Here’s what you need to know today

• Waymo, the self-driving car division of Alphabet, has expanded its self-driving service to include freeways in California and Arizona. This will be the first self-driving car service to offer fully-autonomous freeway driving. (CNBC)
  
  

• Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3% as the country added 43,000 jobs in October. This was down from 4.5% in September, a surprisingly high number that would’ve been a concern if it repeated. The October number is back in line with June, July and August. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Australia’s Liberal Party has officially dumped its Net Zero target. Leader Sussan Ley announced the party would remove a net zero target from its policy platform but would support staying in the Paris climate deal. Instead, it will support reducing emissions, "in line with comparable countries and as fast and as far as technologies allow without imposing mandated costs". (ABC)
  
  

• The US Government shutdown is officially over. President Trump signed the funding bill, ending the longest government shutdown in American history at 43 days. (ABC)
  
  

• Droneshield was down 31% yesterday, after CEO Oleg Vornik disclosed he had sold all of his shares in November. While company leaders selling some shares is common, a CEO dumping all of their shares is highly unusual. DroneShield is down 66% since 9 October, despite that it is still up 200% for the year. (AFR)
  
  

• Another ASX-listed small cap, IperionX, was the focus of investor attention after Spruce Point Capital Management published a 93-page research report criticising the stock. North Carolina-based IperionX is developing titanium extraction technology, but Spruce Point believes it could fall as much as 95%. (AFR)
  
  

• Mineral Resources is facing more investigations from the Australian Tax Office. The investigation centres on how MinRes and its managing director Chris Ellison calculated income and fringe benefit taxes.(AFR)
  
  

• Italian tomato giants are dumping their products in Australia. Australia’s Anti-Dumping Commission investigated four Italian producers and found three – De Clemente, IMCA and Mutti - were dumping (selling below normal price to hurt local producers). Italy is the third-largest processed tomato producer behind the US and China, responsible for 15 per cent of global supply. (AFR)
  
  

• Skims, the shapewear brand founded by Kim Kardashian, has raised $225 million at a $5 billion valuation. The six-year-old company expects to pass $1 billion in sales this year. (Reuters)
  
  

• The UK has stopped sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean. The US have so far carried out 19 strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing 76 people. Sources told CNN, the British do not “want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal”. (CNN)

What the…?

Cadbury is the latest brand to feel the power of TikTok. Sales of the Pascall Clinker have risen 250% after the chocolate went viral in a TikTok trend.

The Clinker Challenge sees people promising to do something if they correctly guess the colour of the Clinker they bite into. Cadbury reported their entire national supply was wiped out in October and resellers were selling bags for up to $30 online. (AFR)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today

What is driving India’s economic growth

This is an extract from the Basis Points episode titled ‘The India opportunity: 10x growth and what comes next - Mugunthan Siva’ (Apple | Spotify | YouTube)

Question: What are the key drivers behind India’s projected 10% nominal GDP growth over the next 20 years?

Mugunthan: Demographics. I know that's a simple and easy word to use, but look at the numbers: 1.4 - 1.5 billion people, average age 29. By the end of this decade, 25% of the people working globally will be Indian.

So if the average age in India is 29, and most of the western world is over 40, it makes sense that most of the people between 15 and 65 are going to be Indian.

There is a measure called the dependency ratio: everyone under 15 or over 65, divided by everyone of working age. The lower your ratio, the better, because you have fewer dependents. China’s ratio hit a low of around 35% in 2010, the same time its growth peaked at 12%. Since then, growth has slowed as the dependency ratio has risen. India still has about 15 years before it hits its bottom. That is what is going to drive its growth: demographics.

Want to watch the full episode with Mugunthan? Check it out on the Basis Points YouTube channel:

A message from Viola Private Wealth

Wealth isn't one-size-fits-all. Your investment strategy needs to work for your life and not just the markets.

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