The week got off to a busy start, with announcements of two potential delistings on the local market: Bell Equipment and Sasfin. It's easy to read the headlines and assume that both companies are going private in a similar fashion. In reality, the deal structures are completely different and I see them as having significantly different chances of success. Alongside insights from the Pick n Pay rights offer circular and other news as well, you'll get those details in Ghost Bites here.

Speaking of corporate activity, the other end of the spectrum to a delisting is of course a capital raise. These transactions are exactly why companies list in the first place, as markets connect capital to opportunities. Sadly, there's a culture on the local market of focusing on institutional capital raises rather than giving retail investors a chance. Paul Miller is an ex-corporate financier and mining executive. More than that, he's a man on a mission to change that situation. As the founder of Utshalo, he is working on the Orion Minerals share purchase plan that lets retail investors participate in the latest capital raise. Hopefully, this is just the beginning. Get a healthy dose of market passion and insight from him in this podcast and transcript.

Make sure you register for Unlock the Stock this Thursday. It gives you a wonderful opportunity to learn about the REIT (property) sector, which I think is poised for a strong period as rates start to drop. I've positioned myself accordingly. Highly respected property analyst Keillen Ndlovu will be delivering the presentation and will be able to take your questions. To be part of the audience and to have the chance to submit your questions, register here for free to attend on Thursday. This event is brought to you by the South African REIT Association.

Have fun in the markets today!

Sticking with the banking theme that started yesterday, Goldman Sachs joined the party by beating analyst estimates. This is my other holding alongside JPMorgan, so I'm once again not upset to read this.

Aside from a strong performance in fixed income trading, a boost came from the significant decrease in the provision for credit losses on consumer loans. Interestingly, advisory fees were down on estimates, so the Goldman Sachs M&A team probably got some nasty emails about how a strong base period is no excuse for this, even though that's the exact reason that the CFO gave to the media for the underperformance in that part of the business.

JPMorgan is up 22% year-to-date and Goldman Sachs is up 27%. No complaints here.

If you want to become a better stock picker, Magic Markets Premium is perfect for you. We covered Tesla last week and we are covering Costco this week. To get access to this research and the rest of the vast library, subscribe to the platform here.

Major US benchmarks, the Dow and S&P500 have tested new high territory overnight, while the dollar has gained along with US Treasury Yields. Media wires are attributing these market moves to an increased likelihood of Trump winning the upcoming elections.

European index futures are trading mixed this morning, while Asian markets are mostly lower.

We are expecting a flat to marginally lower start for the JSE All-Share Index today.

The stronger dollar has weighed on emerging market currencies such as the rand, which was notably weaker yesterday.

Oil prices have drifted lower on ceasefire hopes between Hamas and Israel.

Gold has moved closer towards all-time highs despite a firmer dollar.

US retail and core retail sales data is out later this afternoon in an otherwise quiet day in terms of scheduled economic data.

Key Indicators: USD/ZAR R18.21/$ | US 10yr 4.22% | Gold $2,427/oz | Platinum $997/oz | Brent Crude $84.10

The macroeconomic update is based on IG's morning call update