Uh, how are those earnings numbers coming through? Are there any numbers that are standing out, uh, perhaps head and shoulders above the rest in terms of performances?

I mean, if we just look sort of broadly across what, what we're seeing, and we're about two-thirds of the way through the, the, the earnings season.

Uh, sort of the banks have come through.

We've had the Mag Seven, excluding, uh, Nvidia.

They sort of come right at the end of it.

Um, and, and the numbers have been, uh, d- absolutely, uh, astounding.

So earnings growth, uh, from the S&P of the, the, the two-thirds we've seen, it's over 45% earnings growth.

Today, with the oil price below $80, it looks as though that decision and how it is that the central bank read the impact of those fuel prices, I, I can't help but look at it and think, "Hey, perhaps they were right, and the market owes them an apology."

Uh, how are those earnings numbers coming through? Are there any numbers that are standing out, uh, perhaps head and shoulders above the rest in terms of performances?

I mean, if we just look sort of broadly across what, what we're seeing, and we're about two-thirds of the way through the, the, the earnings season.

Uh, sort of the banks have come through.

We've had the Mag Seven, excluding, uh, Nvidia.

They sort of come right at the end of it.

Um, and, and the numbers have been, uh, uh, absolutely, uh, astounding.

So earnings growth, uh, uh, from the S&P of the, the, the two-thirds we've seen, it's over 45% earnings growth.

I, I can't help but look at it and think, "Hey, perhaps they were right and the market owes them an apology."

How do we understand GDP overall and why are we not performing as a country?

So, I mean, GDP in of itself is essentially the size of it.

What is the value of all of the productive assets within an economy? And the metric that I like is a GDP per capita, in other words, per individual.

And that's less about the absolute number.

That's more about what's happened to that number.

And if we look at South Africa, you're quoting GDP of 0.5, of 1, 1.1, maybe 1.3. Our population growth every year is probably about 1.3, maybe 1.5%.

which means that South Africans, on aggregate, actually get poorer every single year, as opposed to folks in, you mentioned Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, etc., who actually are getting richer.

So where do you see 2026 going as we enter 2027, not just for the world, but for us here at home as well? Sure.

So how much prep do you do? How much prep does your producer do? And how do you work together?

So we've, I mean, we've gotten to, so for me, a daily show is, it's 15 guests a week, but it's actually 14.

So it's three guests Monday to Thursday, and then two on Friday, because on Friday, I take the opportunity to give my thought, my monologue.

And, you know, one of the guests is always a market commentator.

We have our preferred and also folks who are available live 6.30 in the morning.

Some are sleeping.

Some are doing school runs.

So Simon, where to from here for you? I mean, are you planning anything big? Are you writing a new book? What's going on with you?

... like, it's, it's, what, I mean, what, it's just extraordinary, this story, isn't it?

Well, I think the one thing I would point out, and I think maybe you get more of this from a criminal background, I have dealt with a lot of people who have done heinous things over extended periods of time that their families knew absolutely nothing about.

So the fact a family member can know nothing about this, I don't find particularly unusual.

Uh, I mean, that, that happens all the time, particularly if somebody has gone to the lengths that he seems to go to to be concealing it, you know? And he maybe had a decent income.

There, there doesn't seem to be any suggestion that he was overall living beyond his means.

I think the funny thing here is, or the strange thing here is, there doesn't seem to be a trigger.

There's not an addiction, there's not a gambling problem.

... breach of trust, and it doesn't really matter what you say one way or the other."