I hope your heart rate has calmed down after that weekend of sport. The Springboks nearly killed us on Saturday and the F1 yesterday was utterly insane.

I watched the Springbok game at a bar / restaurant in Big Bay. Life seems to be back to normal with masks no longer around. There was much eating and drinking, along with couples arguing outside the bathroom and people getting into fights. Although there's a case to be made that humans tend to behave better on Zoom calls than in real life, there's no denying that the call of the wild is strong for all of us.

I personally think that the mask mandate being dropped is the catalyst for a huge return to pre-pandemic behaviour. I would suggest that you assess your portfolio with that in mind. For example, I bought Hyprop late last week after writing about it in Ghost Mail. The market gave me a gift in the form of a drop of over 5% on the same day as my article, so I jumped in once that carnage was over.

You can (and should) look abroad as well. If you invest through EasyEquities for example, it's really easy to invest in US stocks and they've just added UK and European stocks as well. To help you keep up to date with what's going on out there, the Ghost Grads will take turns writing a weekly article called Ghost Global, in which we will cover five major international stories (usually earnings releases).

For the first ever edition of Ghost Global, Kreeti Panday opted to cover Nike, FedEx, Bed, Bath & Beyond, H&M as well as BlackBerry. The international market is exciting and full of opportunities, so don't miss this article.

To make sure you know what's going on locally as well, Ghost Bites is here with updates on City Lodge Hotels, Mondi, Lesaka, Barloworld, Mustek and others. I've tried something new in Ghost Bites this morning and I would love to get your feedback on the new format, in which the Bites have been organised based on the type of announcement e.g. earnings release vs. director dealings vs. disposal updates. Check it out and let me know if you like it!

As is customary on a Monday, we benefit from Chris Gilmour's decades of experience in the market. He wrote last week about the non-discretionary (or defensive) retailers on the JSE. This week, he begins a journey into the non-discretionary retailers, with particular focus on Woolworths. For his take on the Woolworths strategy and what the company should be doing, be sure to read this article.

I'm afraid that the rand is showing a trend that even the Ferrari F1 strategists would be embarrassed of. It's not really our fault though (despite load shedding), as the team at TreasuryONE keeps reminding us. The dollar index is back at its highest levels since Covid, with even the not-so-Great British pound taking a knock from Jerome Powell's hawkish sentiment. Other emerging markets currencies have taken pain along with the rand. Looking to commodities, copper has now fallen below $8,000 and other base metals like aluminium are under pressure. The fear of recession is outweighing the gradual recovery from Chinese lockdowns. Gold made it all the way into the $1,780s on Friday before recovering back above $1,810. Remember to visit the TreasuryONE website to learn more about how the team can help you manage market risk and run a more efficient cash flow strategy in your business.

In the Magic Markets podcast, Episode 82 saw us welcome Petri Redelinghuys from Herenya Capital Advisors back to the show. He brought some support in the form of three voice notes from traders in the Herenya community who gave us a raw, real-world view of risk management. It was a terrific show that gives authentic insights into what it takes to be a successful trader. Give it a listen at this link.

Ok, time to get this Monday started after such a thrilling weekend. Enjoy it!