vestact posted: " Market Scorecard It was quiet out there yesterday. The US market was shut for the Memorial Day holiday but will be back in action today. US President Joe Biden will hold a rare Oval Office meeting today with Fed Chair Jerome Powell to discuss the " Vestact - Money with a dash of funny
It was quiet out there yesterday. The US market was shut for the Memorial Day holiday but will be back in action today. US President Joe Biden will hold a rare Oval Office meeting today with Fed Chair Jerome Powell to discuss the bothersome issue of inflation, ahead of US payroll numbers later this week.
In company news, shares of European luxury-goods companies rose in the hope that easing Covid lockdowns in China will revive demand. Hermes International closed up 3.9%, Richemont rose 2.9%, L'Oreal gained 2.1% and LVMH added 2.6%.
Yesterday, the JSE All-share gained 2.09%, and that's all.
Our 10c Worth
One Thing, From Paul
A rumour was doing the rounds late last week that Apple is planning to keep iPhone production roughly flat in 2022. That was described as a "conservative stance" by the company, due to "various economic uncertainties".
The leak said Apple is asking suppliers to assemble roughly 220 million iPhones, which includes a forecast for sales of a new iPhone 14.
I was mildly amused by the company's official response to the speculation. They "declined to comment on the outlook, which could change depending on the economy and supply constraints in the coming months". The spokesperson added that "Apple doesn't disclose its production targets".
I'm a glass-half-full type of guy, but frankly, making and selling 220 million of anything in a year is truly remarkable! Especially considering that these are complex devices that cost a lot of money. Let's check back in a year's time and see how they did.
Byron's Beats
As the saying goes, the solution to high prices is high prices, because suppliers respond to a strong price signal. With oil at $120 a barrel, alternative energy sources are becoming very appealing. As Michael mentioned yesterday, even big oil-producing regions are building alternative energy plants; and so they should.
Major oil-producing nations will increase output at these elevated prices, competing with each other to take advantage of this purple patch. Unfortunately, the oil industry is dominated by a colluding group called OPEC, which showed the world the middle finger when recently asked to increase supply. What a lovely bunch.
This behaviour will make alternatives even more appealing. In fact, being reliant on oil from other countries has become a big political risk. It is not just about money anymore.
I've said this before but it needs to be said again. Putin's war in Ukraine will do more for alternate energy investment than any climate change conference or environmental pact in history. If you look back in time, big shifts in human behaviour come from periods of pain. An awful war in Eastern Europe and a bout of inflation around the world does not feel comfortable right now. But it's fast-tracking us towards a future where OPEC is obsolete and cheap renewable energy keeps the lights on in most parts of the world.
Michael's Musings
We often talk here about why it's a bad idea to try to time the market. During market pullbacks, many people think: 'If only I had waited a bit longer before buying' or 'I should have sold at the top and bought back at these low levels'. In hindsight, timing the market always seems like an easy thing to do.
It is impossible to know what will happen next. On any given day, you can find very compelling reasons for why the market could go up or down. In the short term, things are simply too volatile to make any decent forecast. A great example was 2020 when even people who expected a Covid crash struggled to make money because the market rebounded quicker than we thought was possible.
I read this interesting blog yesterday, which has another interesting take on timing the market - You Can Probably Time The Market. The blogger argues that you probably can time the market, but when you get it wrong, it is very costly.
Here are his closing remarks: "Don't avoid market-timing because it won't work. It will probably work at some point. Avoid it because you don't need this (risk/reward) tradeoff."
Bright's Banter
Statista released this chart revealing the 'Kings of online shopping' in Africa. Jumia took the top spot with over 23 million unique customer visits. Mzansi's finest, e-commerce platform Takealot.com followed in second place with an average of 10.5 million monthly visitors.
Other notable platforms include Egypt's Souq, now an Amazon company that enjoys around 10 million monthly visitors. Then we have Nigeria's Konga, our Bidorbuy, and Kenya's Kilimall. I'm happy to see South Africa represented twice in the top six.
Jumia has an interesting history, the e-commerce giant was first launched in Kenya back in 2012, and has since grown into other markets like Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal, and Uganda. Jumia's latest earnings revealed that they had $47.7 billion in revenues in the first quarter, up 44% year-on-year.
The story of e-commerce in Africa is the story of internet penetration; as speeds improve so does the amount of shopping done. The addressable market is estimated to grow to half a billion unique customers by 2025 and the biggest winners will be the existing operators with feet on the ground.
The days of petrol-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers are numbered. Some countries are going as far as banning the sale of fossil-fuelled tools - What to look for in an electric lawn mower.
No comments:
Post a Comment