Friday, 22 March 2024 US equity markets closed higher. Semiconductors, banks, asset managers, homebuilders, machinery, road & rail, building products, and auto suppliers outperformed. Restaurants, casinos, discounters & dollar stores, pharmaceuticals & biotech, insurers, beverages, pet products, fertilizers, commodity chemicals, precious metals miners, and Chinese tech underperformed. Existing home sales climbed 9.5% m/m in February….

VODACOM GROUP LTD Business Profile Vodacom Group Ltd. is an investment holding company, which engages in the provision of communications products and services. The firm operates through the following segments: Corporate, South Africa, and International. The Corporate segment comprises the holding companies of the group which do not relate to specific operating segments. The South…

How does a currency lose nearly 20% of its value in a day? Once a country’s Central Bank can no longer make key policy decisions with full independence from the political parties at power, the actual grading of that currency’s investment status deteriorates at such an astronomical rate which causes an enormous sell off as…

What is behind the sudden repo rate hike? In general, inflation rates are in most cases the primary tool at most country’s disposal to keep inflation in line with general growth in earnings and so that the economy can grow at a more natural rate rather than an inflated rate which will cause income gaps…

What is an alternative investment? Generally speaking, investments in alternative assets are generally unlisted and less liquid forms of investments, meaning that the investment takes longer to sell at the price you want to sell at given that there are less market participants making that specific market more illiquid. These types of investments can be…

Why is the Rand weakening? In general, our local energy supply constraints along with the global sentiment moving funds to less risky asset classes, as China growth concerns is causing a more hawkish sentiment amongst investors. In turn, the Rand also takes a beating as it falls under the more exotic currencies which forms part…

ASPEN PHARMACARE HOLDINGS LTD Business Profile Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. manufactures and supplies branded and generic pharmaceutical products. It operates through the Commercial Pharmaceuticals and Manufacturing segments. The Commercial Pharmaceuticals segment consists of the following business sub segments: Sterile Focused Brands, which includes the Anesthetics and Thrombosis portfolios; and Regional Brands, which are products that…

Inflation is a risk to your portfolio, better get some protection while you still can If one looks at the current global supply levels of Oil, there’s most certainly no shortage of Oil so to say as the most recent increase in oil prices is driven by the artificial shortage which has been brought about…

Inflation is a risk to your portfolio, better get some protection while you still can. Inflation is starting to rise across many economies, which is to be expected given the amount of monetary stimulus the global economy has seen since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to note that economic data gets released after the…

The stimulus train is about to stop Inflation numbers around the globe has started rising, which is to be expected given the most severe monetary stimulus in history. From our economics 101 sessions we know that inflation and interest rates are negatively correlated, meaning that when interest rates are low, inflation tends to rise and…

Yet again, the South African government’s corruption makes headlines. The reveal of a sport’s center in the Eastern Cape, that supposedly cost R15m to build, has come to many as a surprise as there is not much that one can identify that would even come close to the R15m price tag. The so-called state of…

The local economy grew by 1.2% during the second quarter of 2021 on an annualised basis. This is now the fourth consecutive quarter of positive economic growth which shows us the resilience our economy has against the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many would by happy to see at least some form of positive news with regards…