Thanks to Disney, most of you have watched one of the Jungle Book movies. If you haven't, the "bear necessities" reference in this morning's mailer would've been lost on you. The reimagined version of Jungle Book is rather dark, which perhaps reflects the market right now.

Chris Gilmour points out in another brilliant feature article this week that nobody ever thanks you for being bearish. He's quite right; I saw it myself in Magic Markets Premiu m when Mohammed Nalla and I kept pointing out how expensive stocks looked a few months ago. Some people just refuse to hear bad news, unfortunately.

Listening to bad news can sometimes give you a far better financial outcome than listening to good news. If you pumped big amounts into the market at the top of the cycle, I'm afraid you're in for a long wait to see your portfolio in the green again. Strategic buying in the bear market will help greatly with that situation but it requires a strong stomach and proper research.

Luckily, you're feeding your brain the right stuff by reading Ghost Mail!

Back to Chris Gilmour, his article takes a look at historical interest rates and inflation in the US, along with the approach taken by Powell's predecessors. It's another fantastic piece that benefits from Gilmour's decades of experience in the markets. Make sure you read it!

In today's other content, my Ghost Bites piece offers you an overview of all the JSE company news from Friday. There are important updates from Novus, Capital & Counties, Glencore, BHP and others. There's also some selling by directors of Equites Property Fund that I felt was important to highlight.

I'm also thrilled to share an article with you that has been written by two of the Ghost Grads - four highly talented finance students who have joined me in the business on an internship. Jordan Theron and Kreeti Panday re searched and wrote an article on sustainability-linked lending. This is a growing space in which corporates raise debt and use ESG metrics to help bring the cost of debt down. As always, financiers find innovative ways to drive behaviour and earn a return along the way. As part of this great article, the Grads wondered whether some of these ESG metrics might find their way into retail banking products. Show them some love and give it a read at this link.

If you are looking for a fixed return over a five-year term to help boost your portfolio in uncertain times, Fedgroup offers a Secured Investment product that does exactly that. You can choose to have the monthly interest paid out or reinvested for growth, so it suits both young and old investors. Assuming you reinvest, the rate to maturity is 11.7% per annum. The minimum lump sum is R5,000. Read this sponsored article from Fedgroup for more information or go directly to the Fedgroup website.

As Wichard Cilliers (Head of Market Risk at TreasuryONE) reminds us, the rand was surprisingly resilient after the Fed announcement. It traded in a narrow range and seems relatively comfortable around the R15.95 level. Commodities came under significant pressure on Friday, including a 3.8% drop in Palladium. There was significant selling in the Resources index, which closed 4.7% lower on Friday. This dragged the JSE ALSI down by 3.3%, with other sectors also in the red on a nasty day for the JSE.

Those of you who have attended Unlock the Stock events will know that they give you a great opportunity to engage directly with JSE-listed management teams. On Thursday at 12pm, Capital Appreciation Group and Attacq will be presenting at Unlock the Stock. These are such interesting companies, with one operating in the ever-exciting technology sector and the other offering focused property exposure with the Waterfall precinct in Midrand as the underpin of the portfolio. Attendance is free but you need to register at this link. If you're keen to watch the previous events, you'll find them at this link on the Ghost Mail website.

As always, I've also got great podcasts to keep you entertained and enlightened.

The first is a brand new Magic Markets episode, in which we spoke with the team from AnBro Capital Investments about hot stocks vs. hot air - the approach needed to separate the real stories from the fairy tales when it comes to growth stocks. We worked through two interesting global stocks in the healthcare space as well. This is a great show for anyone interested in global stocks and principles of investing.

The second is the inaugural episode of Ghost Stories, in which I spent over an hour speaking to Charles Savage about the story of EasyEquities and where the business is headed. This is required listening for any Purple Group shareholder, EasyEquities investor or company founder looking to tap into the insights of a man who has built an iconic business in South Africa.

There's plenty to keep you busy today. Ignore the noise in the market and just focus on learning as much as you can!