JSEDirect with Simon Brown

Wars burn hardware, and rebuilding it takes years. This week Simon Brown works through the defence sector as a replacement thesis — the US fired roughly half its THAAD interceptor stockpile in twelve days against Iran — and settles on Lockheed Martin as his pick, with RTX as a second choice. He weighs the faster-growing but pricier European names (Leonardo, Thales, BAE Systems, Rheinmetall), runs...

This week's WorldWideMarkets is a tour of cheap stocks that each come with a question mark. Simon Brown looks at Microsoft, where a forward PE of around 20 against a mean of 33 makes it look inexpensive — except free cash flow has slipped back to 2021 levels as AI and data-centre capex ramps. He revisits Afrimat, a high-quality cyclical now trading near 10-year lows, and digs into Bending Spoons,...

MercadoLibre is down 40% for the year, and Simon Brown argues the market is mispricing it as a retailer while ignoring the fintech engine — Mercado Pago — that is becoming Latin America's biggest digital bank. Total payment volume now exceeds gross merchandise volume, even as management deliberately halves operating margins to grab market share. This week also marks the death of former Fed chair A...

A US–Iran cessation of hostilities, due to be signed Friday, has collapsed the oil price, firmed the rand back toward 16.00 and let gold hold key support — and Simon Brown argues markets are heading back to where they sat in late February, just with fewer rate cuts on the table. This episode also unpacks the most hyped IPO in history opening softer than expected, South African inflation surprising...

The World Cup kicks off Thursday — so which stocks actually win? Simon Brown ran a data-driven hunt and the answer is counter-intuitive: skip the obvious bets. His own scrape of stadium-adjacent hotels found accommodation available everywhere, with 84 of 104 games unsold, so hoteliers have no pricing power and the retail uplift is marginal. The real edge sits with the kit makers — Adidas and Nike...

Simon Brown unpacks a US personal savings rate of just 2.6% — one of the lowest on record — and why it matters more as a fragility gauge than a crash signal. He covers the collapsed Iran deal and its effect on oil and South African fuel prices, the SARB's prime rate hike to 10.5% and why he thinks the MPC has it wrong, and the near-10% surge in Naspers and Prosus on news that WeChat is putting AI...

SpaceX comes to market on 12 June at a $1.75 trillion valuation — 94 times sales, where Amazon trades at four. Simon walks through where to actually buy it (Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Fidelity), why xAI is a rounding error in the AI race, and why Tesla is likely to be rolled into SpaceX within two to three years. Plus the Dow Jones turns 130, Moody's lifts South Africa's outlook from stable to pos...

Global bond yields are spiking to multi-decade highs across the US, UK and Japan, and Simon Brown argues this looks a lot like the emerging market debt crises markets usually call doom and gloom. He unpacks the Pick n Pay sell-down of Boxer shares, the Eastern Cape floods threatening the citrus crop, and the absurd Cerebras IPO trading at 150 times sales. Plus an update on JustOneLap's institution...

Boxer just posted ShopRite-level operating margins — so why is Pick & Pay, which owns 65% of it, trading at an implied negative enterprise value? Simon Brown unpacks the R10bn valuation paradox and whether it's a genuine opportunity. He also walks through his new AI-powered research workflow, using Claude and ChatGPT to produce and fact-check full initiating coverage reports on Balwin Properties a...

Hyperscaler results from Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet produced numbers that almost don't seem real — combined remaining performance obligations of $1.46 trillion and Q1 capex of $112 billion. Simon unpacks where that money is going, why copper is the quiet beneficiary, and which JSE stocks give exposure. Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on $380 billion in cash, roughly 38% of its market cap — a mea...

US markets hit all-time highs this week even as $166 billion in Trump tariff refunds start processing — a windfall for retailers, but consumers who paid inflated prices at the till won't see a cent back. Tim Cook is stepping down at Apple with John Ternus taking over, Amazon is spending $11.57 billion to buy Globalstar and build a Starlink rival, and Netflix delivered Q1 results with a $2.8 billio...

US results season opens with Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson both beating expectations — but the more interesting story is what those results don't show yet: the full impact of Middle East conflict and Trump's drug pricing pressure. Simon also unpacks South Africa's looming fuel crisis and makes the economic case for working from home, a new 100% offshore ETF listing on the JSE from ETFSA, and...

South African consumer stocks have been hammered. In Episode 673 of WorldWideMarkets, Simon Brown works through the JSE's food and clothing retailers — Shoprite, Boxer, Pick n Pay, SPAR, Pepkor, Foschini Group, Mr. Price, Lewis, and Woolworths — asking where genuine value has emerged and where cheap simply means broken. He also sets the macro scene with Trump's Wednesday deadline on Iran peace tal...

Simon reviews six listed space stocks ahead of the expected SpaceX IPO, which could debut above $2 trillion as early as June. Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile, Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace, Planet Labs and Spire Global each get a SWOT breakdown, with the Procure Space ETF (UFO) as a diversified alternative. On the local front, the JSE Top 40 just posted its worst month since September 2008, fa...

WorldWideMarkets episode 671 covers the return of US tariffs through Section 301 investigations targeting South Africa and 60 other countries — with no rate ceiling and no court precedent to stop them. Simon unpacks the Iran war's tentative ceasefire talks, why Goldman Sachs revised its Brent forecast to $85, and what happens to oil and interest rates if the conflict drags on. Monday's sharp gold...

Worldwide Markets — Episode 680 | 18 March 2026 Powered by Standard Bank, Global Markets, Retail and Shyft ⛽ Fuel Price Pain Coming Petrol 95 up ~R4.50/litre and diesel up ~R7.50/litre from the first Wednesday in April. On a 50-litre tank that's R200+ for petrol and close to R400 for diesel. Fill up before April if you can. 🛢️ Oil & The Iran War Brent holding above $100/barrel (currently ~$103.50...

🌍 World Wide Markets – Episode 669 📅 11 March 2026 | Hosted by Simon Brown Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets, Retail & SHYFT 🧭 Market Mood: Chaos Means Doing Nothing With geopolitical tensions and wild commodity moves, markets are extremely uncertain. Simon's strategy right now? 🧘 Do nothing. Panic trading rarely helps. In times of chaos, sometimes the best move is to step back, ignore t...

⚖️ Budget Boost: A Rare Win for Taxpayers 🇿🇦💰 This week kicked off with a surprisingly investor-friendly South African budget — and markets initially loved it. Key Changes: 📈 CGT annual exclusion : R40,000 → R50,000 🏠 Primary residence CGT exclusion : R2m → R3m 💼 Retirement contribution limit : R350k → R430k (or 27.5%) 🌍 Offshore SDA allowance : Doubled to R2m 🎁 Donations tax exemption : R10...

This special broadcast is the recording of the Budget Panel 2026 with AJM, Baker Tilly Greenwoods, and FNB.   Simon Brown hosts and his guests are; The Hon Ashor Sarupen Dep Fin Minister Mamello Matikinca chief economist at FNB Dr Christo Wiese – business man Dr Albertus Marais – Partner AJM

🌍 World Wide Markets – Episode 667 📅 25 February 2026 | Hosted by Simon Brown Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets, Retail & Shyft ⚡ Eskom: 280 Days Without Load Shedding South Africa has now reached 280 days without load shedding. Standard Bank's electricity tracker report highlights that the last significant outages were 26 hours across April and May 2025, taking the effective streak back...

Worldwide Markets - Episode 666 📊 18 February 2025 🇿🇦 South African Economic Indicators Unemployment hits 5-year low - but still a tragic 31.4% The Achilles heel: Need GDP growth to break below 20% 10-year bond yields at decade lows - 7.97% (down from 11% during load shedding) Government saving on new bond issuances, though impact is modest Potential budget windfall from precious metals next week...

🎙️ Worldwide Markets – Episode 665 📅 11 February | 🎧 Recorded Tuesday around lunchtime 💼 Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets & Shyft 🌍 This week in markets Massive hyperscaler CapEx is back in focus 💰🏗️ Markets appear calmer – the worst of the recent collapse may be behind us 😮‍💨 Bitcoin mining costs now around $70,000 , putting pressure on miners ⛏️₿ A deep dive into junior miners – wh...

🌍 Worldwide Markets – Episode 664 📅 Recorded: Tuesday midday | 🎙️ Host: Simon Brown This week on Worldwide Markets , we unpack a wild ride across commodities, central banks, tech titans, and global trade — with gold stealing the spotlight once again. 🟡 Has Gold Bottomed? Gold went vertical — and then snapped back hard. 📈 Ran from around $4,300 → $5,600 , before a brutal sell-off 📉 Dropped to...

🎙️ Worldwide Markets – Episode 663 📅 28 January | Recorded late Tuesday afternoon Host: Simon Brown Powered by: Standard Bank Global Markets & Shyft – the global money app for travel, shopping, payments & investing 🌍💳 This week a quick look at gold and the Rand, both did what was expected over the year in the first month. Then picks for the Cristal Challenge 2026 and the Moneyweb Investor Chall...