vestact posted: " Market Scorecard US markets rallied again yesterday, propelling the S&P 500 to a six-week high. Investors cheered earnings from large firms like logistics giant UPS, which did much better than its rival FedEx. Unfortunately, late results fr" Vestact - Money with a dash of funny
US markets rallied again yesterday, propelling the S&P 500 to a six-week high. Investors cheered earnings from large firms like logistics giant UPS, which did much better than its rival FedEx.
Unfortunately, late results from Google and Microsoft were softer than hoped and both dropped just over 6% in after-hours trade. In other company news, General Motors and Coca-Cola closed in the green after topping earnings estimates.
In summary on Tuesday, the JSE All-share closed up 1.35%, the S&P 500 rose by 1.63%, and the Nasdaq rallied a pleasing 2.25%.
Our 10c Worth
One Thing, From Paul
Back in May, I described Google as a money-making, near-monopoly that is the gateway to the Internet, and you're nuts if you don't own their shares.
At that time, Google shares were down 16% year-to-date. Now they are down 27.9% year to date. Not a very good performance, but then everything in the sector has been off about as much in 2022.
As mentioned earlier, Google had third-quarter results out after the bell last night, and they were a little disappointing. The stock price fell 6.6% after hours, which puts them back where they were trading in the middle of October.
Their search advertising business delivered decent revenue, but at lower margins than hoped. Advertising sales on YouTube were weak. The Google Cloud business did well.
Google is a really big company, making about $70 billion in revenue every quarter. That's $40 billion from selling adverts next to its search results, another $7 billion from ads on YouTube, $8 billion from ads served on other websites, and about $15 billion from Google Cloud and other services.
The company has a ton of cash on hand, over $160 billion, and is buying back stock aggressively. Repurchases for the quarter were $15.5 billion, bringing total year-to-date share buybacks to $44 billion. That's good for shareholders like us that are holding on.
We expect better advertising sales in 2023, provided that the US economy stays strong as inflation subsides.
Byron's Beats
This is pretty cool, MTN has announced that they will host a virtual concert in Ubuntuland, Africa's metaverse. In February this year MTN became the first company to purchase land in Ubuntuland, which was created by a platform company called africarare. MTN's goal is to be able to create unique immersive experiences for their customers.
MTN has over 200 million subscribers in Africa, it certainly makes sense that they spearhead Africa's virtual world.
Primedia and Nedbank have also purchased land in Ubuntuland. Africa has so many unique cultures, colours, designs, landscapes and people. It makes sense to have its own unique metaverse.
Michael's Musings
More people are working from home, and less hours are wasted travelling to work. The good news for those going in to the office is that traffic is light. Americans now spend 60 million fewer hours traveling to work each day.
On top of the time saved on the commute, people working from home also spend fewer hours each day doing paid work. So how do people spend all this extra time?
Recent research suggests that the bulk of the extra time is spent on 'leisure at home', which can be translated to watching Netflix. People also spend more time sleeping, and doing household chores. It was only people in the 18-30 category who used the time to get out and see non-household members.
I'm interested to see how the data changes over the next year as life normalises. I think workplaces are still trying to find a new balance for hybrid working, and people will get better at using their extra time.
Adidas has officially ended its partnership with Kanye West, aka 'Ye', after some offensive anti-Semitic behaviour on social media. The apparel company will cut production of Yeezy-branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. This also comes after Gap and Kering's Balenciaga ended their union with Ye.
In 2018, Kanye West enlisted the help of Matt George, co-owner of Study Canada, to become a strategic advisor on the brand. During this time the annual sales of Adidas Yeezy grew from $15 million to $1.5 billion. George officially became the CEO of Yeezy in September 2018.
There's no doubt that Kanye West is a design genius. Adidas had no sneaker range when the relationship started, now they account for over 8% of the company's revenue. This was thanks to advancements he made in foam technology which created its prominent look, and better quality, durability and comfort.
The crazy thing is that all Yeezy-branded items from the early partnership with Nike and the latest Adidas items are soaring in price by as much as 50% on the news, essentially making them collectables. The share price of Adidas closed down 9% in Germany to its lowest in more than 6 years.
Forbes still estimates Ye's net worth at over $400 million which comes from property investments, cash, his music catalog, and a 5% stake in his ex-wife's shapewear SKIMS. The man won't be going hungry, but please someone give him his meds!
Linkfest, Lap It Up
Patek Philippe just launched eight new watch "references". The lineup includes a show-stopping white-gold successor to the discontinued steel Nautilus 5711 - Patek Philippe surprises fans.
Christmas decorations are already appearing in stores. With December fast approaching, you can start preparing your reading list for the holidays - A Few Good Books.
Signing Off
Asian markets are all up this morning, but not as much as was hoped after a strong showing last night amongst US-listed Chinese stocks. China's central bank and foreign exchange regulators made some comments that they would prop up stocks, bonds and maintain a stable Yuan.
Shares in Hong Kong and mainland China made gains for a second day but still were short of recouping Monday's near 10% slide in the tech sector.
US equity futures are down in early trade, probably reflecting the lower prices of those big company results mentioned earlier. One buck (American) will cost you about R18.20 today.
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