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Hi John, here's what you need to know for November 29th in 3:06 minutes.

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• The US’s Nasdaq stock exchange looks set to be more popular for new share sales this year than the New York Stock Exchange
• Sprawling European companies have been looking to sell off the less desirable parts of their businesses

Popularity Contest

What’s Going On Here?

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is, like, so jealous of the Nasdaq stock exchange, after data published this week suggested its rival would close out the year as the most popular venue for US initial public offerings (IPOs).

What Does This Mean?

Stock exchanges make money every time investors use them to buy and sell companies’ shares, as well as from the annual fees those companies pay to make their shares available in the first place. So in hopes of boosting its income, Nasdaq is totes looking to become the exchange every exchange wants to be and every company wants to be with.

This year, the tech-focused exchange invited Lyft – along with several biotech firms – to its lunch table, helping it top the US charts for the first time since 2012. NYSE, meanwhile, became home to Lyft’s frenemy Uber, while trying to impress smaller firms by cutting its listing fees. Soz, but have you even heard of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange? Alibaba’s recent share sale will probably make it the most popular exchange in the world this year. Duh.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Get in loser. We’re going shopping.
This week, NYSE filed papers that’d allow companies to raise money as part of a “direct listing”. In an IPO, the company sells new shares and receives money from that sale, but in a direct listing – popularized by Spotify and Slack – companies simply list existing shares without selling new ones. If approved, the filing would likely make NYSE look so fetch to companies like Airbnb (reportedly planning to list next year), and could help the exchange reclaim its alpha spot Stateside.

The bigger picture: They don’t even go here!
On Thursday, Japan’s financial regulator floated the idea of a “premium” section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, comprising the country’s largest, most liquid and, obvs, hottest stocks. The aim is that it’ll tempt more foreign investors to the region – which may, in turn, give the exchange’s revenue a boost (tweet this).

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What’s Going On Here?

Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica announced plans this week to hang up on a section of its business and effectively split itself in two.

What Does This Mean?

Telefónica – which has large businesses in its home country of Spain, Germany, and the UK (under the O2 brand) – has historically focused on Europe. But weak economic growth in the region made profit growth hard to come by, motivating the company to spend most of the last decade expanding into Latin America. That plan hasn’t worked as well as it’d hoped: Europe still contributes 80% of Telefónica’s earnings, and several Latin American economies have recently encountered economic hurdles of their own. So in response, Telefónica now plans to sell off its businesses in eight South American countries.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Getting smaller to get bigger.
Telefónica is following in the footsteps of several other European companies by selling off its unprofitable businesses. Just this week, still-struggling Deutsche Bank sold over $50 billion of unwanted emerging markets assets to US rival Goldman Sachs. With Deutsche’s stock price close to record lows – and Telefónica’s having halved since 2015 –  they’ll both hope their more streamlined companies will attract new investors, whose demand will push their respective share prices higher.

The bigger picture: It’s chilly in America’s shadow.
Data released this week may have made investors more optimistic about Europe: on Wednesday, analysts at investment bank Barclays recommended buying the region’s stocks over the US’s next year, anticipating a 6% return in 2020. But investors might not hurry to sell their American shares, after a Federal Reserve report also out on Wednesday said the country’s economy has been growing modestly and that, for now, its outlook is positive.

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