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Jerry signs cheques

Published 2023/09/15, 11:59
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Market scorecard

US markets closed up yesterday, thanks to strong retail sales numbers for the month of August. The American consumer is undefeated, forget about inflation, spending is living! All eleven of the S&P 500 sectors finished in the green with cruise liners among the best performers for the day.

In company news, chip maker Arm rose by 25% on its trading debut in the US, giving other unicorns hope that it might be the right time to list. Elsewhere, billionaire Byron Allen is trying to buy various media assets from Disney (NYSE:DIS), including ABC TV, local stations, and the FX and National Geographic cable channels.

Izolo, the JSE All-share climbed by 1.43%, the S&P 500 gained 0.84%, and the Nasdaq added a respectable 0.81%.

One thing, from Paul

It's time for some Friday life advice again. There's a lot of self-help content out on the internet about being happy. The central point of most of it is to stop chasing fame and fortune, slow down, and enjoy the people around you.

There are some practical ways to refocus on the here and now, be more grateful, and not obsess about material possessions. I enjoyed this concrete suggestion from James Clear. He says we should find the beauty and joy in our daily rituals.

"Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal - we often see our routines as chores to be completed.

But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual - perhaps even a fulfilling one - if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It's about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task."

Byron's beats

The next US presidential election takes place in late 2024, and it may or may not impact markets. Investors have been asking us what we think will happen and how stocks will react. Of course, we have no idea who will win and don't know how the market will behave.

Donald Trump was not expected to win in 2016 and the immediate consensus when he did, was that markets would drop. After a few hours of uncertainty, markets actually rallied. Most people were wrong about which candidate would win and then wrong again about the reaction.

The US economy and market will continue to grow, regardless of who takes the White House. The US political system has plenty of checks and balances so a new president cannot change things up too much.

In my view, the real leadership of US society is in the business sector. The most talented individuals in that country become corporate CEOs. Politics is a clown show and Congress is a circus.

Michael's musings

The carbon capture industry is gaining momentum thanks to recent investment incentives. Large corporates like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have recently signed multiyear contracts worth hundreds of millions of USD with the carbon capture companies.

1PointFive is a leading carbon capture service provider, and is a subsidiary of oil company Occidental (NYSE:OXY). They capture carbon dioxide and pump it underground, and in the process they extract residual traces of oil from the cavities down there. The ethics of this are a little complicated, right?

Amazon has a pledged to reach net zero carbon production by 2040, and is rapidly building renewable energy plants to power its operations. Air transport is a crucial cog in their delivery platform and since aeroplanes are heavy carbon-emitters and we don't have any carbon-free alternatives, Amazon has contracted with the capture industry to offset that for them.

Bright's banter

Yesterday we looked at how Jerry Seinfeld made his money; he is estimated to be worth around $1 billion. Here's one of the ways he spends it.

Seinfeld is a passionate car collector. He owns over 150 vehicles valued at over $100 million. Notable cars include a 1964 Porsche (ETR:P911_p) 911 worth over $1.8 million and a 1955 Mercedes-Benz (ETR:MBGn) 300SL Gullwing worth $6.8 million. He even has a dedicated home in New York for his car collection.

Jerry Seinfeld's journey from stand-up comedy to sitcom stardom, combined with exceptional financial shrewdness means he can pursue his deep love for cars. He says "I like money, but it's never been about the money."

Signing off

Asian markets are up this morning. Equities in mainland China edged higher thanks to retail sales and industrial production beating estimates.

US equity futures are firming again in early trade. The Rand has weakened slightly to around R19.02 to the US Dollar.

Happy Friday. The Springboks play again on Sunday afternoon, that's something to look forward to.

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