It's been slightly difficult to write InceConnect to go out this morning. Not because I have lost my passion for the markets (that will never happen), but because we are a country in crisis. It's impossible to feel good after the events of the past 24 - 48 hours.

The only positive I can think of right now is that at least we don't have load shedding!

The show must go on of course and so must our lives. Many of you will be feeling scared about the future of our country. These are feelings that I share, as we all want the best for our families.

The possibility of emigration always becomes a dinner table conversation when times are dark. In July last year, I wrote an article that attempted to put forward an objective framework for this decision. By taking the emotion out of it, a better decision can be made. The article is as relevant today as it was 12 months ago.

You can read it here.

If you just looked at the All Share Index (ALSI) yesterday, you wouldn't say that half the country was on fire. The rand weakened, which helped the precious metal miners and rand hedges give the index a boost. Many people don't realise the extent of offshore exposure that can be achieved by just buying the Top 40 on the JSE. Most of these companies have offshore investments and these become more valuable in rand terms when our currency weakens.

Many of the losers on the JSE were local retailers and property funds. That's logical in the context of the scenes around the country yesterday.

The real tragedy is the small cash and carry stores that have been destroyed. These stores don't belong to listed groups. They belong to entrepreneurs who have created many jobs in the process. Although the likes of Massmart and Shoprite will take a knock to earnings from this, the small players may never recover.

Massmart is trying to sell its cash and carry businesses at the moment. One wonders how those discussions with buyers will be going after the events of this week.

The lead article this morning is the pending IPO of the parent company of Weber in the US. The kettle braai (or grill as they call it) may have been invented in the US, but I feel like its use was perfected right here in South Africa.

Prosus has released the prospectus related to the share exchange offer. We will now see how receptive the market really is to the proposed transaction. There's also news from Renergen, which has discovered a surprising amount of helium in a well that was planned to be abandoned.

On the ESG front, Cuma Dube takes a look at the performance of companies with high ESG scores vs. the broader market index. The results are interesting to say the least. There's also an update on global economic and political trends, courtesy of Chris Gilmour.

If you missed the latest episode of Magic Markets, be sure to catch up at this link. Mohammed Nalla and I discussed the newsflow on Chinese tech stocks in the past week or two. We also talked about some of the speculative plays in our portfolio and the pending Robinhood IPO.

We can only hope that today will be a much happier day for our beautiful country.

The Finance Ghost