Hello, readers. I'm Hallam Bullock, Insider's newsletter editor, reporting from London today while Phil Rosen is out.
I also edit our finance newsletter, 10 Things on Wall Street. It's our snappy weekday digest of all the top stories on the Street, along with an inside look at industry parties, lavish executive lifestyles, and so much more. You can sign up here.
We've got an exciting smorgasbord of markets stories this morning. But first, Elon Musk staked his Twitter leadership on a poll and it closed just minutes ago. Let's see how that went.
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1. Elon Musk topped off a turbulent week by launching a poll asking Twitter users whether he should quit as CEO.
The billionaire, who took Twitter private in a $44 billion deal in October, wrote on the social platform Sunday: "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll."
Having closed just moments ago, more than 57% of the vote was in favor of him calling it a day. Trouble has been mounting for a while, and short tenures seem to be a trademark of 2022 — especially here in the UK with our steady rotation of prime ministers — but last week alone was a particularly tough one for Musk.
After SEC filings showed Musk sold about $3.6 billion of Tesla stock, its share price tumbled more than 15% amid a growing view that Twitter is becoming a distraction.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said that Musk is using Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep the platform afloat — and he wasn't alone in his criticisms. "Big Short" investor Danny Moses is now betting against Tesla and told CNBC "We're getting frustrated here because his attention span is being compromised." Even the EV maker's third largest individual shareholder called for a new CEO.
With real concerns that Tesla could lose ground as one of the world's key EV makers because of Musk's "Twitter sideshow", investors will be watching what happens next closely. This is a developing story and Tesla stock is currently up almost 5% in premarket trading.
Read more on Musk's tough week.
In other news:
2. US stock futures are edging higher early Monday after closing out another week with losses as investors kept being plagued by worries about recession and Fed interest rate hikes. Here are the latest market moves.
3. Earnings on deck: HEICO Corp., Steelcase Inc., and more, all reporting.
4. The 23 best stocks to buy in 2023, according to UBS. The firm anticipates the slowest economic global growth in decades, but it still sees some enticing opportunities in individual stocks. Check out their picks here.
5. The inflation threat has faded, unemployment is set to spike, and the US economy can still escape a recession. That's all according to Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel, who has made a slew of predictions recently. Read his 12 best quotes from last week.
6. What's next for the crypto industry? With daily trading volumes down 50% since FTX's collapse, we spoke with four crypto pros about where the industry is heading next. Here's what they said.
7. Bank of America recommended investors buy stocks in three areas. Analysts at BofA expect a recession in the first quarter of 2023, but believe some companies are poised to navigate it successfully. Find out who they picked here.
8. A recession indicator with a perfect track record won't be accurate this time. That's according to Cam Harvey, the man who discovered the inverted yield curve. The recession indicator has preceded the last eight downturns — but Harvey laid out three reasons why this time is different.
9. How to time your purchases of high-dividend stocks to get the best possible income. Invesco investment chief and portfolio manager Pete Santoro broke down why finding high-free cash flow stocks is an important part of his strategy. Here's what he told Insider.
10. Citi's global commodities chief explained his oil price forecast for 2023. ICYMI: Phil Rosen, your usual host of this newsletter, discussed the "stunning" state of America's oil industry with Citi's Ed Morse. Read the full story here.
Curated by Hallam Bullock in London. Feedback or tips? Email hbullock@insider.com.
Edited by Karen Friar in London.