It's nearly time for the fireside chat with TreasuryONE, scheduled for 9:30am on Thursday morning. Register here and be sure to bring your questions about the rand, interest rates and whatever other macroeconomic concepts you want to talk about.

Despite the public holiday last week, it's been a busy time of company news. I try to stick to a 5-minute podcast in Ghost Wrap these days, but sometimes there's just too much. In this bumper edition, it will take you under 7 minutes to get up to speed on banking (Absa and Nedbank), mining (Exxaro, Northam Platinum, Sasol and Glencore), telecoms (Vodacom and MTN), building materials (Cashbuild and Italtile) and Nampak as a standalone update. Brought to you by Mazars, this is the most efficient way to track local company news. Find it here>>>

To enhance your understanding of ETFs and how they can be structured, Nico Katzke of Satrix has dished up a fresh article on "smart portfolios" and how styles can be factored into ETFs. It may sound complicated, but it will make a lot of sense to you when you read it. Expand your knowledge here>>>

For those who are more risk-averse by nature, Fedgroup has written a piece on secured investment offerings and how they can add value to your portfolio strategy. Read it here>>>

When patties get petty

The latest article by Dominique Olivier proved to be popular yesterday, digging into the often-cheeky marketing rivalry between Burger King and McDonald's. This is an exciting sector, especially when you add in the wild advertising environment of the US. Entertain yourself, build up an appetite and lea rn more about competitive forces in this excellent piece>>>

Whoa, Bessie

In the latest episode of Magic Markets, Craig Antonie of AnBro Capital Investments joined us to talk about $BESI - the semiconductor stock you've never heard of. With the endearing nickname "Bessie" and with some pretty exciting technology, Craig puts this European stock on our radar in this podcast>>>

MTN, meet Mastercard

T here was a LOT of news yesterday to kick off the new week. I did all the hard yards on SENS (and there were many such yards) so that you don't have to, with Ghost Bites delivering everything you need to know with a single click.

The big news of the day was surely MTN's results, but not because of the numbers found within. No, the market was far more interested in the Mastercard deal that values MTN's Fintech business at roughly R100bn. That gave the share price a proper boost, although we don't know many details about this exciting transaction just yet.

We also saw earnings from Absa, which inspired my chart of the day. Instead of looking at historical HEPS, I charted the credit loss ratio across different product segments. Earnings also came through from Hulamin, Italtile, Lighthouse, Northam Platinum, Sasol and 4Sight. Shaftesbury also gets included as a useful data point for the UK yield curve.

We certainly can't ignore Nampak either, with the company announcing a R1bn rights offer to appease its lenders. There will also need to be extensive disposals of non-core assets.

Get everything you need to know about this extremely busy day by reading Ghost Bites here>>>

Risk-o ff sentiment only means pain for the rand

The dollar has continued to grind out gains against currencies across the globe, with emerging market currencies under pressure and the rand continuing to take strain. Our battered currency is back at the July highs, trading at around R19.10 to the dollar. Risk-off sentiment dominates, with FOMC minutes due for release this week. US Retail Sales data is also expected, along with inflation prints in the UK, Japan and the Eurozone.

Remember to register for the fireside chat with the TreasuryONE team, scheduled for Thursday morning at 9:30am.

Have a fruitful day!