South African Central Bank Cuts Rates on Eve of Trump's Tariffs
The monetary policy committee cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7%, the lowest since November 2022, Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters at a briefing north of Johannesburg on Thursday.
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Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sibanye Stillwater Limited (SBSW): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on Sibanye Stillwater Limited on by walter99. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on SBSW. Sibanye Stillwater Limited's share was trading at $9.24 as of July 25th. SBSW's trailing and forward P/E were 4.67 and 10.94, respectively according to Yahoo Finance. A mine entrance, showcasing the precious metals and minerals that this company produces. Sibanye-Stillwater (SBSW), a major producer of platinum group metals (PGMs)—platinum, palladium, and rhodium—offers a leveraged play on a sector where years of underinvestment and misjudged demand forecasts have created the setup for an extended upcycle. PGMs are essential for automotive catalysts and jewelry, with catalytic converters alone accounting for 43% of platinum and 84% of palladium demand. Market pessimism has been fueled by overestimates of battery electric vehicle (BEV) penetration, but BEV sales growth in the U.S. and Europe flatlined in 2024, suggesting that internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicle demand—and thus PGM demand—will remain resilient. Supply is structurally constrained: South African PGM miners underspent by ~$18 billion over the last decade, 40% of global supply operates at or below cash costs, and production is forecast to decline through 2029. With long lead times for new supply, a persistent deficit projected by the World Platinum Investment Council, and palladium in deficit until at least 2028, any uptick in demand can drive a sharp price response. Recycling, a secondary supply source, remains depressed post-COVID, adding to market tightness. SBSW's profits, crushed by low PGM prices in 2024, have substantial torque to higher prices, as shown in 2020–2021 when the stock hit $20 on elevated metal prices. Today, at $7, platinum's rebound to $1,250 suggests early signs of a cyclical turn. Risks include economic weakness, faster BEV adoption, and rising recycling supply, but with constrained production, a decade of underinvestment, and platinum already rallying, SBSW presents asymmetric upside if PGM prices sustain an upcycle. Previously, we covered a on Sibanye Stillwater Limited (SBSW) by Hugo Navarro in February 2025, highlighting its diversified asset base in PGMs, gold, lithium, and recycling, with growth levers despite weak PGM prices. The stock has appreciated by about 130% as PGM prices rebounded. The thesis still stands, and Walter99 shares a similar view but emphasizes SBSW's leverage to a sustained PGM upcycle. Sibanye Stillwater Limited is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 20 hedge fund portfolios held SBSW at the end of the first quarter which was 18 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of SBSW as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fast Company
27 minutes ago
- Fast Company
Stock market rebounds after Friday's wipeout
BY U.S. stocks are rallying and recovering much of their sharp losses from last week, when worries about how President Donald Trump's tariffs may be punishing the economy sent a shudder through Wall Street. The S&P 500 jumped 1.4% in afternoon trading to claw back more than two thirds of Friday's drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 558 points, or 1.3%, as of 1:11 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% higher. Idexx Laboratories helped lead the way and soared 26.2% after the seller of veterinary instruments and other health care products reported a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected. It also raised its forecast for profit over the full year. Tyson Foods likewise delivered a bigger-than-expected profit for the latest quarter, and the company behind the Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farms brands climbed 4.3%. They helped offset a 3% drop for Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett's company reported a drop in profit for its second quarter from a year earlier. The weakening was due in part to the falling value of its investment in Kraft Heinz. The pressure is on U.S. companies to deliver bigger profits after their stock prices shot to record after record recently. The jump in stock prices from a low point in April raised criticism that the broad market had become too expensive. Stocks just sank to their worst week since May, not so much on that criticism but on worries that Trump's tariffs may be hitting the U.S. economy following a longer wait than some economists had expected. Job growth slowed sharply last month, and the unemployment rate worsened to 4.2%. Trump reacted to the disappointing jobs numbers by firing the person in charge of compiling them. He also continued his criticism of the Federal Reserve, which could lower interest rates in order to shoot adrenaline into the economy. The Fed has instead been keeping rates on pause this year, in part because lower rates can send inflation higher, and Trump's tariffs may be set to increase prices for U.S. households. Friday's stunningly weak jobs report did raise expectations on Wall Street that the Fed will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September. That caused Treasury yields to slump in the bond market, and they were mixed on Monday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased a bit to 4.20% from 4.23% late Friday. The two-year yield, which moves more closely with expectations for Fed action, rose to 3.70% from 3.69% late Friday. 'In our view, if the Fed starts to cut rates at its September meeting, we believe this would be supportive for markets,' according to David Lefkowitz, head of US equities at UBS Global Wealth Management. Such hopes, combined with profit reports from big U.S. companies that have largely come in better than expected, could help steady a U.S. stock market that may have been due for some turbulence. Before Friday, the S&P had gone more than a month without a daily swing of 1%, either up or down. This upcoming week may feature fewer fireworks on Wall Street following last week's jobs report and profit updates from some of the U.S. stock market's most influential companies. This week's highlights will likely include earnings reports from The Walt Disney Co., McDonald's and Caterpillar, along with updates on U.S. business activity. On Wall Street, Wayfair jumped 11% after the retailer of furniture and home decor said accelerating growth helped it make more in profit and revenue during the spring than analysts expected. Tesla rose 1.6% after awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion. The move, coming six months after a judge ordered the company to revoke his massive pay package, could remove potential worries that Musk may leave the company. CommScope soared 90% after reporting a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and saying that it will sell its connectivity and cable business to Amphenol for $10.5 billion in cash. Amphenol rose 3.1% They helped offset a drop of 11.6% for On Semiconductor, which only matched analysts' expectations for profit in the latest quarter. The company, which sells to the auto and industrial industries, said it's beginning to see 'signs of stabilization' across its customers. Boeing was mostly unchanged after workers who build fighter jets for the troubled aerospace giant went on strike overnight. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.9%, and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.1%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 was an outlier with a drop of 1.2%. ___ This version has been corrected to say that the U.S. stock market had its worst week last week since May, not April. —Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
Our President Is Economically Illiterate
When my kids were in college, I insisted that they each take at least one economics course. Being economically illiterate ranks, in my mind, just below not being able to read or write. Now we have a president who is fundamentally ignorant of the most basic and incontrovertible economic principles, as evidenced in his latest round of foolhardy tariffs (and in so many other ways). President Trump has been told over and over again by economists of all political persuasions that tariffs are much like a sales tax and will ultimately be paid by American consumers; he likely would have been taught that concept during his time at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. And while the overall inflation rate has only been edging up since Mr. Trump began imposing tariffs, the cost of many imported items has been escalating. In June, prices for furnishings and durable household equipment — a category with high import exposure — rose by 1.3 percent, the biggest increase in more than three years. Prices for recreational goods and vehicles, which are also frequently manufactured abroad, increased by 0.9 percent, the largest jump since February 2024. And tariffs likely played a role in the sudden slowdown in payroll growth announced on Friday, with the economy having created just 106,000 jobs in the last three months, far less than its monthly average in recent years. Mr. Trump's response? Shoot the messenger: He directed his team to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the figures. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
