JSEDirect with Simon Brown

Offshore / US jobs disappoints, but unemployment 4.8%. / 15% global tax rate approved. / Oil continues to run higher / Reports that Malaysia is getting back on track with chip packaging sees PGMs run hard as it could be good news for vehicle production / Last Tuesday was tenth commemoration of the death of Steve Jobs. A legend and the iPhone one of the best products ever? / All facebook properties...

Simon Shares Facebook (Nasdaq code: FB), Instagram and WhatsApp all down on Monday. Evergrande is suspended. Last week it was a fat finger Purple Group* (JSE code: PPE) taking the stock down to 125c. This week it hits 225c. Murray and Robert* (JSE code; MUR) starting to move higher. Brent oil is now around $82. PGMs remains under pressure. EOH (JSE code: EOH) makes an operational profit, but the d...

Offshore / China & Europe power shortages / Brent oil trading around $80 / Merck Covid-19 pill, expected to produce 1.7 million courses for the U.S. government for $1.2B / Tesla delivered record 241,300 vehicles in the third quarter / Work-from-home forever: PwC offers US employees full-time remote work Local / Level 1 & SA expected to be removed UK red list, will tourists return? / Capitec result...

Simon Shares FOMC and MPC both keep rates unchanged, No surprise. Evergrande is not a threat to the global financial system. Fat finger on Purple Group* (JSE code: PPE).     * I hold ungeared positions. Upcoming events; 30 September ~ Power Hour - JSE traded ETNs on Tesla, Apple, clean energy and more 14 October ~ Investment Fundamentals with Keith McLachlan

Offshore / FOMC leaves rates unchanged and no tapering just yet. / Evergrande a worry but not a global threat / China bans crypto, again. / Britain has a shortage of lorry drivers, and so a petrol shortage. / Nike cut its 2022 revenue outlook because of the temporary bottlenecks plaguing supply chains. Local / MPC no change / Telkom to spin out towers (Swiftnet) worth about R13billion. Openserve w...

Simon Shares Clicks (JSE code: CLS) revised trading update, previous EPS growth was 8%-13%. Now revised to 0%-3%. Afrocentric (JSE code: ACT). Great little stock. Not a bad update from Famous Brands* (JSE code: FBR) US inflation for August was 5.3%. US poverty levels went down in 2020, during the pandemic. AB Inbev (JSE code: ANH) just keeps on falling, why? PGMs getting crushed. Platinum down at...

Offshore / PayPal announced plans to buy Japanese "Buy Now, Pay Later" BNPL company Paidy Inc. for $2.7B / US judge rule against Apple and in Epic Games favour in antitrust lawsuit; judge says Apple's conduct in enforcing anti-steering restrictions is anticompetitive / China Evergrande Group default risk ($300bn) / U.S. Senate Democrats float stock buyback tax as part of $3.5 trillion bill / The W...

Simon Shares Shoprite* (JSE code: SHP) results. Christo Wiese gets R342m in dividends. 21million consumers using their Xtra Savings and 1.5million downloads of the Sixty60 app. The market did not much like the Murray & Roberts* (JSE code: MUR) results. Old Mutual updates 2021 GDP forecast to 5.5%. This is after Stats SA released GDP for Q2 QonQ at 1.2% (YonY 19.3%) and better than expected. The ec...

Offshore / US jobs data slows. Likely means tapering not just yet even as ECB starts talking tapering. / New China restriction, kids gaming limited to one hour a day on Friday, weekend days and public holidays / Pfizer has recognized over $10 billion in profits from the COVID-19 vaccine alone, making it the best drug introduction in history. / After hurricane Ida oil recovery begins with ports and...

Simon Shares Jackson Hole Bonang Mohale and his Serialong trust converts a Purple Group* (JSE code: PPE) loan into 11.46% shares in the group ADvTECH* (JSE code: ADH) Stadio (JSE code: SDO) Cashbuild (JSE code: CSB) Sun International (JSE code: SUI) MAS Real Estate (JSE code: MSP) Motus (JSE code: MTH) Woolies* (JSE code: WHL) Is this Woolworths' attempt at Athleisure ? Yikes! 😬 Crop Top : R249.9...

Offshore / Jackson Hole. Powell says nothing new. / TSMC, the world's largest maker of semiconductor chips, says it's raising its prices by about 20% / Hurricane Ida heading for the Gulf of Mexico, shutting down oil production. / China reportedly weighs ban on U.S. IPOs from domestic tech companies with sensitive data Local / Bonang Mohale and his Serialong trust converts a Purple Group loan into...

Simon Shares Jackson Hole South African GDP rebased. The economy is 11% larger than previously measured. It is still the second-largest economy in Africa, after Nigeria. South Africa unemployment 34.4%. National treasury says KZN July violence will take 0.7%-0.9% off 2021 GDP. New oil & copper ETNs Upcoming events; 02 September ~ JSE Power Hour: Picking the next winning stock 14 October ~ Investme...

Offshore / New Zealand going into lockdown, the world is getting vaccinated but the pandemic is far from over. / Pfizer expected to get full FDA approval for its covid vaccine this week. A whole new business (covid jabs & mRNA possibilities). / Tesla wants to build an AI robot / Jackson Hole this week / China securities regulator signals willingness to work with the US on audits Local / South Afri...

Simon Shares JSE is broken. 100 MW gazetted. Renergen* (JSE code: REN) update. South Africa inflation lower at 4.6% in July 2021. Tencent (Hong Kong code: 700) results. Resource stocks ex-div. But still lots of pain. Super BHP Group* (JSE code: BHP) results. New Clean energy and water ETNs listed. * I hold ungeared positions. Upcoming events; 19 August ~ JSE Power Hour: BEE shares and the JSE 02 S...

Offshore / US inflation comes in as expected / Britain's GDP grew by 4.8% in the second quarter of this year, leaving the economy just 2.2% below its pre-pandemic level / Google employees who work from home could lose money / US infrastructure bill moving forward / India to unveil US$1.35trillion infrastructure bill Local / 100mw power generation laws gazetted / Naspers / Prosus swap is unconditio...

Offshore / US GDP 6.5% , below expectations but the economy now larger than pre-pandemic / US moving forward with an infrastructure bill / The U.S. debt ceiling officially became operative again on Sunday after a two-year suspension / Amazon results see stock down 7% / Alphabet results & $50bn buyback / Microsoft results, LinkedIn does +$10bn Local / Tencent woes hit JSE (but all-time closing high...

Simon Shares Wild week for Naspers (JSE code: NPN), Prosus (JSE code: PRX) as Tencent (Hong Kong code: 700) got slapped down by the Chinese government. We're back at level 3, adjusted. Alcohol sales are allowed and Distell (JSE code: DGH) put out another great trading update. No doubt better if no alcohol bans, but the argument that your industry is under threat wears thin after such an update. Pr...

Offshore / New closing highs for S&P500 & Nasdaq. But Russel2000 is lagging. / Apple delays back to the office to October / Twitter and Snap - good results / China regulator bars Tencent from exclusive rights in online music / Big results due this week; Apple & Amazon. So far reported results have been very strong. Local / Rioting impact, retail about 8% of store space impacted. REITs bigger conce...

Simon Shares We now have updates from listed retailers as to the damage caused by last weeks rioting. Chantal Marx ran the data and says we saw almost 1,700 stores looted or closed due to the rioting and this is about 8% of the retailers' local footprint and some 5% of global footprint. This is a significant number, but considering many are open for trade again, with many opening last weekend alre...

Offshore / US inflation, again above expectations / Delta airline results show travel returning / US bank earnings as previsions put back into the income statement / Netflix looking into gaming / QoQ China's GDP increased 1.3% in Q2, 7.9% YoY Local / Rioting impacts as listed companies report details / South African Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria) will cover claims / Standard Bank tak...

Simon Shares I'm recording Wednesday afternoon and the violence of the past week seems to be abating, certainly in Gauteng. It has been a horror week for our country and most importantly; look after yourself if you can somebody else as well and above all else, be kind. US CPI YoY 5.4%. Core YoY 4.5%. Both ahead of expectations. A very strong production update from Pan African (JSE code: PAN) and t...

Offshore / US ten year back at 1.36% after peaking at +1.72% in March / Jeff Bezos has stepped down as Amazon CEO / OPEC+ couldn't reach an agreement / Fed minutes tell us nothing new, except inflation is higher/faster than they expected / US extends the economic blacklist of Chinese companies / China wants pre-IPO review of all new listings that have large user data Local / Imperial delisting off...

Markets are as quiet as the street of Jozi, so this week a list of my favourite podcasts, the focus is offshore. I'll return and look at local in a few weeks. Upcoming events; 13 July ~ How to use ThinkMarkets Tools 22 July ~ JSE Power Hour: Power of savings Favourite podcasts; Planet Money Motley Fool Money Disciplined Investor Odd Lots Freakonomics Radio Michael Covel's Trend Following Radio

Offshore / US The unemployment rate edged up to 5.9% in June / US home prices rose by 14.6% in April, the largest gain in 30 year / S&P 500 closes green 7 days in a row, record is 8 days (US markets closed Monday) / RobinHood proposed listing ~ $40bn valuation / Didi Chuxing lists on NYSE, market cap $69bn & Chinese regulator blocks new accounts Local / Modest Q2 for JSE, TOP0 -1.2% (+11% YTD), Fi...

Simon Shares Level 4 lockdown. Remember the podcast of last week when I delved into the various leisure socks . Argent (JSE code: ART) results. Long a stock not worth covering or owning, but they've changed things up the last few years. Invicta (JSE code: IVT) another successful turnaround and really good results. JSE (JSE code: JSE) trading update, no surprise earnings under pressure. Nike (NYSE...