| The Foschini Group joined Truworths in reporting better than expected sales in the run-up to Christmas despite the impact of Covid-19 on its retail operations here and in the UK and Australia. The acquisition of a large part of Jet from Edcon Group helped. But excluding Jet, local sales still held up pretty well. The UK was a different story. Like Truworths, TFG's shares rallied on the news, sparking hope that other retailers will reveal similar resilience. Stats SA releases retail sales numbers for November tomorrow. TFG says its turnover for the month declined by 10% due to Covid-19-related restrictions so don't expect the record Black Friday sales numbers reported in 2019. Meanwhile, London-listed shopping centre owner Hammerson appears to be battling to get rent in from its tenants, with many of the stores at its malls remaining shuttered due to lockdown restrictions in the UK and Ireland, while its centres in France have to close early due to a 6pm curfew. More on those stories to follow, along with details of Glencore's sale of Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia and progress on Europa Metals' lead, zinc and silver project in north-west Spain. I hope you have a good day. Stephen Gunnion Managing Editor, InceConnect
The latest from Ingham Analytics The frenzy over Tesla and electrical vehicles in general has a dose of reality to face - there isn't enough lithium being produced. Nor copper or nickel. Ingham Analytics say in "Lithium's Tesla disconnect" that Albemarle in the US is planning to expand production of lithium carbonate, which may be a sign that they see upward potential. There are several stocks offshore to play this theme. And from a more macro perspective "2020 Redux?" and "Saxo's outrageous predictions for 2021 and our take" are popular downloads. | 