Link: http://www.overberg.biz

INTERNATIONAL

• The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, asked by the G20 group of nations to draft new bank rules in the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis, softened its planned reform of bank capital and liquidity requirements.

• US durable goods orders, for big ticket items expected to last for at least 3 years, fell in June by 1 % month-on-month the largest drop since August 2009, versus a 1 % consensus forecast increase.

• The Conference Board’s US consumer confidence index fell to its lowest in 5 months in July to 50.4 from an upwardly revised 54.3 in June and below the 51.0 consensus forecast, attributed to concerns over unemployment and the housing market.

• The ABC News index of US consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in 3 months to - 48 for the week ended 25th July, down from -45 the previous week. The index hit a record low -54 in the week to 1st December 2008 and again in the week to 25th January 2009, and has been negative since March 2007.

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Link: http://www.overberg.biz

INTERNATIONAL

- US quarterly earnings got off to a good start with better than expected results from benchmark companies Alcoa and Intel. However, earnings are a lagging indicator, and the outlook presented on release is often more important, illustrated by JPMorgan which although beating expectations issued a cautious outlook, causing the share price to decline.

- US wholesale sales unexpectedly fell in May by 0.3 % month-on-month the 1st decline since March 2009 and against a 0.5 % consensus forecast increase. Total inventories increased 0.5 % higher than the 0.4 % consensus forecast, taking the inventory-tosales ratio, a measure of how long it would take to sell stocks at the current sales
price, to 1.14 months from April’s 1.13 months.

- The Philadelphia Fed reported a weaker than expected factory activity index, dropping in July to 5.1 against a consensus forecast 10. The New York Fed reported its manufacturing index fell to 5.08 against a consensus forecast 18.

- US producer price inflation fell for a 3rd straight month in June by -0.5 % year-on-year after falling -0.3 % in May and more than the consensus forecast -0.1 %.

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This article appeared in MNassa Volume 68 "Observer' Page", and was authored by Willie Koorts. Topteam's Douglas Legg in Greyton was a witness to this event. For more information read the article below.

This event was first reported to me on 18 February in a phone call by Mr. André Carstens from Wellington (South Africa). He told me about an observation that he and a group of friends (~6 people) made on Friday, 13 Feb 2009 at about 20h00 SAST.

They were sitting on a west-facing stoep in Berg-en-Dal, Wellington when they saw a bright object, relatively close to the horizon (about 10-15 degrees judging by his description), moving N-S horizontally along the horizon (similar to an airplane).

The object moved much faster than an airplane but nowhere close to a typical meteor - it took about 45 seconds to cross the sky from Paardeberg to Paarl Mountain (see Fig. 1). It disappeared over the horizon at the mountains behind Grabouw. Carstens estimated that the whole event must have lasted 2-3 minutes. The colour of the object was a pale red and it brightened towards the end with sparks coming off it. The object started breaking up near the end of the track as it disappeared over the horizon. It caused a smoke trail for most of the track which stayed visible for quite a while afterwards.

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Trap and Sporting Clay Target Shooting in the Western Cape

Written by Douglas Legg.

The Greyton Gun Club was founded 10 years ago in the small picturesque country town of Greyton by Chris Sedgwick, who is still our chairman today.

It is situated only 1.5km from Greyton on the Riviersonderend road. Its proximity allows members and visitors to enjoy the many restaurants, coffee shops and eateries in Greyton at lunch time and in the evenings.

The Club competes on the last Saturday of each month in ATA Trap and Sporting, with inter-club competitions twice a year.

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Balls ! We are all still here and so is Greyton!

Written by Douglas Legg

Rain Rain and in case you had some dry clothes left, more rain has been our lot for the past week. Overall, Greyton survived well this year compared to last with minimal damage. Just a jolly good soaking!

As usual our national broadcaster had Greyton totally washed away, but surprise, surprise we are still here and so is Greyton. All in all I feel a little let down after all the excitement as in the end it was much a do about nothing. Houses that flooded last year along the Scholtz river in Caledon street got away almost unscathed, the measures put in place earlier seemed to have done their job well. I am also pleased to report that I have been genuinely impressed by the local municipality. From the start there was great activity on their part with tractors and diggers ensuring that water could get away.

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