WorldWide Markets with Simon Brown
Weekly podcast hosted by Simon Brown covering global and local SA markets, economics, commodities and more.
Episodes
🔺 Tariffs Incoming
🇿🇦 SA faces 30% US tariffs starting Friday.
🚗 Auto industry, 🍊 citrus, 🚚 logistics & 🧪 fertilizer sectors (like Omnia, Kaap Agri, Impact) to feel the heat — but no fatal blows expected.
📉 MPC Policy Misfire?
💰 SA inflation at 3%, but rates still stuck at 10.75%.
📉 Is the MPC behind the curve? Simon says: Yes.
📉 Calls for a rate cut of at least 0.5% to 1%.
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🌍 This week on Worldwide Markets, Simon dives into a packed show covering inflation, earnings, property deals, and opportunities in local stocks. Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets and Shyft — your gateway to global investing. 🌐💸
📉 Inflation Target Cut – A Bad Idea?
• SA may shift to a 3% inflation target 📊
• Risks of higher interest rates 😬
• Real rates already sky-high 🚀
💵 Weaker US Dollar & Tech Gains
• Trump...
🎙 This Week in Markets:
US inflation ticks higher 📈, putting pressure on rate cuts. Powell's in no rush. Local rates also due end-July.
🏘 China Housing Trouble:
3 years of negative home price growth in China 🇨🇳. Citizens frustrated as property values slide. Evergrande and other ghosts still haunt.
Simon’s on holiday in sunny Durban 🌞 but couldn’t resist diving into what might be Trump’s grand economic plan. On the surface, it’s tariffs, spending cuts and tax breaks—but is there real strategy underneath the chaos?
🔹 Trump’s Big Idea: Use tariffs to raise revenue and onshore manufacturing 🏭
Read more
The Year So Far 📈
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Market returns in 2025 tell a story of extreme volatility rather than predictable trends.
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The US 10-year yield spiked above...
💸 Know Your Fees: Effective Annual Cost (EAC)
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Not all fees are created equal — EAC is the real number to watch.
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Applies to retirement products, LISPs, and unit trusts — n...
This week, Simon Brown unpacks the numbers behind a recovering South African consumer, an attractive new renewable energy listing, and the latest moves in platinum group metals (PGMs). Plus, CrowdStrike’s results, Omnia’s cash pile (and SARS headache), and what falling bond yields mean for SA.
In this episode:
Simon has been doing a key note address over the last week and in this weeks podcast he takes a slightly different tack to what he usually presents. This time he is delivery his key note.
He looks back over almost forty years of market crises that he's invested through.
He shares the lessons he learnt, what caused the crisis and what the response was.
This includes; 1987, EM Tigers of 1998, the DotCom bust in 2000, Global Financial...
- SARB inflation target 🎯
Inflation remains well below target at 2.8%, raising expectations of a rate cut at Thursday’s MPC meeting. New long-term target could shift to 3%.
⏳ Rate cut coming? Market’s betting on 25bps; Simon wants 50bps.
💡 ...
🎯 Tariff Talks: Where Are We Now?
Simon Brown recaps the evolution of Trump-era tariffs, with recent developments around:
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US-China deal: effective 54% tariff on Chinese goods, 10% on US goods
🧓 Warren Buffett Steps Down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
- Buffett officially steps aside as CEO at age 94, replaced by Greg Abel.
- Still remains Chairman
- Berkshire A shares up ~44,000% since the 80s
- No dividends ever paid, only share buybacks
- His legacy: simplicity, repeatable process, and long-term vision
- Emphasis on reading years of balance sheets and loving cash flow
- Fun fact: 96% of his net worth came after age 65
🎙 Episode Summary:
This week, Simon unpacks Alphabet’s surprisingly cheap valuation, troubling US economic data, South African CPI figures, Trump’s trade mess, and the implications of Aspen’s customer fallout. Plus, he previews the Berkshire AGM and upcoming JustOn...
Gold Pullback in Focus
- Gold surged to $3,500 before a sharp pullback to $3,321.
- Simon breaks down what caused the spike — including comments from Trump about Powell and rate cuts.
- Weekly chart shows potential kangaroo tail reversal — possible zone to watch: $2,800–$3,000.
Read more
🌍 Global Markets Rundown
- Goldman Sachs suggests gold could plausibly hit $4,500/oz by year-end.
- Gold is currently around $3,200/oz, but volatility and uncertainty are driving prices higher.
- Gold miners are benefiting from the price surge, with big leverage showing up in earnings.
- Example: Pan African Resources made $900/oz at $2,250; could make $2,900 at $3,250.
- Big upside still possible if gold just hold...
🇿🇦 South African Budget & Political Risk
- Budget framework passed (barely) – VAT increase to 15.5% effective 1 May.
- GNU under pressure as ANC signals reformulation talks with partners.
- Rand volatility: Touched nearly R19.90/USD before recovering to ~R18.70.
💥 Global Markets in Turmoil
- S&P 500 down 18.25%, Nasdaq down 22.5%.
- Massive selloff: One of the steepest 4-day drops since 1950.
- But histori...
Simon Brown chats with Glynn Allen from Shyft Global on the history of the app and the recent introduction of JSE shares and a look ahead to new features.
S&P 500 Bounce?
- After a rough start, Monday’s trading saw a small recovery. But with Trump’s "Liberation Day" tariff announcements looming, markets could be in for more volatility.
Budget Vote Approaches:
- The ANC lacks votes to pass the postponed budget, with opposition parties like MK and EFF holding out. Political and economic uncertainty remains high.
Commodities on a Quiet Rally:
Education Stocks: Winners and Losers
- Stadio: Strong performance with double-digit growth and 50,000+ learners. Benefiting from a shortage of university spaces and the struggles at UNISA. Potential for further growth through distance learning and university status.
- ADvTech*: Long-term holding with solid but not as aggressive growth. Strong presence in tertiary education and schools. Expansion into East Africa showing p...
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