vestact posted: " Market Scorecard On Friday, US markets zoomed higher, with major indexes closing out another week of very satisfactory gains. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have both posted their fourth consecutive week of increases, their best stretch since earl" Vestact - Money with a dash of funny
On Friday, US markets zoomed higher, with major indexes closing out another week of very satisfactory gains. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have both posted their fourth consecutive week of increases, their best stretch since early November. As you can see, holding fast through tough times is a workable investment strategy.
In company-specific news, Peloton was up 14% after the exercise machine manufacturer said it plans to cut costs and raise prices. Elsewhere, Toast shares jumped 8.2% after boosting its revenue and earnings outlook for the year. Who came up with that name? The company provides a digital technology platform for restaurants.
On Friday, the JSE All-share closed down 0.75%, but the S&P 500 was up 1.73%, and the Nasdaq rose 2.09%.
Our 10c Worth
One Thing, From Paul
Illumina is a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies. They make the machines and consumables that are used to investigate genetic material to fight disease, especially cancer. It's headquartered in San Diego.
The company is growing fast. Consider the chart below, which reflects the trend in their quarterly sales over the last decade. Unfortunately, the very last data point on the far right was lower than the two before it, which prompted a selloff in the company's shares last week. In fact, the share price of Illumina has fallen from a high of $526 a share in August 2021 to $208 a share now. Ugly!
Illumina CEO Francis deSouza said, "Our second quarter results did not meet our expectations". He pointed to the ongoing negative impact of foreign exchange rates, and delays in customer laboratory expansions.
The company also made two hefty provisions which knocked profits. The first is an accrual of $453 million for the potential fine that the European Commission may impose on them for going ahead with the acquisition of another company GRAIL, prior to obtaining full approval. The second was for $156 million, related to the settlement of an intellectual property fight with a Chinese company called BGI.
We still believe that Illumina has a place in your portfolio, with an eye to the future of genomics as a business sector. There is no doubt that genetic oncology, drug development using DNA sequencing, and preventative studies using population genomics have a big future. We encourage you to be patient with this underperforming holding.
Byron's Beats
South Africa has many problems, but we still have a lot to be grateful for. In July inflation in Argentina hit 70%. How do you even operate in an environment like that? I have been to Buenos Aires and it's an impressive city. It is hard to contemplate how a place that looks so advanced on the surface can be in such turmoil.
South Africa has an independent central bank that runs a very tight ship, protecting the value of the Rand by preventing inflation. Other than annoying exchange controls on individuals, we have a freely traded currency that is priced where it should be in the open market. These two factors are crucial for a fluid economy that wants to grow. We have the right foundations, now let's try to fix the rest.
Michael's Musings
The number of Apple shares in issue has gone from just below 26 billion at its peak to 16 billion now, meaning the company has repurchased over 1/3 of its shares. As far as share buybacks go, this one has been very successful because, in hindsight, the company bought the shares at very good prices. Importantly, Apple's operations have continued to grow profits.
Even though Apple has spent half a trillion Dollars buying back shares over the last decade, there are still more shares in issue today than in the late 90s. Some of the shares issued were used to buy Steve Jobs's company Next, which is what brought him back to Apple. That was money very well spent. The rest of the shares issued would have been to employees as share options. Those new shares issued do add up over time and dilute company profits. This is a reminder of how expensive issuing shares can be over the long run.
Bright's Banter
China's internet giants are said to have shared details of their algorithms with China's authorities for the first time. According to Bloomberg, China's internet watchdog published a list describing 30 algorithms that firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Bytedance (TikTok), and Meituan, employ to gather data on users, tailor personal recommendations, and serve-up content.
According to the authorities, this step was taken to curb "data abuse", but it may also end up compromising closely guarded corporate secrets. These algorithms are considered to be the secret sauce of many social media companies because they're what retain users' attention and drive growth.
I'm not comfortable with the Chinese government having such comprehensive information sets about its own people and also international users. This is why you should be careful about which apps you use.
Asian markets are mixed this morning. Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China struggled, notwithstanding a surprise interest rate cut by PBOC (People's Bank of China). The Japanese bourse bucked the trend and is edging closer to breakeven for the year.
There are still some second-quarter earnings to come this week. We'll be watching out for Home Depot, Walmart, and Tencent.
US equity futures are slightly lower in early trade, but that's nothing to worry about. The Rand is trading at R16.24 to the US Dollar.
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