Simon’s weekly wrap: Looking beyond inflation numbers

The past week has seen a flood of inflation data and central bank interest rate decisions. I asked Sanlam Investments’ Carmen Mpelwane how it uses this data in its investing process. She commented that more than anything what matters is the trend, rather than the actual data point every month.

Local inflation this week increased to 7% but food inflation hit 13.6% – its highest level since April 2009. I asked John Manyike, head of financial education at Old Mutual, what’s driving food inflation. I also asked what it would take to see it lower, or whether we should get used to the new normal of high food inflation? (Read the transcript)

I spoke with Caxton MD Tim Holden on its recent interim results that saw good growth. The old-school newspaper and insert printing business continues to deliver profits, while packaging is benefiting from demand from quick service restaurants (QSR) as load shedding sees us eating out more (read the transcript).

I chatted with David Shapiro from Sasfin on the old open outcry trading system of the JSE. The exchange went electronic in the mid-1990s, but before that it was a chaotic open outcry system. Shapiro explained how it worked and surprisingly how efficient it was, considering it was paper-based (read the transcript).