Brazil Election 4th largest democracy. 12th largest largest economy in the world and biggest in LATAM. The election is between the Trump of the tropics Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Final election is Oct. 30th. Country profile: 213M population. $1.6T economy. Economically similar in size to Russia or Australia. Shrinking economy since 2014 when it was roughly. $2.4T. Brazil has a 13.75% interest rate and 7.17% inflation. Brazil has an 8.9% unemployment rate, but trending down from the 12.6% high this time last year. TAKEOUT: Bolsonaro up. History does not repeat, but it does rhyme and this looks like a similar scenario to USA in 2016. Their potential is there under the right leadership.
McCormick Spice/seasoning/condiments/flavoring/extracts manufacturer/marketer/distributor. Founded in 1889. Made $6.3B last year. 12 acquisitions from 2007-2016. Just acquired FONA intl for $700M. Revenue and profit keep trending up. TAKEOUT: Spicy business maneuvers in a boring sector. Don’t be the best, acquire the best. Acquire early and often.
JOLTS The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the job openings and labor turnover survey every month. JOLTs has trended up since covid. 7M job openings pre covid, 4M job openings at its worst (during covid), 11.6M at the best and now at 10M. TAKEOUT: The labor force is a lagging indicator, and while there are mixed messages of how the overall economy is performing the most important factor is our jobs. This indicator tells us the demand for labor is going down as stimulus spend is easing. If you want a new job or a raise, better sooner than later.
