Investors took a profit warning from Distell in their stride on Friday, with the drinks group's shares rising as much as 2.6% before closing a little lower. Clearly, the market was expecting the worst due to the current ban on local alcohol sales. Fortunately, it has been generating a little revenue at some of its other operations and has been able to get some exports out since the easing of the lockdown at the beginning of the month.

The impact of Covid-19 on companies' earnings has been fast and, in some cases, furious. Richemont felt the early impact on Chinese sales, which have started to recover following the end of lockdown conditions there. Foschini has suffered the negative consequences in all three of its main geographies. For SPAR, it affected the integration and turnaround of the supermarket chain it bought in Poland recently.

But Dis-Chem is not standing still, announcing the acquisition of Baby City, a chain that has been on its radar for quite a while.

More on all those stories in your first newsletter of the week, along with an update from Aspen, which is sticking to its guidance of an improvement in full-year earnings.

What is happening to steel demand in China and iron ore shipments to that economic giant, which devours around half of the commodities in the world? What impact is a lower oil price having on freight rates for shippers? All three are relevant to the profitability of miners such as BHP and Kumba (and Anglo American, which owns 69.7%). Ingham Analytics unpacks a profitable trade - both shares have risen since its "Iron ore and steel defies Covid-19 macro gloom" note was issued last Thursday.

And what is that fool's errand that top trader Andrew Kinsey is talking about? Are your financial assets under even more threat? Read "Why do central banks do what they do?" from Ingham Analytics.

I hope you have a good week.

Stephen Gunnion

Managing Editor, InceConnect

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