Take that! This morning the bull put on one of his all time best
ever displays of leaping and towed the All Share index over 36 000 in a single
bound. This has been caused almost entirely by a heroic recovery of the mining
sector shares as investors apparently realise that their earlier fears for that
industry were utterly misplaced. Many analysts are attributing the change of
heart to the launch in the US
yesterday of the good ship QE3. This was the announcement by Governor Bernanke
of a third (actually fourth) round of sending other people’s money to areas of
the economy which, some very wise people have decided, are in need of more
cash. It is once again disappointing to
watch as the world’s leading capitalist economies insist that central planning
will work better than markets at allocating resources. But hey, we are getting
one hell of a powerful bull market out of it.
In fact Public Enterprises Minister Gigaba seems to be justified in
his confidence that investors are not in the least concerned with developments
on the nation’s mines. This, he claims, is because it is well known that the
country has a “very solid” Constitution and a proven record of conflict
resolution and that further “…investors are confident that we have the
necessary leadership with requisite skills and experience to rein in the
situation.” Sadly any sign of these skills are not evident as the strike seems
to escalating to all types of mines all over the country. As always, the specifics of the demands are
complex and it is difficult for outsiders to put amounts like R12 500 into
context. However a restaurant in Cape
Town is willing to offer R5500 to suitably experienced
Chinese Cuisine Chefs. It certainly feels as if one of these numbers is out of
line.
For several years now the JSE has believed it wields a mighty weapon
over the newspaper industry in that it had the power to reduce significantly
the demand for advertising space that arises from the JSE rule that requires
every listed company to publish its half-yearly results in the press. That rule
is about to be rescinded on the reasonable assumption that there are no significant
shareholders (and presumably not a single company) without access to the
internet. The fact that so many companies currently publish their results in
lavish multi-colour spreads far more detailed than they are obliged to, shows
that they view this six-monthly exercise as important for their communications
strategy and general public awareness. They will very likely continue this
practice well after the rule disappears and the newspapers may breathe a little
easier. Websites and emails in fact are cumbersome tools for capturing
attention and presenting financial information. Analysts always prefer to use
the newspaper versions. The JSE should, however, be concerned about the
companies that will be only too keen to vanish from the press. These are the firms
that will issue only the occasional impenetrable slab of words and numbers via
SENS – the official electronic channel – and which may well have something to
hide. The small private investors will be the most likely victim of the
resulting opacity since analysts and journalists will also not bother to dig
around in the murk.
Patrick Lambie must have been on the line to his mom several times
in the last few weeks asking her to check the family tree to see if there is
any way he could claim citizenship of another country and offer them his
services on the international rugby field. Warming the bench as we accept yet
another hiding from the likes of the Wallabies and the Pumas is not
entertaining and he is undoubtedly very frustrated. Fortunately I have been
invited to a breakfast to watch tomorrow’s game against the All Blacks and so I
intend to bury my nose in a large helping of scrambled eggs and attempt to
avoid the TV screen. I will be well clear of the plate by the time of the
Cheetahs Lions match however.
James Greener
14th September 2012
