There's still time to register for the bizval webinar today at 12pm but you need to be quick! If you would like to learn what a "search fund" is and how the structure can lead to a more efficient exit for a founder from a business, then this webinar is for you. Our guest is Sibusiso Mbonambi, Managing Partner at Cosworth Capital. Register to attend here>>>

Six minutes. Five companies. Solid insights. It can only be the Ghost Wrap podcast, brought to you by Mazars. Get the latest on Libstar, Gemfields, FirstRand, Metair and Growthpoint, all while having coffee or going for a short walk. Find it at this link or on your favourite podcast player.

There are good reasons to add the world's most valuable brands to your portfolio. Although they certainly aren't immune to economic cycles and they don't go up in a straight line, these are the businesses that shape our daily lives. To make this easy for South African investors, AnBro is listing a new instrument on the JSE that will enable exposure to these brands with a single investment. This achieves the dual outcomes of hedging against rand weakness and gaining exposure to the most famous companies in the world. Justine Brophy of AnBro joined us on the Magic Markets podcast to discuss this opportunity. Find it here>>>

Nico Katzke of Satrix has written an article on index harmonisation at the JSE. This is very important, as the SWIX and ALSI are frequently used as benchmarks by active managers. Next year, the plan is for these indices to become one and the same. Find out why and how that is happening in this article>>>

A busy day for tech small cap investors

I always find it interesting how companies in the same sector tend to deliver updates on the same day. It can only be a coincidence, yet it happens really often. Mustek and Capit al Appreciation don't directly compete with each other, but they are both good examples of small cap tech businesses that would often be cross-shopped by investors looking for value.

Mustek has released results that showed a modest positive move in HEPS, with the share price moving higher because the company trades on an undemanding earnings multiple. I'm not sure that the picture is quite as positive at Capital Appreciation, with a business update that is heavy on narrative and light on numbers. Reading between the lines, results are under pressure there.

And to finish off the news from that sector, tiny company ISA Holdings released a very encouraging trading statement,

Beyond tech, the big news was definitely Aspen landing an important insulin manufacturing contract for its fancy facility in Gqeberha. There has been solid momentum in landing cont racts to use the expensive capacity that was built. Although financial details for these contracts aren't public, this sounds like a big one.

As always, Ghost Bites has what you need to know about these stories. Get the insights here>>>

Brace yourselves for the FOMC

In the TreasuryONE market update, we find news of a rather uneventful day on the markets yesterday. There's a good reason for that, with all eyes on the Fed interest rate decision today. With better-than-expected US data in recent weeks and a rising oil price (slowly nudging towards $100 a barrel), the odds for a hike have increased since a few weeks ago when nobody was betting on that outcome.

Gold is trading higher at $1,934 per ounce and the rand is trading just below R19 to the dollar.

Remember to watch the latest TreasuryONE video on YouTube.

Have a great Wednesday!