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Good morning Voornaam,

Fresh out the oven:

Ghost Bites: RCL Foods will unbundle Rainbow Chicken soon. British American Tobacco hasn't had a great first half of the year at all. MultiChoice released the Canal+ circular. Momentum Metropolitan released 9-month numbers. Look out for Copper 360 and Pan African Resources as well, all in Ghost Bites>>>
There is only one free lunch in investing, as this great new Ghost Stories episode with Kingsley Williams shows. Including a detailed transcript to make it easier to soak up the insights, Kingsley brought his wealth of experience in the markets to a great conversation about investing in general. Brought to you by Satrix, you can enjoy it here>>>
Over in Paris, the locals are planning a rather revolting protest against upcoming Olympics, Even that isn't the weirdest story to come from this event that is steeped in history. That honour surely goes to the Men's Marathon at the 1904 Olympics, with enough characters to justify an entire TV series. Dominique Olivier entertains you with this story here>>>

In case you missed it:

Nvidia has been the headline-grabber of the year, so we dived into the recent earnings. Intuit is a software-as-a-service powerhouse that is worth understanding. Episode 177 of Magic Markets (brought to you by Future Forex) delivers insights into both these great companies. You can listen to the show or read the full transcript at this link>>>
This year, SA is set to become the tenth-largest solar market in the world. In episode 4 of The Current brought to you by Investec, Iman Rappetti spoke with Investec's Melanie Humphries, Bernard Geldenhuys and De Wet Taljaard from the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) to explore SA’s apparent solar boom. Enjoy it here>>>

Ghost Wrap: Enjoy a brand new episode covering Balwin, Quantum Foods, De Beers, Tiger Brands and Bidcorp, brought to you by Mazars. Listen to it here>>>
CA Sales Holdings recently presented on Unlock the Stock and engaged in a vibrant Q&A with attendees. This stock has been a top performer. To understand why, watch the event here.

The only free lunch in investing

With volatility as the theme in markets in a year of elections, it’s important to keep your head as an equity investor. Take a long-term view and let the market do its job. Easier said than done, of course. Kingsley Williams joined me to share practical tips and important insights into investing. The podcast and full transcript are available here.

Local company news:

RCL Foods has been working towards a spin-off of Rainbow Chicken for quite a while now, as the poultry business has completely different risk factors to the rest of the food business. That spin-off has been announced and the pre-listing statement is due soon.

Speaking of major corporate activity, MultiChoice has released the Canal+ circular. For the local film industry, I think this is a massive opportunity.

Over at British American Tobacco, the illicit cigarette industry is starting to become an illicit vape industry! Same criminals, more flavoured smoke. The net impact isn't helping their business.

Momentum Metropolitan released numbers for the nine-month period and although IFRS 17 has impacted comparability, they are still worth digging into.

Look out for disappointing numbers at Copper 360, as well as news of a wage deal at Pan African Resources.

This is all available in Ghost Bites at this link>>>

Olympic fever and other ailments

At the Men's Marathon at the 1904 Olympics, let's just say that the first iteration of the event didn't go so smoothly. From wild dogs and hitchhiking athletes through to seemingly indestructible Cubans, prepare to be entertained by Dominique Olivier in this piece>>>

Ghost Wrap: Balwin | Quantum | De Beers | Tiger Brands | Bidcorp

After the recent flurry of results, make sure you're up to date on these five companies. You only need a few minutes, thanks to Mazars. Listen to Ghost Wrap here>>>

International business news:

Paramount finds itself at a crossroads. The group has announced a potential merger with Skydance Media and a consortium of private equity firms. If the deal goes ahead, Skydance and the consortium will hold around two-thirds in Paramount. This comes at a time when the group is being led by the "Office of the CEO" rather than just one CEO, with a team of three executives. Sounds messy, doesn't it?

If the deal doesn't go ahead, then the management team has laid out a plan that would include exploring streaming joint venture opportunities and the elimination of around $500 million in costs.

And to add even more complexitiy to the deal, there's a single controlling shareholder at Paramount. Shari Redstone owns 77% of Class A Paramount shares. US-listed companies just love having different classes of shares that preserve control for founders.

We just covered tech group Intel in Magic Markets Premium and this week we will be covering Foot Locker. To get access to this research and the rest of the vast library, subscribe to the platform here.

Macroeconomic Update

The US JOLTs job openings number came in slightly below market estimates, indicating some easing in the US labour market. Traders are waiting for Friday's non-farm payrolls and unemployment numbers for confirmation. Data releases today include US services PMI, while the market is also eagerly awaiting the ECB decision tomorrow that is expected to result in a 25 basis points interest rate cut.

Although we've all been focused on our local elections, the markets didn't love the result in India. $371 billion in value was wiped off the Indian stock exchange.

With no fresh news on the coalition front, the rand has been holding at around R18.70. Local Q1 GDP data showed that the economy shrank by 0.2%, but this had little impact on the rand.

The 3-day losing streak for copper has been broken, while oil is unchanged. Platinum had a tough day yesterday, closing over 3% weaker.

Key indicators: USD/ZAR R18.69; US 10-year 4.34%; Gold $2,339; Platinum ZAR R18,483; Brent Crude $77.52

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