Local company news:


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Copper 360 is in the headlines at the moment for accusations the company is making of share price manipulation. That's not a great reason to be in the media. A far better reason has presented itself in the form of copper concentrate being shipped from the Northern Cape for the first time in 21 years. Now that's a headline.

Meanwhile, Quilter continues to prove my thesis that if you want to grow assets these days, you need your own sales force. We are seeing it at PSG Financial Services and we are seeing it there as well. In the UK, they grew Gross Assets under Management and Administration by 5% over just three months!

Zeder and RMB Holdings shareholders are both part of a value unlock strategy. The groups are trying to sell off assets and return capital to shareholders. One is in agriculture and the other is in property. Either way, it's not easy selling off large assets for attractive prices! Shareholders generally have to be patient.

And finally, if you're curious about what the G-Factor is, then Gemfields will explain it. 

Get the details in Ghost Bites at this link>>> 

And if you fancy a quick listen, my latest Namibia radio segment featured my thoughts on Capitec, the Anglo group companies, Sasol and Trustco. It's been published here>>>
 

International business news:

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We are firmly in earnings season in the US, with Meta releasing numbers late last night and promptly tanking in value. For all the work Zuck has been putting into coming across as more human, it didn't help.

The earnings call is back to having a flavour of AI and metaverse-type stuff, which the market gets very nervous of. Instead of celebrating decent numbers for the first quarter, the market panicked about the second quarter guidance and the ways in which Zuck might throw money at his big dreams once more.

Personally I would love nothing more than to see the Meta price fall even further. I'm sitting on a healthy portion of cash in my US portfolio and I'm waiting to deploy it into chaos. At the right price, Zuck is my kind of chaos.

Macroeconomic Update

It's a big end to the week for data, with Q1 GDP due today and PCE inflation coming out tomorrow. Markets are on edge about Fed policy. Speaking of policy, the Bank of Japan meets tomorrow and is expected to keep rates unchanged, which could put further pressure on their currency.

In general, risk-off sentiment is present in the market, with the rand trading at the upper end of the R19.00 - R19.25 range. And ahead of US data releases, precious metals (like gold and PGM) have dipped as traders have trimmed positions.

Key indicators: USD/ZAR R19.21; US 10-year 4.65%; Gold $2,315; Platinum ZAR R17,264; Brent Crude $88.11

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