The Money Shot

R3.3m to Lunch with Warren Buffett

The JSE ended 4.5% lower in May - almost nowhere to hide as the emerging markets risk off trade continues. The Rand hasn’t reacted very well either, and in fact, was lower after the trade balance and PMI manufacturing numbers were released. Oil has come off from $80/bbl. Europe’s having…

4 Jun 2018 14 min

Tough times for Massmart & Tiger Brands

Not a great week on the JSE – two major drivers, firstly the continued sell-off in emerging markets, and secondly, lots of consumer dependent company results... a few bright spots, but predominantly bad news. The SARB left the benchmark interest rate unchanged. S&P leaves SA credit rating unchanged – yay,…

28 May 2018 12 min

Goodbye Ramaphoria & Cambridge Analytica

It seems Ramaphoria is well and truly a thing of the past – combined with stronger US dollar and the global emerging markets risk off; our market fell another 1% this week, making the decline this month 3%. Oil hit $80 / bbl this week; something we haven’t seen since…

21 May 2018 12 min

The Dollar & Flipkart

Tamzin Nel stands in for Anthea this morning as she reflects on the impact of the dollar slightly coming off its highs towards the end of last week, and what it means for investors if the Fed starts increasing rates. What are the proposed plans for Flipkart after Naspers sold…

14 May 2018 7 min

New JSE listing & Elon Musk takes on candy

Market update: tough week, but a strong finish on Friday as Naspers led the gains, climbing 4.8% on the day. The rand also off its weaker levels, but still quite weak at 12.50/US$. MTN put out a quarterly update. Dis-Chem released a very disappointing set of results. New listing on…

7 May 2018 16 min

Facebook, Alphabet, Netflix & Tesla

Henry Biddlecombe stopped by instead of Anthea to talk about earnings season in the US. We talked about Facebook, Alphabet, Netflix and Tesla, among others. The 10-year bull market is making a lot of nervous investors even more nervous. They’re waiting for signs that it’s over. US GDP is up,…

30 Apr 2018 8 min

Ghana, Sagarmatha & Netflix

Anthea is back from Ghana and has lots to say about it. The market has been volatile - last month the JSE lost 4.6%, and this month we’re already up >4% (although, nothing like the Cryptocurrency moves this month +75% m-t-d). The Rand is back to pre-Ramaphosa levels at 12.36…

25 Apr 2018 17 min

When the US/China Trade Wars Sneeze...

Markets had a volatile week because of US/China Trade Wars. Even local data has no clear direction as Business Confidence subsides but PMI data improves. In company news, the team debate the resignation of Mark Lamberti from the Eskom board after the court ruling against him; and the Steinhoff share…

9 Apr 2018 17 min

Facebook dives while Dropbox flies

Global stock markets had a testing week, with the largest decline for the S&P 500 since 2016. While several factors drove the decline, fears of a trade war driven by the U.S. was the principal factor. Facebook had a difficult week, down 10% (wiping $50 billion off its market cap)…

26 Mar 2018 9 min

Viceroy, SA Business Confidence & Toys ’R’ Us closes in the US

Another week, and talk of another Viceroy report. Suspicion fell on Aspen (again), and even though it wasn’t the pharma, the share still fell from R256 to R230. Volumes were massive this week because of Futures Close-out and index rebalancing; on Thursday $4.2bn exchanged hands and on Friday $3.4bn. The…

19 Mar 2018 17 min

Tiger Brands takes a beating & Countries without a Stock Exchange

Nice positive market this week (+2.5%) - Naspers carrying the can again and trading above R3500 per share. Tiger Brands took a beating from the Listeriosis findings (-13.5% for the week). Exxaro plummeted >13% on Friday after a management breakfast and the release of an HSBC report downgrading the stock…

12 Mar 2018 15 min

A plethora of results & Steinhoff implodes

There was a plethora of results last week; some of the big ones include: Bidvest, Shoprite, Anheuser Busch InBev, Nedbank, Mondi, Barclays (or is that ABSA?). The CEO of Ascendis Healthcare, Karsten Wellner, resigns and the share bounces from below R10 per share (1st Feb) to above R14 (at close…

4 Mar 2018 19 min

Mining giants, H&M, Kylie's tweet & Warren's letter

Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore reported last week. A German court postponed a ruling on whether German cities can ban diesel cars, which will have a massive effect on our platinum industry. H&M’s share price is down 40% over the last year (most of the fall since November). Kylie…

25 Feb 2018 15 min

Local shares fly & SA unemployment down

What a cracker of a week (that’s technical asset management speak for: the JSE was up 5.7%) and the Rand ended 11.63 (touched 11.56) against the US$. Local shares (especially banks) were flying! Property shares still under pressure after the “anonymous report” was released and they opened 15% lower on…

18 Feb 2018 12 min

A Bloodbath & Investec's new CEOs

Local bonds traded stronger on the back of a stronger Rand - which leaves us in an interesting position as we look to cut rates and the US looks to raise interest rates. A bloodbath start to the week with an equity market correction so many have been waiting for…

11 Feb 2018 18 min

A Volatile Market & the Viceroy/Capitec saga

Our market was the most volatile it's been in a long time and posted the biggest weekly loss in two years. The Rand weakened swiftly to trade back above 12/US Dollar. Lesetja Kganyago was named Central Banker of the year (Ballon d’or for economists). Eskom released results – they’re still…

4 Feb 2018 17 min

Rand strengthens as Cyril makes all the right noises

Great week on the JSE, the Rand traded below $12USD for the first time since April 2015 and the stock market ended almost a percent higher (despite the stronger Rand) – great combination of Cyril making all the right noises in Davos, the weaker dollar and stronger commodity prices. It…

28 Jan 2018 10 min

Retail Sales Surprise & Interest Rates Unchanged

On balance, a good week: market ended positive, the Rand still relatively strong and Eskom has a new board and acting CEO (at the eleventh hour). November retail sales surprised to the upside, coming in at 8.2% versus market expectations of 3.5% - looks like Black Friday sales worked! Unfortunately…

21 Jan 2018 14 min

Highs & Lows + Anthea's Top 3 stock picks

Global markets are hitting all-time highs, the Dow Jones breached the 25,000 level for the first time this week, and oil is at a three-year high. It was a messy week on the JSE but we still managed a positive close; the JSE closed above the 60,000 level this week…

14 Jan 2018 15 min

First Finance Update of 2018

We look at the stock market performance for 2017 and compare the JSE with global market performance. Anthea talks MTN and how there announcement of writing down a loan had a negative impact on profitability – and how it differs from what Steinhoff did. She also touches on why Travis…

7 Jan 2018 18 min