| Make Monday more fun with podcasts - three of them to be exact: A new Ghost Wrap episode gets you up to speed on Nampak, Pepkor, Shoprite, Super Group, Ellies, MTN and RCL, all in under 7 minutes! Designed for busy people, Ghost Wrap is brought to you by Mazars. Listen to it here>>>Learn about the importance of China with Siyabulela Nomoyi, Quantitative Portfolio Manager at Satrix. We discussed a variety of key concepts in this episode of Ghost Stories, ex ploring the link between China and our local market and economy. This includes commodity stocks along with the likes of Richemont and Naspers/Prosus. Enjoy it here>>> Find out what makes a private company investable for alternative asset management specialists Westbrooke. These are hugely valuable insights for any entrepreneur or investor interested in how a "capital stack" actually works in the world of private equity and mezzanine finance. Seriously, make time for this episode of Magic Markets>>>
A lesson in operating leverageRevenue? Up 12.3%. Operating profit? Up 23.4%. Behold, the beauty of operating leverage. It's even better when the dividend has increased by a similar percentage to operating profits, demonstrating that the cash quality of earnings is high. Ghost Bites isn't just about what happened on SENS. Instead, I use the latest news to explain critical concepts in investing and finance. Those numbers in the previous paragraph belong to Hudaco and they are really impressive in this environment. The latest edition of Ghost Bites also covered DRDGOLD, Implats, MTN, Sanlam, Sygnia and Thungela. There's plenty to sink your teeth into at this link>>> Chris Gilmour sounds the alarmAfter an exuberant month in equity markets, you would be forgiven for thinking that the world is in one piece again or that the worst is at least over. Nobody knows for sure of course, but Chris Gilmour gives us a reality check in this article>>> Non-farm payrolls: hold on to your hatsUS non-farm payroll data blew expectations out of the water, coming in at 517,000 jobs vs. the expectation of 188,000. While traders adjusted their glasses and looked for the typo in that number, the m arket priced in another 25 basis points hike in rates in March. Treasury yields in the US jumped on the release, with the 10-year moving above 3.50% and the 2-year at 4.25%. Is the jobs number too good to be true? There are major seasonal factors and revisions to past data, including changes to population estimates in the calculation. This jobs number comes against a backdrop of the largest corporates in the US announcing major layoffs. Either way, the market has now spoken and has put to rest any thoughts of the Fed stopping the rate hike train early. Gold was the standout loser in this, topping out around $1,958 and then trading back at around $1,880. PGMs were also weaker. The dollar rallied to have its best week in more than a month, with the rand moving to R17.38. It remains just inside the broader R16.80 to R17.40 range. TreasuryONE thinks that the rand could return to more reasonable levels after the market digests the jobs report. Have a productive Monday! | 