Here's a recap of things you might have missed this week:
Let's dig into some new stuff.
Despite being an industrials group, Argent appears to have no filter(s)
When it comes to earnings announcements, companies tend to be rather careful with what they say. The careful nature is even worse in large corporates that want to protect their relationships with government and regulators. But when you get into the small cap universe, things can get a little wild.
Still, Argent Industrial has blown away anything I've ever read before. If you read Ghost Bites for no other reason this morning, at least read it to see what truly unfiltered commentary about South Africa looks like.
Unfiltered, but perhaps not entirely fair either? After all, it's not like going offshore is a guarantee of success. Also in this morning's Ghost Bites, we see major impairments at Mediclinic b>Switzerland and significant losses at AECI's German business.
You'll also find updates from Crookes Brothers, Kibo Energy, MAS and Safari Investments.
Read Ghost Bites here>>>
How do you Do Your Own Research (DYOR)?
As an entirely new generation of investors entered the market over the course of the pandemic, the concept of "DYOR" really took off. That's all good and well, but how do you actually conduct that research?
The market has dished out some very hard lessons in the past couple of years. As it transpir es, "research" means more than just reading an article headline and making a decision accordingly. Shockingly, there isn't an entire industry of market professionals for no reason!
At Magic Markets, we aim to close that gap between retail investors and professionals. In our latest free show, we cover the concept of DYOR and some of the techniques that can be used. This is a solid investment of 20 minutes of your time. Find it here>>>
DealMakers makes every Friday better
It's hard to stay on top of everything. In each Friday edition of Ghost Mail, we benefit from the DealMakers summaries that give you a quick way of checking whether you missed out on any corporate actions. You can refer to sum maries on local M&A, local corporate activity and African deals as well.
For those interested in technical legal matters, experts at Fasken have written on whether failing to attach an annexure to an agreement makes it void.
The US economy is just so strong
The US truly is on another level. TreasuryONE highlights that first quarter GDP was up 2% vs. expectations of 1.4%, a huge outperformance. Household spending rose by 4.2%, the strongest in nearly two years. Jobless claims experienced their most significant decline since October 2021.
After the release of this data, Treasury yields surged based on speculation that the Fed might have room to raise rates twice more this year. During a conference in Madrid, Fed Chair Powell expressed willingness to consider raising rates at consecutive policy meetings, possibly starting as early as July.
Of course, this news caused a sudden shift in the rand, taking it back towards R19.00. Gold also faced downward pressure, moving below $1,900 an ounce. p>
Never a dull moment in the markets, that's for sure.
With that, I wish you a restful weekend.
