. Tesla reports earnings on Wednesday and Elon has promised to return to the investor call this time. If that’s not interesting enough for you, be on the lookout for Microsoft, Apple, Boeing, Robinhood, Raytheon, Lockheeed Martin, McDonald’s and plenty more who all drop earnings this week. Coincidentally, that is also probably a sneak peek at what you’ll find in What’s Ripe and What’s Rotten later this week as well.
Stay tuned.
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