Hey Hey It’s Friday! It has been one hell of a week for many people as we try and eke our way to the next pay-cheque and hopefully the Finweek Morning Call has given you some tips and tricks to make your salary got that much further.
First up, we have a very important announcement. Finweek has partnered with the team from FNB BizNetwork – start watching our Facebook and Twitter communities for more information aimed at benefiting South African entrepreneurs aiming to empower themselves through their small businesses.
What information is important for you to know today?
- Top of the list is that the Springboks aim to white-wash the Poms in the rugby. Kick-off is at 5pm tomorrow. We just checked in with our friends at Voltbet and the Boks are overwhelming favourites at 5/24. Possibly a nice value bet could be the Junior Boks to win tonight and the big boys to win tomorrow – that is paying 3/1.
- Consumers will be breathing a sigh of relief with oil trading at a 9-month low. Crude is off roughly 21% this year but there is the possibility of a bounce with some storms gathering in the Gulf of Mexico.
- We’re going to look at it a little more closely during today but rubber fell 4% in Tokyo yesterday after Bridgestone said it was cutting back production forecasts. This does give some hints as to the health of the consumer.
- Ratings agency Moodys has downgraded 15 global banks including Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. This was after they were put under review in February 2012. Investors seem to be largely unphased by these developments.
- Asian markets are down a bit, but US Futures are up.
- Closer to home, the upcoming ANC policy conference is likely to ensure some big headlines on the various newspapers and news sites. While these are sure to be make for good media, take them with a pinch of salt as we’re in the middle of a busy time in politics.
- What you SHOULD however be worrying about is new legislation being bandied around for the South African Revenue Services (SARS). These new powers will allow SARS to come onto your premises and search / seize evidence with no warrant. If you think you are skirting close to the line with SARS then start making a plan to get your tax affairs in order.
- On the shares front, one share we’ve been flagging for a while now is industrial player Argent. The company came out with a pretty positive looking set of financial results yesterday and we think it is quite an interesting proxy for the state of infrastructure in South Africa which would suggest that there are some good things happening, even if the headlines don’t reflect it.
Win with Finweek
Our journalists and contributors enjoy being tested and if you would like to win a Freakonomics DVD you can submit a question to our Investment Team (invest@finweek.co.za) or our Life Coach (coach@finweek.co.za). The best question for the week will win a copy of the DVD.
