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Good morning Voornaam,

Highlights in this edition of Ghost Mail:

Brimstone sells Phuthuma Nathi shares
TreasuryONE on the release of US non-farm payrolls data
Dominique Olivier on post-mortem artist IP

Unless you're one of the fortunate few who can go back to work in mid-January, you're probably back at your desk. Welcome. 2024 has been expecting you.

This is going to be a big year for South Africa. There's a lot of geopolitical stuff going on in the world as well. As ever, I highly recommend keeping yourself focused on the things that you can actually control, or at the very least strongly influence.

It's important not to ignore what's going on out there. It's equally important to sift through the noise and only allow useful things into your headspace. Otherwise, you'll gently (or not so gently) lose your mind.

A good way not to lose your mind is to take frequent holidays, even if they are short and sweet. You might enjoy what I wrote about my recent roadtrip from Cape Town to Clarens. It's a love letter to our country, including all its quirks. You'll find it here.

I must tell you that SENS has been off to a terribly slow start this year. There really hasn't been much to report since my catch-up mailer last week, other than Brimstone selling off one million Phuthuma Nathi shares for R100 million. That's more than half of Brimstone's holding. The Phuthuma Nathi share price is R92, so selling off that stake at R100 per share seems like a solid deal for Brimstone. The buyer clearly wants a strategic stake that cannot be built through purchases on the market, as there isn't enough liquidity. The buyer is Zazi PN SPV, a vehicle put together by Temo Capital and Razven Solutions.

In case you didn't know, Phuthuma Nathi is the B-BBEE deal linked to MultiChoice. It's actually a rather interesting investment, as it gives exposure directly to the South African operations rather than the cash-hungry African businesses.

There might not be much market news today, but I do have a brand new piece from Dominique Olivier for you. To kick off 2024, she has written on artist Keith Haring. His work is everywhere you look right now, ranging from t-shirts to mugs. Clearly, someone is doing a very good job of managing his IP post-mortem. Find out more in this engaging article.

There are also a couple of podcasts from the end of 2023 that are still worth checking out if you haven't done so already. You can listen to Magic Markets for the latest news and numbers at Oracle and Adobe, brought to you by data automation specialists B2IT. This is a great show to get your brain ticking over again for the new year. Find it here>>>

Another great option is Ghost Stories with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix, a familiar voice to listeners. He joined me to tackle the difficult topic of saving and investing over December - January, along with a wide range of topics linked to ETFs. We also talked about some positioning going into 2024. Find it here>>>

Also be sure to scroll down for the daily TreasuryONE update, particularly after the release of US non-farm payrolls data on Friday.

We will hopefully be back to normal on SENS today, so I'll be back in your inboxes tomorrow with Ghost Bites!

Have a great day.

READ: Why is Keith Haring everywhere right now?
(by Dominique Olivier)

In her latest column, Dominique Olivier discusses the fascinating world of artist IP and particularly how it can simply blow up decades after an artist has passed away. The star of this show: Keith Haring.

Learn about post-mortem artist IP here

LISTEN: Magic Markets podcast

In Episode 156 of Magic Markets, we looked at technology groups Adobe and Oracle. They might both be in the tech sector, but the performance could hardly be more different. We dig into the recent numbers and latest strategic direction in this show brought to you by international data and automation specialists B2IT.

Listen to Magic Markets Episode 156 here (26 minutes long)

LISTEN: What to do with those festive savings with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix

Saving and investing over December - January isn't easy. To keep you inspired, Siya joined me to cover a wide range of ETF topics - along with some tips of how to keep those goals going over this period of endless spending!

Listen to the Ghost Stories podcast here (38 minutes long)

READ: Letter from the Editor - from Cape to Clarens

A roadtrip across South Africa is always a treat. Of course, it's also a way to see what is really going on out there. I wrote about my experience from Cape Town to Clarens (and back again!)

Read about my roadtrip and observations in this article

DAILY: TreasuryONE Market Update

The US non-farm payrolls number printed at 216,000 vs. 175,000 expected. The unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 3.7%. The US dollar rallied on the back of this but subsequently retreated, giving the rand some relief. It traded as high as R18.94 before recovering down to R18.73.

US equity markets have had a tough start to the year and this risk-off sentiment has filtered through into the forex markets. This was detrimental to the rand last week. It did help the gold price remain steady despite the better-than-expected payroll numbers,

The world is currently showing signs of being fertile ground for the oil price to move higher. Oil inventories are at their lowest level since October and there is geopolitical risk in the Middle-East. Add in OPEC supply cuts and you get Brent Crude at $78.50 per barrel, over 1% higher for the day on Friday.

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