The term banking crisis is often overused. Certainly, there are times when it's appropriate, like during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, however it's usually just a term used to describe a rather minor disruption to the normal functioning of a country's banking sector. Well, that's not the case with China currently.
The country is in the midst of a true banking crisis. How bad is it? Well, th... ››› more
The JSE crashed 14.45% between 2 March 2022 and 9 May 2022.
Similarly, the Dow Jones index in the USA is down 10.74% year to date of which half of this drop has been in the past month. And the S&P 500 index is down 14.75% year to date.
We hear about inflation, war, lockdowns, supply chain issues all as contributing to this bear market…
So, what is fuelling the market's drop - and are we... ››› more
Q “Last Wednesday you mentioned the 5 Satrix ETFs you're mainly trading. I saw that recently they launched another Satrix ETF called the CAPI… Can you please explain what the ETF does and if you're looking at trading it in the future?”
A. Yes, most definitely.
As soon as the CAPI is available to trade on the trading platform and there is high volume of buying and selling, I will be a... ››› more
For most South Africans their Retirement Annuity (RA) is something they think about twice in their life. First when they sign up for their monthly debit order and second when they're getting close to retirement and need to access the money.
In between, your cash is likely spread across a selection of unit trusts that are largely based on the JSE.
For offshore investments (which usually get a... ››› more
Last year Jack Ma, the Alibaba Founder, gave a speech where he uttered a couple of very minor criticisms of the Chinese economic system. At the time of the speech, he was one of the richest and most famous people in China.
In addition, Alibaba was one of the largest companies not just in China, but the world. If that wasn't enough, he was set to list another giant, the Ant Group, which was the ... ››› more
The Rand has been given a welcome boost from central bankers intensifying accommodative monetary policy that will keep interest rates lower for longer. This week central bankers from America, UK, New Zealand, China, Switzerland will be releasing interest rate announcements or provide additional information relating to recent announcements and economic outlooks.
More information on the potentia... ››› more
I think we can all agree. 2020 is completely nuts!
In the last week, we saw a nuclear-sized explosion in Beirut, after 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate flattened the port city.
Trump is trying to force Chinese-backed TikTok to sell its US interests to Microsoft (with the US treasury getting a slice of the action) in what has to be the strangest M&A deal in history.
And we have both the te... ››› more
The rise of the World Wide Web turned the world of shopping on its head.
One company that cashed in massively was the USA's Amazon.com.
This company is now the biggest eCommerce retailer in the world. And, in spite of Covid-19, lockdowns and (in case you've forgotten) a simmering trade war between the US and China, Amazon's share price has just reached all-time highs.
When looking eas... ››› more
It was quite a week for airline stocks.
It started with the announcement from Warren Buffett that Berkshire Hathaway had sold stakes in four major US airlines: United, Delta, Southwest and American Airlines.
This is an exceptionally uncharacteristic move from the legendary value investor.
Firstly, Buffett is all about “buy and hold”. He rarely sells investments unless, the prospect... ››› more
You may have heard of the Butterfly Effect.
Chaos theory predicts it is possible for the flap of a butterfly's wing in China to cause a hurricane in the US. Though this sounds like fantasy, we may actually be witnessing one of the greatest “butterfly effects” in history.
A little while ago, likely in 2019, a single virus particle made a jump from bats to humans. In terms of scale, this... ››› more
Last week was a scary time for most investors as global markets racked up new records for the fastest 10% pullback in history. The worst weekly decline for the American indices since the 2008 financial crisis. And, the biggest single day decline for most markets as the bottom fell out of the market.
These concerns are over the impact to global growth from the shut down and restrictions in Chi... ››› more
Yesterday saw markets react decisively to the risk of COVID-19 to global growth. With most markets pulling back over 3%. This is due to an acceleration of new infections outside of China. It has hit Europe as Italy reports the 7th death and puts the town of Cologna on lock down, with others in the Lombardy region of northern Italy (a manufacturing hub) on unofficial lockdown.
The cause for ala... ››› more
There are two main methods you can use to pick stocks for investing or trading.
I'm talking about terms called “fundamental” and “technical” analysis.
You need to understand the differences between these methods - if you are to use them successfully as an investor…
Use them correctly - and you stand to make big profits. Use them incorrectly and you could lose out big time.
... ››› more
Naspers result are due on Thursday and we should see buyers push the share price higher into year end.
Yesterday's trading update provided some insight into what to expect as it highlighted core earnings from continuing operations will increase between 7% and 10%.
Last week Tencent released results, and while it didn't excite traders and investors, it highlighted that a maturing business c... ››› more
I remember, when I was younger, how PC gamers were the social pariahs.
Life was simple: The rugby players were the popular ones. The PC gamers were the geeks.
How things have changed!
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‘The Great JSE Takeover’
If you’d bought stock just before these companies were taken over... I'm talking about Absa, SA br... ››› more
The most lucrative opportunities are found in times of maximum pessimism. Investors just need to filter through the noise for the right shares to invest in, that have potential tail winds in the months and years ahead.
Small caps have lost favour with investors. Many are trading at all-time lows while growing profits steadily in these tough economic times.
One such share is a little-known ... ››› more
If you haven't already read about it, Naspers (NPN) plans to list its international internet assets, in a company called Prosus, on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange and the JSE on September 11.
So, you need to own Naspers on 12 September (Ex-div date) to qualify for Prosus shares or additional Naspers shares.
For a lot of investors, the biggest consideration affecting their d... ››› more
Following on from last week's article where I quoted Sir John Templeton as saying “tell me where there is the most pessimism and I will tell you where to invest”. That describes global equity markets now and more accurately the South African market. Most investors are bearish and pessimism is high. But that doesn't mean you should be buying every stock making 52-week lows or in bargain territo... ››› more
Here's something quite interesting…
According to Statista, out of the 400,000 crypto-investors across 46 countries it surveyed, South Africa came in fifth place, as 16% of the population said they used or owned cryptocurrencies.
Yes, you could argue it's a small study. However, it still reveals an increasing interest in cryptos from South Africans.
In fact, because of the rising dema... ››› more
Our market scanner has highlighted several shares in overbought and oversold territory.
Below is extracted from our weekly data table. Our model scans most of the shares in the JSE All Share Index and measures their standard deviation using our proprietary methodology. We supplement the standard deviation with fundamental and technical analysis to come up with our investment ideas.
Someti... ››› more