What’s Going On Here?Global food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) served up third-quarter earnings that delivered growth beyond investors’ voracious expectations on Wednesday. What Does This Mean?The Anglo-Dutch firm reported 46% more orders than the same time last year, going large on analysts’ 30-40% estimates. And as JET takes a cut of every food purchase it processes, that should make for a healthy rise in revenue. In its major UK, German, and Canadian markets, meanwhile, the newly engorged company’s growth was higher last quarter than at the height of the pandemic. Uber’s investors might like to take note: its sprawling food delivery business spans 45 countries, and strong appetites there would help offset still-weak taxi demand. Why Should I Care?The bigger picture: Your clothes still fit (for now).
Food delivery companies unsurprisingly benefited from increased orders during widespread lockdowns, but it seems new habits also die hard: JET, at least, is growing even faster as economies reopen, and so is its share price. You might have expected online fashion retailers to have lost out, however, given you’re probably wearing half as much as before. Yet while ASOS’s Wednesday earnings wore a subdued hue, sending its stock down 10%, European fashionistas Boohoo and Zalando have both stepped out in stronger-than-expected, share-price-boosting updates recently...
For markets: Measuring the reopening.
With the US economy the world’s largest, investors pay close attention to how quickly it is – or isn’t – getting back to business as usual. After all, what America and Americans are doing has major implications for global portfolios. Some things seem to be slowly getting back to normal; but the latest data shows weekly US usage of stay-at-home favorites like fitness apps and video conferencing respectively up 60% and 400% on a year ago, while instances of flight searches and eating out are down 40-50% (tweet this). That might help explain why food delivery is piling on the pounds – and, indeed, the dollars and the euros. | 
