Happy there's-a-new-Linkin-Park-album-day! Yes, the entire thing is available - and so are 2025 concert dates, excluding South Africa. Sigh.

From music to markets, I want to highlight the two Trump-related podcasts available to you. It's just so important to get different viewpoints on this stuff and form your own views along the way.

On Investec's No Ordinary Wednesday, Jeremy Maggs spoke to Annabel Bishop and Ellie Henderson about MAGAnomics and what impact Trump could have on the global economy and emerging markets. You'll find it here>>>

On Magic Markets, which I co-host with Mohammed Nalla, we welcomed global geopolitical specialist Dimitri Zabelin to the show to talk about some of Trump's policies and related trade ideas, including the positioning of Elon Musk and Tesla in all this. For that angle, you'll find the podcast here>>>

I never thought this day would come: Telkom may well be the pick of the local telcos. MTN and Vodacom are getting a good old fashioned klap in Africa, with the latest numbers from MTN adding to what we saw from Vodacom earlier in the week. Telkom, on the other hand, has the benefit of being so far behind the others in mobile that they didn't even need to go to the rest of Africa in search of growth. Their earnings are up substantially and the share price has positive momentum.

I must however point out that being the best of the telcos is like being the best brussels sprout on the plate. Telkom's share price is down 5% this year, slightly better than Vodacom (down 4%) and MTN (down 29%). Over six months, Telkom is up 16.6%, ahead of Vodacom (up 9%) and leaving MTN for dead (down 6%).

In related news in the sector, Blue Label has put even more capital behind Cell C. For some, this is the dark horse in the sector. I just prefer to stick to stuff I understand and the Blue Label financials are exceptionally complicated.

Moving on from telcos, Sanlam remains a highlight on the local market. There are few companies that can grow this consistently. I'm afraid that consistency is the last thing you'll find in the construction sector, but at least Stefanutti Stocks has swung into profitability. Finally, Gold Fields has shown decent momentum quarter-on-quarter, but be careful of the year-on-year numbers.

For details on these stories and the other Nibbles, read Ghost Bites here>>>

There's plenty from the team at DealMakers to sink your teeth into this morning. We've got the usual weekly summaries of South African M&A, South African corporate finance activity and deals in Africa. Then, there's a round-up of South African M&A for the first three quarters of the year. To add to all this, there are articles on M&A trends in South Africa and the impact of merger control on private equity deals.

Our next Unlock the Stock session is with TWK, a group operating across various agriculture verticals. You can register to attend on 21 November for free here.

Have a great day!

Disney is the obvious choice here, with the share price closing 6% higher on the day. It's still absolute miles off the pandemic levels, but at least there's positive momentum. Revenue and earnings were ahead of expectations, with a strong summer at the box office boosting revenue in the entertainment segment by 14%.

In further important news from Disney, streaming is now profitable as well. This is certainly a huge improvement on the recent stuff we've seen from the group.

Our latest research in Magic Markets Premium is on Amazon. This is a perfect example of a platform business finally coming into its own, with the eCommerce business contributing positively as well. Does this make it a compelling choice vs. some of the Magnificent 7 peers? Subscribers find out this week.

The dollar and US Treasury Yields have gained further, while US equity market have declined overnight after hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The US central bank chairperson said that there is no rush needed to lower rates in the world’s largest economy as inflation cools, and growth and the labour market remain robust.

European benchmarks have however started to rebound from oversold levels and Asian benchmarks trade mixed in early trade.

On balance we are expecting a flat open for the JSE All-Share Index this morning.

The rand is trading at three month lows against the strengthening dollar.

Oil prices have declined marginally after reports showed that US stockpiles of the commodity have declined less than expected.

While gold prices remain under short term pressure on the back of a stronger dollar, industrial metal prices have started to rebound after better than expected economic data out of China this morning.

Traders will want to keep an eye out for retail and core retail sales data out of the US this afternoon.

Key Indicators: USD/ZAR R18.27/$ | US 10yr 4.46% | Gold $2,560/oz | Platinum $940/oz | Brent Crude $71.60

The macroeconomic update is based on the morning call update by IG Markets