Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… Gold back on fire?: Gold surged over 4% last week, its best weekly gain since February, closing above $4,300 an ounce. Investors read Fed Chair Kevin Warsh as less inclined to tighten policy than inflation warrants, while easing Iran tensions pushed oil below $80 and […]

One possible sign of the times is the fallout of the hedge fund Situational Awareness (with its 4x leverage). Will we look back at this as the first cracks in the AI bubbble? Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund, Situational Awareness, dropped from about $45 billion to $10 billion in under a month, tied to the AI […]

Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… Watching Sentiment: Oil price moves and Strait of Hormuz traffic remain closely linked, with prediction markets more pessimistic than financial markets about a near-term return to normal shipping. BofA’s fund manager survey, taken as tensions were escalating, showed managers at their most bullish since the […]

Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… Good news for RSA Inc? Bank chief economist Goolam Ballim sees South Africa’s economy gaining momentum as electricity, ports and rail fixes start paying off, forecasting 1.7% growth next year and 2% in 2028. Separately, Justice Malala’s piece on anti-immigrant violence highlights reputational and economic […]

I contributed to a piece for Citywire on Retail Impact Investing. You can read it HERE Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… FED: Kevin’s First International Foray: Warsh told the Sintra conference that inflation expectations and risks have fallen, credited as much to lower oil prices as to his hawkish stance. […]

I spent another interesting week interviewing on Fine Music radio last week, and had some interesting conversations. This one, on construction changes underway around RSA was particularly informative: Another Brick in the Wall Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… About change!: Gold has shed all its 2026 gains and is now […]

UK inflation – a pleasant surprise: The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% on 18 June in an 8-1 vote, as UK inflation eased to 2.8% in May. Hike expectations have fallen from four this year to roughly one, following the US-Iran deal. Politically, over 70 Labour MPs are calling for Starmer to […]

Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… This Week’s Roundup: SA’s Q1 GDP beat forecasts at 0.5%, with Fitch delivering its first credit upgrade in 21 years (BB- to BB). Petrol is 35% above January levels, pushing CPI to 4.0%. US May CPI hit 4.2% on soaring energy costs, with PPI at […]

The Legacy Series eBook is ready (free on request). Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… This Week’s Roundup: SA inflation hit 4.0% in April, household debt stress is deepening with 41% of credit-active South Africans in default, and the JSE is lagging Wall Street. In the US, Q1 GDP was revised […]

The Legacy Series eBook is ready (free on request). Too Busy? Got Better Things to Do? Read the Summary… This Week’s Roundup: The SARB hiked the repo rate by 25bp to 7% on 28 May — its first hike since 2023 — with four of six MPC members in favour. SA inflation jumped to 4.0% […]