Every now and then, I like to write about Fidelity, because that's where our client assets in the US are parked, for safekeeping.

Vestact has 1 106 clients with active accounts in New York. Their investments are held in safe custody by Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions, and the aggregate value, as of this morning, is $772 995 230.93.

Fidelity is one of the largest financial institutions in the world. It had revenues of $32.7 billion last year, which is more than 50 per cent higher than those of BlackRock, the world's largest listed asset manager. It oversees $16.4 trillion of customers' money, including ours, as well as $6.4 trillion that it directly manages itself.

Fidelity was founded in 1946 by Edward Johnson, and the company is still privately held by his descendants. The current CEO, Abby Johnson, is the daughter of Ned Johnson, who took the reins in 1977.

It's good to know that our savings are in safe hands.

Last week Discovery announced a really exciting partnership with Google in London to launch what is called Vitality AI. The goal is to deliver personalised preventive health guidance to millions of people around the world.

According to Adrian Gore, chronic and lifestyle-related diseases account for 75% of global deaths. Vitality has 60 million life years of data from 80 sources, which they believe can help tackle these healthcare challenges.

One of the biggest obstacles, according to Gore, is that healthcare data is fragmented across all sorts of medical platforms. Vitality hopes to integrate this data by using Google's AI tools.

Discovery is rallying the support of global insurers with the promise of reduced claims and improved loss ratios. They plan to roll this out in the UK and the US in 2026. In South Africa, the vitality systems are already hosted on Google Cloud.

How cool would it be if a company from the southern tip of Africa manages to become the central hub for healthcare data around the world? Adrian Gore has very lofty ambitions for global domination, and we are finally seeing that take shape.

Chinese cities had a pollution problem a decade ago, due in part to all the cars on the road. As a result, the authorities introduced a number plate lottery and auction system. The intention was to limit the number of cars on the road, and thus reduce pollution. The demand for new cars was so high, that it could take years to get a new number plate.

Electric vehicles automatically qualified for a new number plate, bypassing the lottery and auction system. Unsurprisingly, the number of EV sales soared and city air quality improved. EVs now account for around 40% of annual Chinese car sales and that percentage is climbing quickly. Another upside of this strategy is that China is now the global leader in EVs, and its companies are exporting millions of cars to other parts of the world.

No one wants to live in a city covered in smog. Instead of banning internal combustion engines, China gave people a choice. Either drive a car that doesn't add to the smog problem, or wait your turn to get a new number plate.

Spotify's latest quarter hit all the right notes. The streaming media company added users, grew revenue ahead of expectations, and proved that premium sound and clever product tweaks can still move the needle, even in a crowded market.

For the three months to September, Spotify's monthly active users jumped 11% to 713 million, beating guidance, while premium subscribers climbed 12% to 281 million. Revenue rose 7% to EUR4.27 billion ($4.9 billion), comfortably ahead of analysts' estimates. Net income more than tripled to EUR899 million, a big leap from the EUR300 million earned a year earlier.

The platform's growth wasn't just about more music streams. Spotify rolled out over 30 product updates, including lossless audio, playlist mixing tools, and messaging between users, while also linking up with ChatGPT for AI-driven music and podcast recommendations. These updates keep users engaged, and paying, even as rivals chase the same ears.

There's also a leadership remix ahead: Founder and CEO Daniel Ek will become executive chairman at year-end, handing the mic to co-presidents Gustav Soderstrom and Alex Norstrom, who'll serve as co-CEOs.

Spotify's shares are already up about 35% this year, suggesting the market likes the sound of a company finally turning volume into profit.

Oyster restoration projects are on the rise. Dredging and pollution devastated the once-bountiful reefs - Careful science may help bring them back.

EVs are the future. But sports cars should probably keep their big, noisy engines - Porsche skids to a loss.

Asian markets are mostly higher this morning. Japan's market rose sharply, with top gainers Mercari (+14%), Olympus (+11%), and Tokyu Fudosan (+5%). The best performing stock in Australia is the oddly-named engineering and infrastructure company Monadelphous (+11%). Sounds like a type of marsupial.

In local company news, The Foschini Group reported softer profits despite solid top-line growth, with group revenue up 12.2% to R31.4 billion for the six months to September, boosted by its White Stuff acquisition and a 55% surge in online sales.

US equity futures are trending higher, probably on the news that the US government shutdown is coming to an end. The Rand is trading at around R17.29 to the US Dollar.

Have a good week. Keep an open mind.