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FTSE 100
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Last Week’s Highlights

Retail sales estimated to grow
With the arrival of Black Friday comes a number of sales from major retailers. As is characteristic of this tradition, most of these offers extend into the Monday known as Cyber Monday. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 165.3 million people are estimated to shop over the Thanksgiving holiday and holiday retail sales for November and December are estimated to grow in the range of 3.8% to 4.2% over 2018. Sales would be worth $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion and the top companies to benefit would be Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Gap, and even Amazon despite company workers in 40 countries planning to protest to demand better wages and working conditions on Black Friday.

Tesla recalls vehicles… again
Tesla recalls electric vehicles in China for the second time this year. The company is recalling 67,698 imported Model S and Model X cars because they have problems with the vehicle’s software and this directly affects the battery management system. The company will give the software update for free. Similarly, Tesla is recalling 2,736 imported Model 3 vehicles and 10,127 of the Model 3 versions manufactured in China because of seat belt issues. The Asian country is one of Tesla’s main markets, so investors are concerned that so many recalls will hurt the company. In addition to the problems in China, it should be noted that the electric vehicle manufacturer has already recalled 30,000 electric vehicles in the United States due to problems with airbag deployment.
Coming Up This Week

Visa’s encouraging numbers
Despite the suspension of its operations in Russia in March 2022, Visa was able to increase payment volumes for the fourth quarter in the United States. Year-on-year, credit volumes were up 11%, debit volumes were up 8%, and transactions processed globally were up 11% year-on-year. Payment volume in the North American country is well above pre-pandemic levels, 147% higher in the current quarter than in 2019, and also transactions processed globally are 140% higher than in 2019. The payment service provider benefited from increased international travel transactions, primarily to and from the Asia-Pacific region.

Apple interested in buying Man Utd
Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, plan to sell the club to the highest bidder to meet the demands of the fans who want them sacked. The poor sporting success of one of the world’s top soccer teams in recent years has been the trigger for the American billionaires’ decision to sell the club. Apple is showing interest in acquiring Manchester United for £5.8 billion and making it the richest club in the world, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, and Newcastle United. Tim Cook, the CEO of the leading technology company, would be willing to negotiate and explore opportunities that may exist in the Manchester United environment. Although Apple has no experience in owning a soccer club, they plan to start off on the right foot by financing the construction of a new state-of-the-art stadium that would be considered the best in the world.