In our final free show for the year, we look back on a year that has been dominated by gold and bitcoin, along with US equities that have shot the lights out. We consider a strong finish for China, along with the ongoing disappointment of Europe.

And of course, we talked about the positive surprise of South Africa this year and how political change can drive investment returns.

As we look forward to another exciting year in the markets in 2025, this is the perfect way to cap off the Year of Elections worldwide.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please speak to your personal financial advisor.

Although the terms blockchain and crypto are often used interchangeably, this hides the diverse use cases for blockchain technology - even in traditional applications like financial markets. On this podcast, Connie Bloem (co-founder and managing director of Mesh.trade) joins regular Magic Markets guest Justine Brophy of AnBro Capital to explain how blockchain technology on Mesh.trade is making it easier for investors to invest in funds managed by AnBro.  

For more information, visit the AnBro website and the Mesh.trade website.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please speak to your personal financial advisor.

As the year of global elections draws to a close, Dino Zuccollo of Westbrooke Alternative Asset Management joined us to look back on how global trends impacted the alternative lending space in markets where Westbrooke has a presence: South Africa, the UK and the USA.

Covering important topics related to economic activities, portfolio diversification and the impact of decreasing interest rates on structures like senior debt and mezzanine funding, there's much to learn here about the world in which Westbrooke operates. To learn more about Westbrooke and to connect with the team, visit their website here.

Westbrooke Alternative Asset Management is an authorised Financial Services Provider, FSP number 46750.

Start your engines has quickly become start your batteries - or has it? Are electric vehicle adoption rates problematic everywhere, or are some companies seeing better adoption than others? Where does this leave hybrids? Where does this leave manufacturers that seem to lack clear strategic direction?

Along with a discussion on European vs. American vs. Japanese manufacturer performance, we dealt with all these topics in this episode of Magic Markets. For a whirlwind overview of the automotive sector at the moment, you're in the right place.

This podcast is brought to you by Investec Focus Radio. Investec's The Current podcast is a great series on the energy transition in South Africa, an important part of our country's geopolitical story and thus highly relevant to South African investors. There are ten excellent shows and Episode 8 focuses on South Africa's electric vehicle transition. Find them here.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please speak to your personal financial advisor.

With the dust barely settled on the US election, Dimitri Zabelin of Pantheon Insights joined us to bring his international geopolitical lens to the show. We talked about the possible impacts of Trump's economy and social policies on inflation, interest rates and the strength of the US economy.

We also talked about a few trade ideas related to the Trump victory, as well as the positioning of Elon Musk in all this.

You can connect with Dimitri on X or LinkedIn, or learn more about Pantheon Insights here.

Episode 201 is brought to you by Future Forex. They are disrupting an industry that desperately deserves to be disrupted: providing forex execution for individuals and businesses, fertile ground for traditional banks to charge large fees as a spread. Future Forex is doing things differently. Refer back to Episode 199 for a discussion with Harry Scherzer on this topic.

Future Forex SA Pty Ltd is an authorised FSP number 51884.

With most of the big names in tech having just released earnings around the same time as US elections, there's so much to consider in the market. We steered clear of the politics for now, focusing on the key drivers of the Magnificent 7 (and Netflix!) and how we are positioned in these stocks.

As our subscribers in Magic Markets Premium know, we don't always agree on the stocks that we cover. There's plenty of that disagreement (and a few laughs) in this show, along with great insights.

Episode 200 is brought to you by Future Forex. They are disrupting an industry that desperately deserves to be disrupted: providing forex execution for individuals and businesses, fertile ground for traditional banks to charge large fees as a spread. Future Forex is doing things differently. Refer back to Episode 199 for a discussion with Harry Scherzer on this topic.

Future Forex SA Pty Ltd is an authorised FSP number 51884.

Harry Scherzer at Future Forex is a familiar voice to Magic Markets listeners, especially those who took advantage of the excellent crypto arbitrage offering that was the foundation of the Future Forex business.

Building on that success, Future Forex is disrupting an industry that desperately deserves to be disrupted: providing forex execution for individuals and businesses, fertile ground for traditional banks to charge large fees as a spread. Future Forex is doing things differently, as explained by Harry in this show.

If you want to learn more about crypto arbitrage at Future Forex as well, refer back to Episode 170 for full details on how to avoid your annual offshore investment allowances going to waste, while generating returns which have consistently outperformed the market.

Future Forex SA Pty Ltd is an authorised FSP number 51884.

Although there's a risk of churning your portfolio too often if you become obsessed with short-term market movements, there's a lot of value to be gained from the way Mohammed Nalla does his quarterly rotation work for institutional clients. He shares some of those insights in this episode of Magic Markets, covering recent sector performance in the US market and where some of the future gains may be found.

This podcast is brought to you by Investec Focus Radio. Investec's The Current podcast is a great series on the energy transition in South Africa, an important part of our country's geopolitical story and thus highly relevant to South African investors. With ten excellent shows to listen to (and the 10th episode being a wrap-up of the season), it's well worth your time digging in. Find them here.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please speak to your personal financial advisor.

The GNU-phoria in South Africa is now a few months old. Loadshedding is becoming a distant (albeit still painful) memory. Sentiment has clearly turned positive, but is this making a difference in day-to-day business decisions around capital allocation decisions?

Every day, the team at Westbrooke is having discussions with private business operators and investors. This puts them in the perfect position to comment on whether things are really improving in South Africa and at what pace.

Dino Zuccollo and Jonti Osher of Westbrooke joined us for this important discussion. To learn more about Westbrooke and to connect with the team, visit their website here.

Westbrooke Alternative Asset Management is an authorised Financial Services Provider, FSP number 46750.

News of stimulus in China has caused substantial volatility in the markets, with a sharp initial rally and then a cooling down as the market started to question the speed of execution on the proposed initiatives.

Of course, this presented a perfect opportunity to talk about the impact of China on portfolios. Justine Brophy of AnBro Capital joined us to do exactly that. For more information, visit the AnBro website.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please speak to your personal financial advisor.