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Articles:

Ghost Bites: Old Mutual has regulatory approval to establish a bank. The TRP will investigate the Ascendis deal. Mondi walks away from DS Smith. Read Ghost Bites, brought to you by Fedgroup.
Dominique Olivier: Perspectives on the quartz crisis in Switzerland in the 1970s and how industries are disrupted. Read it here>>>
Satrix: Year-to-date performance across asset classes, highlighting themes like AI and gold. Read it here>>>
Fedgroup: Does incorporating alternatives into your portfolio make sense? Get their views in this entertaining article>>>

Podcasts:

Magic Markets: Strategic trends and recent performance at Nike and Foot Locker, brought to you by Future Forex. Listen to it here>>>
Investec Structured Products: The Global Accelerator offers 100% capital protection in dollars at maturity after five years, while giving exposure to global equity indices. Japie Lubbe joined me in this podcast>>>
Investec podcast The Current: Interested in investment opportunities stemming from South Africa's energy transition? Listen to Iman Rappetti in conversation with Barry Shamley, Zane Bezuidenhout, Boipelo Rabothata and Campbell Perry in Episode 4 of The Current at this link>>>

Events:

Unlock the Stock: Astoria Investments joins the platform on Thursday 25th April at midday. Engage directly with the management team and ask questions. Attendance is free but you must register here>>>
bizval webinar: Are you either founding or funding startups? Join bizval on Wednesday 24th April at midday for a webinar featuring international special guest Stefanie Unger, who has deep knowledge of the global startup environment. Attendance is free but you must register here>>>

Local company news:

Ghost Bites is brought to you by Fedgroup.

Old Mutual believes that there is room for another bank in South Africa and the regulator has now given them the go-ahead to build that bank. I'm not sure I agree with Old Mutual's belief here, unless they do an excellent job of differentiating themselves. Capitec's success is a wonderful case study in strategic execution and a clear market positioning strategy. Unless Old Mutual plans to offer something truly innovative, I'm not convinced that shareholders will see excellent returns from this initiative.

There's a different kind of regulatory news over at Ascendis, where the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) will now investigate the potential take-private of the company. After all the mud sligning on the socials, it's good to see the regulator finally getting involved so that this can be put to bed one way or another.

In M&A news, Mondi has avoided a bidding war for DS Smith and has walked away from that deal. The market wasn't shy in showing its appreciation, with Mondi up 9% on the day.

Get the details in Ghost Bites at this link>>>

LISTEN: The Global Accelerator (with Japie Lubbe of Investec)

The Global Accelerator offers 100% capital protection in dollars at maturity after five years, while giving exposure to global equity indices. Japie Lubbe of Investec Structured Products joined me on this podcast to talk through the product design and the way it can be used in a portfolio. Listen to this podcast to find out more.

Listen to the Ghost Stories podcast here (35 minutes long)

READ: Satrix April Newsletter | An Absolutely Incredible Time We Live In

In the April newsletter, Satrix looks at year-to-date performance across asset classes. The team also highlights the gold and Artificial Intelligence themes in the markets.

Give yourself a refresher on the first quarter of 2024 in the markets

LISTEN: Cashing in on clean

There are so many investment opportunities stemming from South Africa’s energy transition. In episode 4 of Investec’s The Current, discover how you can get some skin in the clean energy game. Hosted by Iman Rappetti, listen to the discussion here>>>

Learn about clean energy investment opportunities (32 minutes)

International business news:

Procter & Gamble missed revenue estimates, with organic sales up by just 3%. The challenge seems to be in sales volumes, with significant price hikes at the company over the past couple of years. Despite the revenue miss though, earnings per share was actually ahead of market expectations. They expect core net earnings per share growth to be 10% to 11% for the year.

If you're hungry for details on why Netflix's share price fell after the release of results last week, then you'll be happy to know that we are covering Netflix in Magic Markets Premium this week. You can get access to the entire research library for R99/month. Give your portfolio the love it deserves by subscribing here with no minimum monthly commitment.

READ: Tick tick boom - perspectives on the quartz crisis
(by Dominique Olivier)

Dominique Olivier's latest column takes you through the quartz crisis in the 1970s that led to the creation of Swatch. Which, by the way, stands for Second Watch and not Swiss Watch.

Learn about how the quartz crisis hurt the Swiss watchmaking industry

Macroeconomic Update

Risk appetite has improved as calm has returned to markets, with tensions in the Middle East easing based on the Israel - Iran events and responses. This put downward pressure on gold and especially oil prices. Having reached R19.38 as the market panicked, the rand improved to below R19.10.

On the economic data front, the market will focus on the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) and Q1 GDP releases in the US for further information about potential Fed rate cuts (or lack thereof).

Key indicators: USD/ZAR R19.09; US 10-year 4.66%; Gold $2,368; Platinum ZAR R17,824; Brent Crude $86.57

This macroeconomic update is based on TreasuryONE's morning update.