Market scorecard
US markets ended Friday in the green. Notable performers included CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) (+4.1%), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) (+3.8%), and Uber (NYSE:UBER) (+2.7%), while bank stocks hit their highest levels in over two years. The dollar continued its upward streak, marking an eighth consecutive week of gains - the longest run so far this year.
In company news, Gap gapped up 12.8% after boosting its full-year outlook. Elsewhere, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s skyrocketing share price presents a unique challenge for CEO Jensen Huang's charitable foundation, as the stock's rise increases its donation obligations. Finally, Reddit (NYSE:RDDT) dropped 7.2% after Tencent Holdings (HK:0700) sold a chunk of its stake in the social media company.
On Friday, the JSE All-share was up 0.10%, the S&P 500 rose 0.35%, and the Nasdaq was 0.16% higher. Up is better than down.
Byron's beats
Paul's advice piece last week Friday about wealth and happiness got me thinking about South Africans who pack up and emigrate to more expensive countries. The study he referred to found that the happiness gap between the truly wealthy and middle to low-income groups is 3 times. That's a broad-brush conclusion, but very significant.
I have seen a lot of people leave South Africa for developed countries only to be shocked at how their standard of living drops. Many have gone from living a life of the top 1% to the lives of a middle-income family. If the study above stands true, their happiness surely takes a big hit too.
On top of that, you are away from your original home, family and friends. It is definitely not an easy journey and if you're currently sitting on the fence, make sure you do your research. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Except if you are talking about the UK. The grass is indeed greener there, but only because it rains a lot.
Michael's musings
Two weeks ago, the EU fined Meta EUR 800 million for what they perceived as market dominance abuse by promoting its marketplace feature to users. In short, the EU took exception to Facebook (NASDAQ:META) users having automatic access to Facebook Marketplace. The European Commission thinks that it creates an unfair advantage for Meta.
To me, that seems like fining a company for being successful and innovating into new product ranges. If MySpace (it still exists) had created a marketplace, no one would have batted an eyelid.
Part of Meta's response is that users had already created their own marketplaces through Facebook groups, all the company did was to formalise things to improve user experience. You can read the full response here.
As a user, I think Facebook Marketplace is an amazing product. It is easy to use and allows me to verify if a buyer or seller is legitimate. Instead of fining Meta, the EU should be giving them a medal for making a safer, more user-friendly platform.
Bright's banter
Wonder Group, led by former Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) executive Marc Lore, has struck a deal to acquire Grubhub for $650 million, comprising $150 million in cash and $500 million in assumed debt. This marks a staggering fall from Grubhub's $7.3 billion valuation in 2020 and reflects ongoing challenges in the post-pandemic food delivery market.
The transaction comes as Just Eat Takeaway is facing pressure from activist investor Lucerne Capital Management to address profitability concerns.
To support the acquisition, Wonder Group secured $250 million in fresh funding from new investors. Lore has ambitious plans to make Wonder Group IPO-ready by 2027, with a target valuation of $30 billion. He's an impressive guy.
Signing off
Asian markets opened on a positive note today, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index climbing around 1%.
In local company news, Spar secured a R2 billion bridging loan to complete the final phase of selling its Polish assets. The sale includes 200 stores, three distribution centers, and a factory. Unfortunately, that operation has been making losses since the day they bought it, which is hard to understand, because the Polish economy has been booming.
US equity futures are edging higher in early Monday morning trade. The Rand is at R18.11 to the US Dollar.
This is the last week of serious work before the festive season vibes kick in. Enjoy!