Hi! January is almost all done, time flies by quick except when you are on your notice period obviously. So, how about a riddle to pass some time:

It’s fancier on your wrist, you may decorate it with a shiny rock,
It’s key to your success, you must be on it like a moth,
You dread it every night, at dawn it gives you a knock,
It wears on you with time, but it is not a cloth!

Have you guessed it? The hint couldn’t be anymore obvious with the special occasion today, that’s right it is Punch The Clock Day. So, before you clock out let’s get started!

Today’s special:

Good Old Gold: Is buying gold more worth it than ever?
Beer In Broad Daylight: Wait alcohol isn’t mainstream enough for teens anymore?
What’s Your Skin-Care Routine? How the global players are affecting your apparel shopping…

Gold has gone from a defensive hedge to arguably the standout asset of the year. In 2025, the yellow metal didn’t just rally, it smashed records. According to VanEck, gold has surged over 50% year-to-date, propelling the metal above $4,000 per ounce and making it one of, if not the best-performing, major asset classes on a global scale. This rally is fueled by a rare confluence of persistent central bank buying and renewed Western investor demand, creating a structurally stronger market base for gold than in previous bull cycles.

Along with the bullion itself rising, gold miners have posted extraordinary gains: the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index climbed over 120% year-to-date, despite being historically undervalued relative to the metal they produce. Even when the prices are at a hefty $4,000 per ounce, mining operations remain equally profitable, with the sustaining costs averaging around $1,600/oz. This has led to record margins and improved balance sheets across all facets of the industry.

These dynamics are more than cyclical noise; they signal a shift in capital perception of gold. Specifically in emerging markets, central banks are purchasing gold consistently, at record-setting volumes. This momentum has led to a diversification away from the U.S. dollar and onwards to a neutral, non-sovereign store of value. Meanwhile, the appetite of investors continues to broaden as Western ETF holdings after years of outflows are once again on the rise.

Beyond historic gains, the future outlook for gold remains emphatically constructive. J.P. Morgan has lifted its long-term gold price forecast by around 80% to approximately $3,850 per ounce, as of October 2025 an adjustment that can be described as “significant and arguably unprecedented” in the macroeconomic landscape. This estimate sits roughly 40% above consensus forecasts, suggesting that traditional valuation models may be underestimating gold’s role amid rising global debt and monetary uncertainty.

The banks outlook for 2026 and 2027 remains firmly bullish, with gold prices projected to push toward $5,000 per ounce by the fourth quarter of 2026, and $6,000 per ounce emerging as a longer-term possibility if structural drivers remain intact. Central bank and investor demand is expected to stay elevated, with purchases averaging around 585 tons per quarter in 2026, providing a strong floor for prices even after gold’s historic 2025 surge.

Gold is becoming more than a flight-to-safety asset with both defensive stability and substantial upside, outpacing many traditional investments for investors still stuck with the dilemma of whether gold is a gamble or a strategic allocation, the evidence is in the details, from high records to a substantial increase in central bank buying. Gold is emerging as a core component of diversified portfolios rather than a bet made on speculation.

America’s relationship with alcohol isn’t collapsing but readjusting by becoming less of a steady habit and more of a balancing act. Gallup’s latest annual consumption habits survey finds that just 54% of U.S. adults now say they drink alcohol at all, the lowest level recorded in nearly 90 years and down from 58% last year. For the first time, a majority 53% believe even moderate drinking is bad for health, while those who do drink are doing so less frequently than in prior decades. According to the NSDUH, around 62% of Americans in the age bracket of 12 and older reported drinking alcohol in the past year, and a colossal 79.2% have consumed alcohol at one point in their lives. This underscores the normalization of alcohol across the country, where the scale matters not just socially, but medically.

Yet normalization doesn’t mean uniformity; as only 46.6% reported drinking in the past month, hinting that while most Americans have a history with alcohol, far fewer are regular drinkers today. Age brings another perspective to the view. While a major portion of alcohol consumption is attributed to adults, only about 16.4% of Americans aged 12–17 reported drinking in the past year, signaling a decline from previous generations and reinforcing the idea that younger cohorts are delaying or avoiding alcohol altogether. Bloomberg estimates that changing drinking habits have erased about $830 billion in market value from global beer, wine, and spirits companies over the past four years. An index tracking roughly 50 major alcohol stocks is now around 46% below its mid-2021 peak, highlighting how declining consumption and health concerns are reshaping the industry’s economic footing.

Zooming out from demographics to geography, the sheer volume of alcohol consumption makes the scale of American drinking harder to ignore. Annually, Americans consume nearly 8 billion gallons of alcohol across all types of beverages, from beer, wine, and spirits combined. Even as participation dwindles, total consumption remains high at the national level because where Americans live plays a major role in their drinking habits than national averages suggest.

When measured on a per-person basis, the numbers become more glaring. Cross-border purchases have inflated the consumption statistics, with the highest per capita alcohol consumption coming from New Hampshire, at an average of 4.48 gallons per person followed by Washington D.C. and Delaware at 4.10 and 4.07 each. On the other hand, at the opposite side of the spectrum, suppressed drinking levels owing to regulation and cultural norms can be seen in Utah, with an average of just about 1.23 gallons per person along with West Virginia and Oklahoma at 1.77 and 1.88 respectively.

Total volume also tells a different story. Californians consume an exorbitant 85.7 million gallons of alcohol annually. Overall, drinking is concentrated in the biggest states, even if individuals there drink less heavily on average, with Texas and Florida averaging 56.9 million and 50.4 million gallons, respectively. When looking from the angle of how much alcohol is consumed in total instead of how much a person drinks, the picture changes. The U.S. remains a nation deeply tied to alcohol, but the patterns are anything but uniform.

Beauty is no longer just about cosmetics and skincare; in 2025, it’s rapidly transforming into a wellness-led lifestyle category. Wellness and ritual-based products have expanded the beauty industry’s value opportunity by a staggering 64%, as self-care becomes inseparable from daily routines, according to the latest reports by NielsenIQ. A majority of consumers now regard self-care as a regular must and essentially more important than it was five years ago, while 44% plan to take more vitamins or supplements in the next 12 months, and 63% consider sleep more important, fueling demand for sleep-focused beauty aids like pillow mists and sleep supplements. Beyond the landscape of wellness, digital channels have transformed the semantics of how beauty is bought and sold on a global scale. In the U.S., E-commerce now accounts for 41% of beauty and personal care sales, with social commerce platforms influencing 68% of global beauty purchases, compounding the fact that online touchpoints are displacing traditional forms of retail.

McKinsey’s 2025 consumer survey shows that beauty spending is becoming more selective rather than shrinking outright. Consumers continue to justify premium spending in performance-led categories, with foundation showing the highest net splurge intent at 37%, followed by facial serums at 33% and hair-loss treatments at 31%. In contrast, everyday items such as lip balm and brow products are seeing pullbacks, suggesting declining perceived value in low-differentiation products.

The beauty industry's overall growth story remains impressively resilient. The global beauty market is experiencing a surging 7.3% year-over-year value growth, with Latin America and the Africa–Middle East region playing the frontrunners in the emerging market gains at 19.1% and 27.1% respectively. On the other hand, Western markets are also expanding, with North America coming in at 7.8% and Western Europe developing at a pace of 7.7%, indicating a shift of broad-based industry momentum across geographies. Various categories within the beauty market continue to scale at varying rates, and the market is currently anticipated to total $677.19 billion in total revenue in 2025. While demand remains strong across makeup and personal care, the beauty and cosmetics market's expansion are largely powered by the skincare segment. Skincare product generates a commanding 42% of total industry revenue and serves as a foundation for adjacent wellness innovations.

When the data is put all together, the paradigm shift outlines an industry not just expansive in scale, but inherently modifying itself by adaptation to consumer’s experiences, wellness, and digital access thereby pushing beauty beyond the mirror into every aspect of modern lifestyles.

Which sector had the most job cuts last year?

[Answer Below]

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