Did you have Stage 6 loadshedding on your February bingo card? Me neither, yet here we are. There's really nothing more enjoyable as a business owner than paying provisional tax in February off the back of a Sunday in which most of the daylight hours were spent with no electricity. Anyway, we move forward!

Friday was a relatively light day of news, although the updates that were available were important. Dis-Chem has demonstrated the importance of finding additional sources of growth, with the wholesale side of the business providing much better growth than retail at the moment. Despite decent group level numbers, the market still added Dis-Chem to the list of retail sell-offs this year.

In mining, Sibanye-Stillwater released results that show how important gold has become in their story. Provided you use adjusted EBITDA as their metric of choice, this is the first interim period since 2017 that saw SA gold come through with higher earnings than SA PGMs! The shape of the group has clearly changed.

For more on these insights and for the usual assortment of Nibbles, click here to get Ghost Bites>>>

In the latest No Ordinary Wednesday podcast presented by Investec, Jeremy Maggs and Tinus Rautenbach discussed whether the tech titans in the US can continue to dominate the market this year. Find it here>>>

ETFs are a popular choice in portfolios and with good reason. They should form the backbone of any equity portfolio, giving investors broad market exposure at a low cost. The team from Satrix has brought us some fascinating stats this morning about growth in ETFs globally and locally. Get them in this article>>>

On the Magic Markets front, leading agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo joined us to give an on-the-ground account (literally) of the SA commercial agri sector and the sentiment of commercial farmers amidst all the geopolitical noise with the US. Get it here>>>

And for a lighter read, Dominique Olivier read the recent news around men's tennis world number one Jannik Sinner and the doping ban and was reminded of just how crazy the Lance Armstrong story was. It's a story of get rich or dope tryin' - as told here>>>

Have a lovely day!

PS: Afrimat will be presenting on Unlock the Stock this Thursday. Get it in your diaries nice and early and remember to register to attend here>>>

On Saturday, the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter was released. This means that spouses of value investors had a lonely weekend, as their significant others devoured every word put out into the universe by the Oracle of Omaha.

The TL;DR is that the Oracle is long cash. In fact, the words "record cash pile" came up more than once in media headlines. So too has the issue of succession, with sprightly 62-year-old Greg Abel waiting in the wings. For context, Buffett is now 94!

Reuters reports that this was the 9th straight quarter in which Berkshire Hathaway sold more stock than it bought. Valuations of US equities remain a headache, even for investors with more of a growth slant. I consider myself somewhere in the middle and I look at some of these valuations in horror, so I can only imagine what Buffett must think as the doyen of value investing.

Well, I don't need to imagine. I can see it in the numbers. For Berkshire at least, very few stocks out there offer compelling risk-reward opportunities.

Our latest research in Magic Markets Premium is on The Trade Desk, a company that sits right at the heart of the omni-channel advertising space. By connecting agencies with a variety of advertising opportunities for their clients, the company enjoys wonderful growth tailwinds. It also trades at an insane multiple, which makes the analysis harder than you might think. Our subscribers can enjoy our detailed work on this growth stock.

​US equity markets declined on Friday, led by significant selling in major indices amid weak economic data and tariff concerns. A shift in investor sentiment suggests movement from US markets toward European and Asian opportunities.

European markets are rebounding following a conservative victory in German elections, which has also strengthened the euro against a weakening dollar.

Meanwhile, Asian markets, particularly the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite, are lower as trade tensions escalate.

On balance we are expecting a softer start for the JSE All-Share Index today. The rand has managed to hold onto strength against the weaker greenback, despite news of load shedding having commenced over the weekend.

US Treasury yields are declining alongside the dollar, while gold continues to trade sideways near record levels.

Oil prices have dropped after Iraq announced plans to export 185,000 barrels per day from Kurdistan's oilfields via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline once shipments resume.

Key Indicators: USD/ZAR R18.34/$ | US 10yr 4.43% | Gold $2,940/oz | Platinum $977/oz | Brent Crude $74.00

As often as practically possible, insights from the IG Markets morning macro update by Shaun Murison will be featured here. Where this isn't possible, only indicators will be provided. If you want to learn more about trading, refer back to The Trader's Handbook, a podcast series that takes you through many of the important principles in trading.