Welcome to Monday! I have a fantastic podcast for you to learn from today, featuring Nico Katzke (Head of Porfolio Solutions at Satrix). Nico is an absolute wealth of finance knowledge and I always thoroughly enjoy his views. We covered a wide range of topics, but the central theme was around dividends. There's a common belief in the market that dividends are always a good thing and that investors should focus on companies that pay dependable dividends. As with so many thing in the markets, it's just not that simple. Find out why in this 45-minute Ghost Stories podcast with Nico, available here>>>

A busy period for Unlock the Stock

If you enjoy doing your own research on local companies, then Unlock the Stock has been delivering the goods for you, brought to you by A2X. The recording of the Barloworld event is available for you to watch here, featuring CEO Dominic Sewela and a robust Q&A session with many insightful points. I'll be releasing the recording of last week's Curro session soon. As the icing on the cake, we are hosting Harmony Gold on Thursday at midday and you can register for it here>>>

Don't miss these from last week

There's a new Ghost Wrap podcast coming tomorrow. Make sure you've listened to Episode 42 covering the latest news from Super Group, Grindrod, ADvTECH, STADIO, CA Sales Holdings, Transpaco and Master Drilling. Brought to you by Mazars, it's available here>>>

For those interested in the world of structured products and how derivatives can be used create bespoke investment products with tailored payoff profiles, I loved my discussion with Brian McMillan of Investec on Ghost Stories. We worked through the Investec USD S&P 500 Autocall in detail. If you've ever wondered how this stuff works, you'll wonder no more after this insightful show. Find it here>>>

Local news gave us a breather on Friday

After a week that included one of the busiest days of news I've ever experienced on the local market, we got a breather on Friday. There was only a handful of news, though it was still interesting.

Absa has implemented its new B-BBEE deal and issued the shares. I still believe this was a missed opportunity for retail investors to be given a chance to invest.

Sable Exploration and Mining unveiled a joint venture that will use some of the equity capital currently being raised.

Transcend Property and Emira released the joint circular relating to Emira's buyout of the minority shareholders in Transcend.

Trustco's founders are looking to convert nearly R1.5bn worth of debt to equity, getting rid of the legacy accounting issue that caused the big fight with the JSE.

And among various items in Little Bites, there's also another update from aReit that confirms my view from the very beginning that this listing is a dog. When auditors of a listed company resign, you need to think twice.

You can get all these updates in Ghost Bites at this link>>>

Get the latest on these US companies with Magic Markets

Recent Magic Markets episodes have made it really easy for you to learn more about US-listed companies. In case you didn't notice the return of hectic load shedding yesterday, it's really not a bad idea to broaden your money's horizons.

The latest episode is Episode 140 featuring shoes and apparel businesses Crocs and Nike, available here. The winner there might surprise you. In Episode 139, we covered Disney and Yum! Brands as a comparison of what happens when your mess around with your strategy vs. when you stick to great execution. In Episode 138, we covered Caterpillar and Home Depot as two stalwarts of the market.

This is really just a taste of the work we do in Magic Markets Premium, an incredible product for every student of business and the markets. At R99/month, it's even priced to make it accessible to students! Our subscribers range from top asset managers and traders through to mar ket newbies and finance students. Find out why by signing up and learning from a library of well over 90 research reports>>>

US dollar on a rollercoaster

Friday saw the release of the non-farm payroll data in the US, coming in at 187,000 vs. 170,000 expected. Unemployment was at 3.8% vs. 3.5% expected. The dollar moved all over the show in the aftermath of the data, with the rand on the receiving end of that volatility. Our currency moved from R18.91 down to R18.53 and then back to R18.79. There's no doubt that US data is still moving markets and it was a data-heavy week last week.

Gold gave up some recent progress, moving from $1,950 to $1,937.

August w as a month of low liquidity because of holiday periods, so September should see a return to liquid conditions. For more updates from TreasuryONE, be sure to subscribe to their excellent YouTube channel.

Have a great start to the week!