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.

Meta is the world’s largest online social network, with nearly 4 billion family of apps monthly active users. Users engage with each other in different ways, exchanging messages and sharing news events, photos, and videos. The firm’s ecosystem consists mainly of the Facebook app, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and many features surrounding these products. Users can access Facebook on mobile devices and desktops. Advertising revenue represents more than 90% of the firm’s total revenue, with more than 45% coming from the US and Canada and over 20% from Europe.

Meta is the world’s largest online social network, with nearly 4 billion family of apps monthly active users. Users engage with each other in different ways, exchanging messages and sharing news events, photos, and videos. The firm’s ecosystem consists mainly of the Facebook app, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and many features surrounding these products. Users can access Facebook on mobile devices and desktops. Advertising revenue represents more than 90% of the firm’s total revenue, with more than 45% coming from the US and Canada and over 20% from Europe.

The dollar has strengthened in 2024, as the Federal Reserve has thus far not cut the fed funds rate, the U.S. economy has grown at a solid pace, and the high level of interest rates has attracted global investors into dollar-denominated securities. The greenback has climbed 2.5% on a trade-weighted basis in 2024 and is 17% above its average value since 2000. Looking ahead, we anticipate a relatively stable trading range for the dollar into 2025, for several reasons. For one, the dollar typically tracks GDP growth trends, and we think the U.S. economic expansion is poised to slow in coming quarters as the unemployment rate ticks higher. In addition, we expect the higher rates to increase the interest payments as a percent of GDP from recent lows of 1.5%, putting a modest strain on the U.S. balance sheet; the current rate is 3.8%. Lastly, the still-elevated valuation of the greenback implies that other currencies -- and even gold or other commodities -- are possibly undervalued, and we would expect investors such as the petrodollar-fueled sovereign wealth funds to bid up those values at a measured pace over time. For global investors, a higher dollar is a positive factor for export companies (particularly from China), as their goods become relatively cheaper in the global marketplace. But a higher dollar also can generate higher commodity prices, imported inflation, higher interest payments on global borrowings, and ultimately trade wars as U.S. exports stall.