WorldWide Markets with Simon Brown

Now displaying: September, 2025

what's pushed Purple Group +140% this Year? And a Bull Case for SA Inc. 0

Sep 30, 2025

🌍 Worldwide Markets Episode 650 – 1 October 2025

Hosted by Simon Brown
Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets & the Shyft Global Money App 💳🌐

🔑 Key Topics This Week

📈 Purple Group* & EasyEquities

Purple Group share price up ~150% this year 🚀
Results driven by non-revenue income (inactivity fees & loyalty program)
Strong client acquisition via Capitec & Discovery Bank partnerships 🏦
Trading volumes soaring in a bullish market 💹

Purple Group | YTD to close 29 Sep 25

💰 Top 40 hits 100,000

Thanks to gold miners & PGMs ⛏️
AngloGold Ashanti* up nearly 200% in 2025 ✨
Bitcoin also at record highs: $110k – $115k ₿

🇿🇦 Bull case for SA Inc.

Eskom turns profit ⚡, load shedding largely behind us
FAFTA gray list exit expected late October ✅
Stronger rand & softer oil price supporting consumers ⛽
Lower inflation, potential rate cuts in the US vs. SA rates hold 💵
Bond yields easing = cheaper government borrowing 💸

🛒 Boxer trading update

Like-for-like sales up 5.3%, turnover +13.9% 📊
EPS guidance strong but valuation looks pricey vs. Shoprite* 🍏

🤖 Nvidia’s* self-dealing investments

Billions poured into OpenAI, CoreWeave & Mistral 🧠
Risks of dot-com style "self-dealing" re-emerging ⚠️
Simon remains a cautious Nvidia shareholder

📉 Global delistings trend

JSE listings halved over 20 years 📉
US market also down from 8,000+ to ~4,000 listings
Private equity & venture capital keep firms private longer ⏳

📅 Upcoming Event

Standard Bank Power Hour – Warren Buffett: Blueprint for a Lifetime of Investing 🦫💡
🗓️ 16 October, 17:30 SAST
📍 Rosebank, Johannesburg (in-person & webcast)

📝 Simon’s Notes

Obsidian vs Evernote: experimenting with second-brain systems 📚🧠
Thanks for all listener feedback 🙏

🎙️ Closing

10 more episodes left before Simon’s year-end break ✈️
“Look after yourself, and if you can, look after somebody else too.” ❤️

Simon Brown

* I hold ungeared positions.

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Your Second Brain | Managing all the Data and Putting it to use 0

Sep 23, 2025

🌍 Worldwide Markets Ep. 649 – Building a Second Brain 🧠✨

Recorded on 24 September 2025 (from the beach!) – Hosted by Simon Brown

This week, Simon takes a break from market talk 📉📈 to explore something equally powerful: how to manage the flood of data and information we face every day. Instead of focusing on stocks, currencies, or central banks, he dives into the idea of creating a "second brain" — a system to capture, organize, and use knowledge effectively.

🔑 Episode Highlights

🧠 Brains are great at decisions – quick choices like what to eat or which route to take. But storing and retrieving data? Not so much.
✍️ Handwritten notes win – research shows writing helps memory more than typing. Simon shares how digital handwritten notes improve recall.
📅 Calendars as to-do lists – forget endless apps. Simon’s hack: putting everything (from work deadlines to buying milk 🥛 & whiskey 🥃) in his calendar for one central source of truth.
📚 Building a Second Brain (by Tiago Forte) – the PARA + CODE framework that inspired Simon’s system.

🗂️ PARA Framework

P – Projects 🎯: Active tasks (e.g. upcoming presentations, podcast prep).
A – Areas 🌐: Broader ongoing themes (like camping 🏕️ or tech gadgets 📸).
R – Resources 📖: Interesting but general material worth saving.
A – Archive 📦: Where used or finished items end up.

🔄 CODE Method

C – Capture 📸: Snap photos, clip articles, jot notes into Evernote.
O – Organize 🗃️: Sort into PARA a few times a week.
D – Distill 💡: Pull out the key ideas & insights.
E – Express 🗣️: Use the information for podcasts, presentations, articles, or even shopping lists 🛒.

🛠️ Tools Simon Uses

Evernote 📱💻: Clunky but everywhere (phone, laptop, e-reader, iPad). Paid version makes it work seamlessly.
Tried but moved on: Obsidian (too complex), Notion (powerful but not his fit), Raindrop.io (good for bookmarking but limited).

🎯 Why it Works

✔️ Frees up mental space – no more stressing about remembering.
✔️ Keeps data accessible & actionable.
✔️ Turns chaos (screenshots, random notes, cluttered camera rolls) into a system.
✔️ Supports Simon’s creative and teaching work.

🙌 Your Turn

Simon invites listeners to share their hacks:
👉 How do you manage the constant stream of info?
👉 Do you have your own “second brain” system?

Send us your thoughts, tools, and strategies 💬.

Simon Brown

* I hold ungeared positions.

All charts by KoyFin | Get 10% off your order

💡 Worldwide Markets is powered by Standard Bank Global Markets and Shyft – the global money app for travel, shopping, payments, and investments with the best forex rates anytime, anywhere. 🌍💳

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Three Stocks with Cash & Shares Worth more then their Market Cap 0

Sep 16, 2025

🌍 World Wide Markets Ep. 648 – Cash-Rich Companies, Fed Cuts & China’s Housing Woes

Host: Simon Brown
Date: 17 September 2025

📉 China’s Housing Market

New house prices fell 2.5% YoY – still negative since May 2022.
Bottomed in October 2023 (-5.9%) and now trending upward.
Reflects weak Chinese consumer confidence, similar to South Africa 🇨🇳🇿🇦.
Evergrande’s collapse still casts a shadow.

Chinese New Home index YonY

🏦 Central Banks in Focus

FOMC (US): Decision due Wednesday evening.

Market expects 25bps cut, with more cuts likely in Oct & Dec.
US unemployment says “cut”, inflation says “don’t cut” – a real policy squeeze.
Trump pushing for FOMC shake-up & questioning quarterly reporting 📊.

MPC (SA): Decision Thursday.

Inflation at 3.5%, close to target.
Mixed economist views: some say no cuts until 2027, others see cuts sooner.
Fed cuts could influence SARB moves via rand 💵➡️🇿🇦.

📊 Trump vs. Quarterly Results

Trump suggests companies report every six months instead of quarterly.
Argument: reduces costs and red tape.
Counterpoint: US market’s strength lies in transparency & discipline from frequent reporting.
Unlikely to change, but sparks debate on market “exceptionalism” 🇺🇸.

🏢 Three Stocks With More Cash & Investments Than Market Cap

1. 📰 Caxton (JSE:CAT)

💰 Cash: R3bn + R1.3bn stake in Mpact.
Market cap: R4.4bn → stock “almost free” if stripped for parts.
Dividend payer, PE \~7, yield \~5%.
Not flashy, but offers Buffett-style margin of safety.

2. 🚚 Supergroup (JSE:SPG)

💰 Cash: R5.2bn, but liabilities of R9.5bn linked to assets held for sale.
Supply chain, dealerships, fleet solutions.
Debt-heavy, UK exposure risky 🇬🇧.
Verdict: less attractive vs. Caxton.

3. 🛒 Pick n Pay (JSE:PIK)

Owns 65.6% of Boxer → worth \~R20bn.
Plus R5bn cash, R1bn debt, R2.8bn deferred tax asset.
Market cap \~R20bn → potential undervaluation.
PE ugly now, but 2027/28 earnings growth could re-rate it.
Selling down Boxer stake could unlock value.

⚒️ Mining & M&A

Anglo American buying Teck Resources (Canada, copper focus).

* Increases copper weighting to \~⅔ of revenue.
Head office shifting to Toronto 🇨🇦.
Deal raises takeover questions – could BHP* come back for Anglo?

🇨🇳 Nvidia vs. China

China says Nvidia violated anti-monopoly laws (linked to 2020 acquisition).
Also probing Texas Instruments for “dumping”.
Comes as US-China trade talks continue, TikTok deadline looms ⏳.
Possible bargaining chip in ongoing negotiations.
Simon still holds Nvidia.

🧠 Next Week: Second Brain Special

Simon explains how to build & use a “second brain” for decision-making & information management. Because our brains are great at decisions 🧠✔️ … but terrible at remembering ❌.

👉 Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets & SHYFT – The global money app for forex, travel, shopping, payments & investments.

Simon Brown

* I hold ungeared positions.

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Alphabet Wins & Makes New Highs | OPEC Boosts Production 0

Sep 8, 2025

🌍 Worldwide Markets – Episode 647 (9 Sept 2024)

This week on *Worldwide Markets*, Simon Brown dives into global markets, tech giants, crypto shifts, commodities, and currencies. Recorded a day early before heading to Leaderex, here’s what’s moving markets right now. Powered by Standard Bank and Shyft. 💳🌐

📊 US Jobs & Rate Cuts

US jobs report was a mixed bag → +22k jobs, but mostly in healthcare.
June revised downward to negative, July slightly up.
Unemployment steady at 4.3%.
Market expectation: Fed to cut rates next week after Jackson Hole signals.
SA MPC unlikely to cut as inflation edges higher at 3.5%.

🔍 Alphabet (Google) Court Cases

Alphabet gets a gentle slap on the wrist in antitrust cases.
Remedies minimal → no spin-offs of Chrome/Android, search payments (Apple $20bn/year, Firefox $750m) remain.
Stock ran to **all-time highs 🚀 (PE still below historical mean).
Another case pending on ad dominance – possible spinoffs (YouTube, DoubleClick?) could unlock hidden value.

₿ AltVest → African Bitcoin Corporation

AltVest rebrands to African Bitcoin Corporation (ABC).
Pivot: becoming a Bitcoin treasury company like MicroStrategy.
Raising R11m at R11/share (vs. current ±R5). Proceeds to fund name change + Bitcoin buys.
Ambition: raise R210m (maybe even $210m?) in tranches.
Risky bet → doubling down on volatile BTC exposure. ⚡

🛢️ Oil & Sasol

OPEC+ to increase output ~200k barrels/day.
Saudi Arabia aims for market share → oil likely heading to $60.
Sasol still strong 💪 → potential run to R135–R140 before Simon trims profits.

💡 ASML & Mistral (AI)

Rumours: Dutch chip giant ASML investing \$1.5bn in French AI startup Mistral.
ASML has cash $8.5bn, but risks blurring lines by funding customers’ ecosystem.
Simon skeptical: “Picking AI winners this early is messy.”

📈 Bull Market Still Running

SA Top 40 at record highs (95k+).
Possible push to 100k points this month.
“This is still a bull market until it’s not.” 🐂🔥

🥇 Precious Metals

Gold → holding gains, bullish above \$3,450.
Platinum & Palladium → strong breakouts, holding support.
Silver → resilient above \$40.
Precious metals complex all looking firm. ✨

💵 Rand & Global Trade

Rand currently at R17.55, with potential to test R17.00 if US cuts rates.
Africa-China trade up 25% to $122bn → filling void left by US. 🇨🇳🤝🌍

🇺🇸 Trump’s Tariff Exemptions

Trump exempts; uranium, tungsten, graphite, gold, bullion from tariffs.
Good news for SA resources sector.

🎙️ Final Thoughts

Markets remain bullish, metals are shining, oil likely weaker, and crypto experiments continue.
If you’re at Leaderex, come say hi 👋.
Powered by Standard Bank & Shyft – the global money app for payments, travel, and investing.

Simon Brown

* I hold ungeared positions.

All charts by KoyFin | Get 10% off your order