Magic Markets

Harry Scherzer at Future Forex is a familiar voice to Magic Markets listeners, especially those who took advantage of the excellent crypto arbitrage offering that was the foundation of the Future Forex business. Building on that success, Future Forex is disrupting an industry that desperately deserves to be disrupted: providing forex execution for individuals and businesses, fertile ground for tra...

Although there's a risk of churning your portfolio too often if you become obsessed with short-term market movements, there's a lot of value to be gained from the way Mohammed Nalla does his quarterly rotation work for institutional clients. He shares some of those insights in this episode of Magic Markets, covering recent sector performance in the US market and where some of the future gains may...

The GNU-phoria in South Africa is now a few months old. Loadshedding is becoming a distant (albeit still painful) memory. Sentiment has clearly turned positive, but is this making a difference in day-to-day business decisions around capital allocation decisions? Every day, the team at Westbrooke is having discussions with private business operators and investors. This puts them in the perfect posi...

News of stimulus in China has caused substantial volatility in the markets, with a sharp initial rally and then a cooling down as the market started to question the speed of execution on the proposed initiatives. Of course, this presented a perfect opportunity to talk about the impact of China on portfolios. Justine Brophy of AnBro Capital joined us to do exactly that. For more information, visit...

The balance sheet is often the difference between success and failure for a corporate. A strong balance sheet can carry a company through the worst of times. A weak balance sheet is vulnerable to even a minor deterioration in conditions. Reading a balance sheet is a key step in equity analysis, but what are the most important things to look out for? In this episode, we take you through some key me...

The income statement is the lifeblood of any business. Luckily, you don't need to be an accountant to understand what's going on there. As is usually the case, there are a few tricks you can use to identify the key areas of focus and the stuff that really matters. Doing your own research isn't about spending endless hours on a set of financials. It's about knowing how to arrive at a reasonable ans...

After covering the building of a bull case in the previous week's show, we moved on to the other side of the coin: the bear case. This requires you to think creatively and dig deeper, as management won't dish out these nuggets and make it easy for you. After all, they are incentivised to drive the bull case. This episode will help you learn where to look for some of the really important points in...

When assessing stocks, it's so important think about the good and the bad, not just what you wanted  to see going into the analysis. The world is grey, not black and white. Nothing is ever fully good or fully bad. By thinking critically about the positives and negatives, you'll improve your investing skills. In this episode, we cover the type of thinking that goes into our Bull Box in Magic Market...

As the world pays an increasing amount of attention to emerging markets and the concept of the Global South, India's outperformance vs. China remains an interesting topic. For South African investors, the strategy of a group like Sanlam is worth considering, as India offers an immense demographic dividend and a democratic environment in which to invest. Other than a look at the reasons why India h...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been all the rage in recent times. Coming up just as quickly is quantum computing, an exciting new technology that has some potentially incredible use cases. To lift the lid on this trend and to identify how to consider investing in it, international geopolitical strategist Dimitri Zabelin joined us on this show. If you enjoy Dimitri's work, and we strongly suspect...

Picking stocks is one thing, but how do you bring all the pieces together to create a sensible portfolio that meets risk and return objectives? Portfolio construction is like the architecture of a house. Even with the best furniture inside that house, it doesn’t matter if the whole thing isn’t coherent and built to the right specifications for the owner. To discuss portfolio construction, Craig An...

Investing in stocks is exciting, but also dangerous unless you know how to research them. In this episode, we talk through some of the approaches we take to research, ranging from top-down analysis (finding stocks that fit a macro thesis) through to bottoms-up approaches that include valuation multiples and the power of good ol' common sense.   Join The Finance Ghost and Mohammed Nalla in this sho...

As the Nikkei had a terrible day of historical significance and the world held its breath for what might happen on the Nasdaq, those who did the research before the time and had their wishlist ready were in the perfect position to buy their favourite stocks at a sale price. This is the power of having your finger on the pulse of what you want to own and at what price. Only doing that thinking as a...

The automotive sector is part of our daily lives, but does that mean it should be in our portfolios? Should the car in your garage drive an investment decision with your money? To answer the question, we delved into recent performance of big names like Ford, General Motors, Toyota and BMW. Generally, they have underperformed the market index. In this podcast, we explain why. This podcast is for in...

With the news of President Joe Biden stepping away from the presidential race, all bets are now off when it comes to the outcome later this year. The importance of the US election cannot be overstated. No matter where you live in the world, the outcome makes a difference. In this episode, Mohammed Nalla took the lead with his views on the Democrat vs. Republican policy approaches and what they cou...

In our quest to bring you global insights into the markets, we are thrilled to welcome Dimitri Zabelin to Magic Markets. As Founder and Geopolitical Strategist at Pantheon Insights , Dimitri has worked for institutions ranging from the World Economic Forum through to IG Group. He has a portfolio of international clients who he advises on geopolitical trends affecting markets, economies and busines...

In a discussion that started with a reflection on the market moves in the latest quarter and the extent to which Big Tech has driven the indices, Craig Antonie of AnBro Capital Investments and the usual duo of Mohammed Nalla and The Finance Ghost also delved into the BRNDZ portfolio at AnBro and the strategy around investing in the world's most valuable brands. Touching on a number of investment c...

The GNU dawn is all the rage in South Africa, but what does this mean for portfolio strategies? In this show, Mohammed Nalla and The Finance Ghost add to the market discourse around the South African opportunities with a sobering view on some of the macroeconomic indicators, coupled with highly practical thoughts on what to be careful of in the equity market as part of a broader GNU play. And of c...

With The Finance Ghost having just returned from a trip to the UK, France and Dubai, the opportunity was clear to talk through some of the brands and business models that have been researched in Magic Markets Premium. It's one thing doing desktop research. It's another thing walking through a Sephora store or swinging a club at Topgolf. Mohammed Nalla lives in Canada so he's already had this exper...

Home country bias is a real danger for investors. We tend to buy the brands we know, rather than taking an objective view on a global opportunity set. Global context is beyond important, particularly when you've had the benefit of engaging with investors and professionals in deep pools of capital like Europe and North America. In this episode, Mohammed Nalla and The Finance Ghost take advantage of...

The headlines will often focus on US jobs data, but what does it really even mean? Why should people outside of the US care? And of course, what do all the acronyms mean? In demystifying the markets and bringing these concepts to the fore, Mohammed Nalla and The Finance Ghost talked through the jobs data and how it impacts central banks around the world. They also discussed the impact on equities...

With South Africa entering a new era of politics, we will soon find out whether coalition politics actually look more like collision politics. Either way, "the market" matters and will continue to matter, punishing poor policy decisions and any related uncertainty. In this show, Mohammed Nalla and The Finance Ghost discuss concepts like GDP growth, bond yields, the rand and the situation on the gr...

Nvidia has been a headline grabber of note in global markets, with eyewatering returns that have left even the other semiconductor stocks for dead. Mohammed Nalla focused on not just the latest results from Nvidia, but the performance of other stocks in the sector. The Finance Ghost tackled Intuit, covering the growth in revenue across the product range and the importance of integration strategies...

Walmart is a good example of a pullback from the work-from-home trend that became a feature of the pandemic, with many viewing this as a return to the company’s roots. This is seen favourable against a backdrop of improved performance at Walmart. Under Armour is also going back to its roots, more out of necessity than by design. Founder Kevin Plank is back in the CEO role and has a very tough road...

When quick-service restaurant groups get things right, they  really  get it right. Fast-growing companies in this sector can achieve rapid expansion because of the franchise model and the oldest trick in the book: using other people's money. Chipotle Mexican Grill and Wingstop are excellent examples of not just what success looks like in this space, but what investors are willing to pay for that s...