| If nothing else, at least that subject line made you think of The Lion King today. The Disney share price isn't telling a great story at the moment because the management team is convinced that throwing the kitchen sink at streaming (and hurting profitability elsewhere in the business) is the way forward. It's been disappointing for me as a Disney shareholder to see the strategy being put in place. We've covered Disney in Magic Markets Premium and highlighted the strategic change of direction in a subsequent recap show. For R99/month or R990/year, Magic Markets Premium is a great way to get up to speed with global stocks. We release an investment report and podcast on a different company each week. SUBSCRIBE>>> Moving on from Pumba to Kumba, it was a busy day for Anglo American shareholders. There were nasty trading updates from Anglo American Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore that give us a strong reminder of how cyclical these businesses are. The Anglo American mothership has a smoother earnings profile as it is exposed to several commodities. Diamonds are just commodities that went to private school and they are leading the way for Anglo American, with production and prices higher over the past six months. It's a mixed bag for the rest across production and realised prices. In addition to the Anglo news, Ghost Bites has information on the trading update from Oceana (and the news of a new auditor - Mazars) as well as the trading update from Vodacom that shows the usual slow and steady growth in revenue. If nothing else, the Oceana update will teach you what a "gulf menhaden landing" is. Pro tip: it's not a jet from Saudi Arabia. To learn about everything from fish through to diamonds, read Ghost Bites today. GET YOUR GHOST BITES>>> Speaking of Saudi Arabia, make sure you read Ghost Grad Kreeti Panday's excellent work on Aston Martin and its capital injection from the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund. START YOUR ASTON>>> Let's take a quick break from the equities market and look at currencies. The big news was the SARB's first 75 basis points hike since 2002, which was rather a l ong time ago. That was the year that I started high school at KES - an easy one to remember as it was the school's centenary celebration! It could be worse: one of the MPC members voted for a 100 basis points hike. Yikes. The rand flirted with the R17.00 level but didn't break below it. If you want to understand more about this fascinating world of macroeconomics and currencies, you can refer back to last week's excellent webinar by the team at TreasuryONE. WATCH THE RECORDING>>> Today is Friday, which means the team from DealMakers brings us a round-up of the week's corporate finance and other news on the JSE and in Africa. For those who enjoy more t echnical pieces, there's an insightful article on competition law and the treatment of horizontal vs. vertical relationships. If you aren't sure what those are, then now is your chance to learn. READ DEALMAKERS>>> On the podcasting front, Episode 85 of Magic Markets is hot off the press. It was just Mohammed Nalla and I on the show this week and we took the opportunity to enjoy a good ol' shooting of the breeze about the markets. In particular, we looked at how banking regulations in the US are sucking capital out of the system in a way that is invisible to consumers. Speaking of consumers, we also spoke about the direct-to-consumer strategies we have seen from US retailers and how effective they have been. The likes of Nike, Levi's and Lululemon fea ture here. Other topics including macroeconomic issues and what we will be looking out for in the latest round of results from US companies. Come be a fly on the wall and enjoy our conversation about the markets. LISTEN TO MAGIC MARKETS>>> For a podcast with a more entrepreneurial flavour, the second episode of Ghost Stories should hit the spot. Justin Clarke has had quite the journey from being the founder of Private Property to his current role as the Operational Director at OrbVest. The Private Property journey was a rollercoaster ride of note, like all great startup stories. Justin shares that journey on the podcast and talks about the fascinating medical real estate investments that OrbVest offers to South African investors. JOIN US FOR A STORY>>> Have a lovely weekend! Mrs Ghost and I have a sneaky night away planned in Franschhoek, with Toddler Ghost left safely in the care of grandparents. | 