Beyond the Arches #36: Stocks and other asset classes are on the rise again. Invest in the technologies driving advances in fuel and finance.

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With two presidential candidates making their closing arguments to the American people, the economy once again comes into focus as a turning point for voters. Indicators like oil, stocks, gold, and crypto each play their part in painting the financial landscape at home and abroad. After record gains, the Dow and S&P snapped their winning streak largely due to rising treasury yields and the impact of McDonald’s E. coli outbreak. Other indicators, however, are up. 

Gold and silver took the lead over stock market performance, rising to $2,750 an ounce and $34 per ounce, respectively. Silver’s gains are especially impressive, marking a 12-year high price. Precious metals outpace even the high-performing stock market in 2024, with gold gaining 26% year to date and silver marking 35% gains compared with the S&P’s healthy performance of 19%. 

Crude oil fluctuated over the week, recovering 2% of losses from the previous week’s sell-off activity on reporting of U.S. crude stocks. Fluctuations in crude oil are largely due to instability in global production zones in the Middle East. The U.S. benchmark ended the previous week 8% lower, with analysts eyeing growing tensions between Israel and Iran and its potential to disrupt production in the region. Assurances from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel will confine its strikes to Iranian military targets helped ease concerns.

Cryptocurrency continues its dance with the $70,000 mark, thanks to the activity of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs drew almost $2.4 billion of net inflows last week, driven by speculation that U.S. crypto rules will become friendlier after the November 5th presidential election.

Fund the future with investment and renewables startups

• Sphere: Impact-conscious consumers and investors put time and effort into sourcing climate-positive deals. However, some investment vehicles – namely traditional 401(k) plans – make it harder to include renewables in their portfolios. Sphere is making it easier for millions of 401(k) participants with a climate-friendly fund that encourages renewable investments and unshackles investors from the underperforming oil and gas sectors without changing providers.
• Flux Hybrids: Electric vehicles are the future. But what about the millions of gas-powered vehicles still in service? Flux Hybrids knows the impact of the approximately 200 million fleet vehicles currently in service. The startup offers solutions to retrofit these vehicles for hybrid power use with benefits like reduced emissions, improved fuel economy, and lower maintenance costs. 
• LPP Fusion: Although in its early stages, fusion technology can potentially replace the climate burden of fossil fuels with pollution-free and plentiful fuel production in the future. LPPs are patented, small-scale generators that offer direct conversion to electricity without the need for radioactive byproducts, as with nuclear energy production. Fusion offers a decentralized solution to growing power consumption rates that replaces fossil fuels without the climate impact of battery-based storage or resource-intensive wind and solar power generation. 

On Our Radar This Week

• Cubans faced dual crises this week as Hurricane Oscar roared ashore during an island-wide power outage. The recurrent collapse of Cuba’s electrical grid over the weekend raised fears that a solution to the outages wouldn’t happen soon. The collapse of the grid plunged 10 million Cubans into darkness, adding to struggles with food shortages, fuel, and medicine in the tiny communist nation.
• South Korea raised concerns about North Korean participation in Russia’s occupation of Ukraine this week, calling for its northern adversary to withdraw the 10,000 North Korean soldiers purportedly deployed to shore up Russian troop numbers. Although North Korea’s participation and nuclear ambitions are a global concern, global intelligence agencies have yet to confirm the deployment.
• McDonald’s faces operational and financial difficulties after an E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounders in its western U.S. supply chain. The outbreak has claimed one life and sickened dozens of people across ten states, including Colorado and Nebraska. In response, the company pulled the Quarter Pounder from its menus to quell concerns about food safety. The news caused McDonald’s stock to dip nearly 7%, although Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, went on record to say its products are safe, and contaminated products have likely already left the supply chain.

Macro Bites

• Spirit stock soared 34% this week after the budget airline announced an extension to its debt refinancing deadline. The company must now secure refinancing by the extended December deadline to renew its card processing contract.
• The 23andMe data breach settlement could mean $10,000 each for affected consumers – but won’t guarantee the end of its struggles. An impending sale may change data handling for 15 million customers despite the company’s historical pledges to maintain genetic data privacy.
• Striking Boeing workers will vote Wednesday on whether to accept a new contract proposal to end the five-week strike. The vote could ease tensions for the beleaguered manufacturer as it navigates ongoing labor, finance, and safety concerns. 

Start passively investing in franchises today!

Accredited and non-accredited investors can invest in our latest offering, TNT Franchise Fund Inc., today! 

TNT Franchise Fund Inc. is a diversified portfolio of up to 30 Smash My Trash locations and 25 Teriyaki Madness outlets throughout the United States.

With its patented waste compaction service, Smash My Trash is disrupting the $1.6 trillion waste management sector. By compacting waste in open-top dumpsters to reduce waste volume, customers save money (up to 20% of waste removal costs) and reduce their CO2 emissions by up to 65%.

Teriyaki Madness stands out with its fresh, made-from-scratch meals and a lively, inviting ambiance, revolutionizing the fast-casual Asian dining scene. Its surging popularity is evident on platforms like Yelp, Facebook, and Google, where an increasing community of enthusiasts sing its praises.

Highlights:

• Target locations: Up to 55
• Smash My Trash per-location economics: $885K in revenue with 28% EBITDA after 16 months of operation
• Teriyaki Madness per-location economics: $1.16M in revenue with 20% operating profit

As the Smash My Trash and Teriyaki Madness locations come to fruition, investors in TNT Franchise Fund Inc. can expect to receive excess cash flows from the business operations of the locations on a quarterly basis.

For more information on the offering, contact our team.