Prepare yourself

I'm not going to start by summarising the headlines in Ghost Mail this morning. I would rather tell you what's in there in more detail, so you can click through to the article having emotionally prepared yourself for such levels of nonsense.

Let me start with the biggest offender of the lot: Motus. You know, I was suspicious when the cautionary status was lifted a couple of weeks ago even though they hadn't yet named their acquisition target. Instead, the market was given fluffy details, like a suggested valuation range for the acquisition, rather than the name of the target.

Why the low levels of disclosure? Well, this is usually because the deal isn't fina lised yet and the target hasn't given permission to be disclosed. On that basis, is it correct for the cautionary to be lifted?

This is what I asked myself on that fine day in September. Having now seen the extraordinary extent of selling by directors since that cautionary was lifted, I have a theory on why it was lifted in such a rush.

This sucks.

The same directors who want you to believe in the Motus growth story and acquisition strategy have also been frantically selling shares. Best of all, they waited until they got through a huge tranche of sales before disclosing any of those sales. After all, if they disclosed the initial sales, then the price would've started tanking and that wouldn't have done their bank balances any favours at all.

As governance goes, this is disgusting. I have ne ver owned shares in Motus and I most certainly never will. At this stage, I'm more trusting of Toddler Ghost with my laptop than I am of Motus with my money.

But here's the real clincher - it isn't just disgusting, it's also against the rules of the JSE. A director needs to disclose dealings to the company within three business days. The company must then announce the dealings no later than 24 hours after receiving such information. The first trades were on 15 September and the announcement was made on 28 September. You do the maths.

The other issues pale in comparison to the Motus debacle, like Truworths being unable to make a decision regarding the next CEO. In fact, they've asked the CEO of 26 years to please stay on a bit longer, as they just don't know who to pick as a replacement.

Sometimes, the JSE is truly a circus. Instead of being one of the clowns, tra in yourself to spot the red flags by reading and learning from Ghost Bites this morning>>>

Moving on...let's Unlock the Stock!

Last week, JSE newbie CA Sales Holdings joined us on Unlock the Stock. In stark contrast to the behaviour of some listed companies, this management team cares about retail investors and wants to empower them with knowledge. This is exactly why I'm so proud of the Unlock the Stock platform: we give you the chance to be a sell-side analyst for a day! In case you missed the event, you can watch the recording (including a vibrant Q&A) at this link>>>

The next event features property stalwart Growthpoint, owner of the V&A Waterfront among numerous other properties in South Africa. In a departure from the normal scheduling, it will be next week Tuesday at 12pm. Attendance is absolutely free! You just need to register at this link>>>

Is the Bank of England a startup?

Because it sure knows how to pivot!

TreasuryONE notes that the BoE announced a temporary bond purchasing programm e focusing on longer-dated bonds. The programme will run from now until 14 October. The UK market has been incredibly volatile since Friday, including 30-year bonds rising above 5% for the first time since 2002. They dropped nearly 0.5% after the announcement.

The rand tested the R18.20 handle briefly during morning trade. The intervention by the BoE seemed to ease some of the risk-off sentiment. Of course, the markets are by no means out of the woods yet.

There are alternatives

If you want to lift your head from these crazy markets, there are alternative assets out there that offer somewhat uncorrelated exposure. We've been unpacking many of these assets in Magic Markets in conjunction with the team at Westbrooke Alternative Asset Management. For the latest sho w with Dino Zuccollo as our guest, follow this link>>>

Alright. That's it for this morning. Let's see what the circus has in store for us today!