Before you do anything else, go and register for the TreasuryONE webinar this morning at 9am. We will be talking about the rand and recent volatility, with questions taken from the floor. Sign up here>>>

Learn with Trive South Africa

Whether you prefer to listen to podcasts or read articles, there's something for you this morning in Ghost Mail from Trive South Africa.

Hot off the press, we find an article by the team on the energy sector. They cover local and international examples of fossil fuels (Sasol and Chevron) and renewable / alternative energy (Renergen and Brookfield Renewable Partners). Read it here>>>

And in case you haven't gotten around to listening to it yet, Episode 124 of Magic Markets featured Alexander Weiss and the "Five with Trive" concept - a discussion on five stocks with a central theme. In this case, the theme was Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the stocks were Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta. Find it here>>>

Telkomsaurus takes a R13bn impairment

When a company with a R13bn market cap recognises a R13bn impairment, the fun has well and truly stopped. Telkom has been on the radar of investors who have believed that the underlying infrastructure may be undervalued by the market. Even if that is true, it seems that the operations have been overvalued by the market.

However you cut it, Telkom has the same brand value as Home Affairs. Most South Africans have either never used the company, or have traumatic memories about trying to cancel a contract. It is literally a dinosaur, one that is only narrowly dodging asteroids at this stage. The share price fell by a nasty 15.6% yesterday in response to news of the impairment.

If you're looking to buy shares that let you sleep peacefully at night, move on from Telkom.

At the other end of the investment spectrum (ba -dum-tiss for bad telecoms jokes), we find NEPI Rockcastle and its highly lucrative exposure to retail property in Central and Eastern Europe. The metrics look fantastic year-on-year, a reminder of what emerging markets can achieve when they have high-end luxuries available to them, like electricity.

In every crisis, someone is making money. enX Group is a great example, with positive revenue and HEPS growth and a division that has managed a strong turnaround thanks to demand for (you guessed it) load shedding backup equipment.

I would also pay close attention to comments from the De Beers (part of Anglo American) management team about demand in China.

For these updates and more from Dipula, Ninety One, Santova and Tsogo Sun Gaming, you just need to click once. Click here to read Ghost Bites and get everything you need>>>

And remember, if you struggle to stay up to date every day, you should listen to the Ghost Wrap podcast each week. Brought to you by Mazars, it's a fast-paced update on approximately 8 companies in as many minutes. The latest episode includes Karooooo, Quantum Foods, RFG Holdings, Sappi, MTN, Southern Sun, Richemont and Transaction Capital. Find it here>>>

Farewell R19.00, old friend

Earlier this week, we wondered (along with TreasuryONE) whether the rand might drop back below R19.00. With debt ceiling talks as the latest source of nervousness in the market, everyone once again ran to the US dollar and the rand was locked outside in the rain, blowing out to R19.36. TreasuryONE did warn us that headlines would drive the market!

Another thing to keep an eye on is S&P's review of South Africa's debt rating on Friday. Our outlook was already changed from Positive to Stable back in March, so the team at TreasuryONE doesn't expect any further change this week. Obviously, anything is possible.

In case you missed the link further up, you literally have a tiny window of opportunity to register for the TreasuryONE webinar this morning at 9am. Sign up here>>>

And finally: register for the next Unlock the Stock event

On Thursday 25th May at midday, the team from Calgro M3 will return to Unlock the Stock to present the latest numbers and take your questions as retail investors. In case you missed those numbers, they were very promising and the management team has been buying up shares. This should be a great session, with free attendance made possible by A2X. You just need to register here to attend the webinar>>>

Good luck today!