Meta Platforms operates the world's largest family of social networking websites, including the flagship Facebook site, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Reels and Threads. The sites enable users to communicate with friends and family by posting to the site; commenting on others' posts; sharing photographs, website links, and videos; and messaging and playing games. The company also partners with application developers to add functionality to the sites, and allows users to pay for virtual goods and services through its Payments function. Meta derives about 55% of its revenue from outside the U.S. and Canada. Facebook/Meta went public on May 18, 2012. Meta Platforms changed its ticker from FB to META on June 9, 2022.

Monday Tee Up: The Election and Interest Rates This week features the election and a Federal Reserve interest-rate decision. Suffice it to say, the markets may be volatile. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 0.2%, the S&P 500 lost 1.4%, and the Nasdaq shed 1.5%. For the year, the Dow is higher by 12%, the S&P is up 20%, and the Nasdaq has gained 22%. The earnings calendar is packed again. On Monday, Palantir Technologies, Marriott International, and American International Group all report. On Tuesday, Apollo Global Management, Yum! Brands, DuPont, Cummins, and Archer-Daniels Midland. On Wednesday, Qualcomm, McKesson, Novo Nordisk, Toyota Motor, and Take-Two Interactive. On Thursday, Motorola, Arista Networks, Airbnb, Becton, Dickinson, and Duke Energy. And on Friday, Paramount Global. So far, 349 (or 70%) of the S&P 500 companies have reported. Earnings are coming in 8.4% higher than in the prior-year quarter. Communication Services, up 24%, and Technology, up 19%, are leading, while Energy, down 27%, is underperforming. For full year, Argus forecasts earnings growth of 7%-9%. On the economic calendar, the big day is Thursday, when the Federal Reserve comes out with its next decision on interest rates. Odds that the Fed will cut by 25 basis points (bps) are essentially at 100%, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Wall Street will focus on Chairman Powell's statement at the press conference immediately following the rate announcement. Meanwhile, Factory Orders will be updated on Monday; the U.S. Trade Deficit and ISM Services on Tuesday; and Consumer Sentiment on Friday. Argus Chief Economist Chris Graja's Call of the Week is the Institute for Supply Management's Services Index for October. Chris has offered the following commentary. 'This is an early and important indicator of 4Q economic activity. Consumer spending on services represents more than 45% of GDP. The huge category includes housing expenses, including rent, healthcare, transportation services, and food services and hotels. The Services Index printed at a healthy and expansionary 54.9 in September. We expect a small uptick to 55 in October, just above the consensus of 53, which suggests the economy is healthy and will keep growing.' The services category grew 2.6% in 3Q and contributed 1.21 points of the 2.8% increase in 3Q GDP according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Last week, the October jobs report delivered a mixed bag of information. Nonfarm Payrolls posted at 12,000 for October compared to a strong (but revised lower) 223,000 for September. The October number was impacted by the two recent hurricanes and the strike at Boeing, but still came in lower than expected. The Unemployment Rate was unchanged at 4.1%. Mortgage rates jumped for a fifth consecutive week and are now at 6.72% for the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Gas prices fell four cents to $3.10 per gallon for the average price of regular gas. The Atlanta Fed GDPNow indicator is forecasting for 3Q and calls for expansion of 2.3%. The Cleveland Fed CPINow indicator for November is 2.68%. After this week's Fed rate decision, the next rate meeting is on December 18. If the Fed cuts this week, as is fully expected, the odds are at 83% for another 25-bps rate cut in December, again according to the CME FedWatch tool. We expect a rate cut this week and another in December, and then three more in 2025 (all by 25 bps).

Meta is the largest social media company in the world, boasting close to 4 billion monthly active users worldwide. The firm’s “Family of Apps,” its core business, consists of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. End users can leverage these applications for a variety of different purposes, from keeping in touch with friends to following celebrities and running digital businesses for free. Meta packages customer data, gleaned from its application ecosystem and sells ads to digital advertisers. While the firm has been investing heavily in its Reality Labs business, it remains a very small part of Meta’s overall sales.

The United States economy is full of innovation. It has to be. Manufacturing industries that dominated the economy decades ago - textiles, televisions, even automobiles to a large degree - have moved overseas, where labor and materials costs are lower. Yet the U.S. economy, even during the pandemic and the current period of high inflation, has expanded to record levels. If U.S. corporations weren't innovating, creating new products (such as vaccines and AI) and services (such as Zoom calls) and moving into new markets, the domestic economy would not be growing, and capital would not be flooding into the country. The current high level of the U.S. dollar relative to currencies around the world attests to the confidence that global investors have in the durable and innovative U.S. economy.