November 24: Sunday Funday #28
Articles, streams and books that caught our attention this week
Articles 📰
Diabetics left without treatment as global rate of disease doubles
“Global diabetes rates have doubled over the past 30 years, with many middle- and low-income countries failing to provide sufferers with sufficient access to treatment, according to an international study.”
Most “humane” farms are lying to you — and the government isn’t stopping them
“An overwhelming majority of Americans say they’re concerned about the treatment of animals raised for meat, and many believe they can help by simply selecting from one of the many brands that advertise their chicken or pork as “humane.” But such marketing claims have long borne little resemblance to the ugly reality of raising animals for meat.”
I have no money’: Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis
“In the immediate aftermath of Synapse’s bankruptcy, which happened after an exodus of its fintech clients, a court-appointed trustee found that up to $96 million of customer funds was missing. The mystery of where those funds are hasn’t been solved, despite six months of court-mediated efforts between the four banks involved.”
How Froot Loops Landed at the Center of U.S. Food Politics
“Artificial dyes appear in nearly every aisle of U.S. grocery stores. They give foods like Froot Loops, Skittles and M&M’s their vibrant colors, and help enliven the appearance of everything from pickles to pie crusts and processed meat. any companies over the years have sought to shed additives to appease consumers’ desire for simpler ingredients. But U.S. shoppers have sometimes revolted when food makers switched to more natural, but less colorful and less tasty, alternatives.”
Why Is Everyone ‘Sober-ish’ All of a Sudden
“After years of pushing the benign myth that a glass of wine a day is good for the heart, it seems the medical establishment has abandoned hedonists and pleasure seekers. Is there a safe amount of alcohol? It turns out no. For this and other more amorphous reasons, I have noticed increasing numbers of people around me are sober-ish. They drink only socially or only two glasses of wine a week or only in restaurants. They are not willing to give up drinking entirely, which feels like too vast and depressing a surrender of life’s pleasures. So they make rules for themselves.”
Sorry, Kale. Beans Are the New Nutrition Obsession.
“Much of the new enthusiasm for beans comes from research showing how they help balance the gut microbiome, which reduces inflammation in the body and potentially cancer risk. Beans contain starches and other components that helpful gut bacteria like to eat, says Carrie Daniel, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Eating beans “keeps the beneficial players happy and functioning in the gut microbiome,” she says.”
The rise of Bluesky, and the splintering of social
“If you’re not familiar, Bluesky is, essentially, a Twitter clone that publishes short-form status updates. It gained more than 2 million users this week. On Wednesday, The Verge reported it had crossed 15 million users. By Thursday, it was at 16 million. By Friday? 17 million and counting. It was the number one app in Apple’s app store. Meanwhile, Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, put up even bigger numbers. The company’s Adam Mosseri reported that 15 million people had signed up in November alone. Both apps are surging in usage.”
A Complete Guide to Thanksgiving Side Dishes
“… you'll find a complete list of Thanksgiving side dishes to make your Thanksgiving the best yet!”
What We’re Streaming 📺📲
The Reading List 📖📚
The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
“Welcome to the new Experience Economy. With this fully updated edition of the book, Pine and Gilmore make an even stronger case that experience is the missing link between a company and its potential audience. It offers new rich examples including the U.S. Army, Heineken Experience, Autostadt, Vinopolis, American Girl Place, and others to show fresh approaches to scripting and staging compelling experiences while staying true to the very real economic conditions of the day.”
Don’t be a stranger
Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed below.
The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models
Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.
Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.
Cash Strapped Consumer - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.
CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.
Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.
Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.
Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption or destruction of data.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity -The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.
Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.
Digital Payments - This model focuses on companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).
EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.
EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.
Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.
Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.
Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.
Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.
Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.
Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.
Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.
The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models
Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name says – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.
ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.
ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.
Don’t be a stranger
Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed below.