News
Economies playing catch up
For those of you who’ve spent the last few months of lockdown wishing you had a second house by the sea, now is the time to go out and buy it! UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a series of Coronavirus recovery measures including job retention bonuses for employers, a £2bn scheme to create jobs for young people and a temporary change to stamp duty. These measures may alleviate short-term pressures but are unlikely to change the longer term dynamics of the economic recovery.
Read MoreCoronavirus special: counting the cost and looking ahead
As far as equity markets are concerned, the development of the coronavirus crisis has been as rapid as it has been unprecedented.
Read MoreA cacophony of noise
We remain in a relative news vacuum, but reporting season is slowly getting underway, starting with US banks this week. These companies reported making loan loss provisions (money set aside as an allowance for potentially unpaid debts) but were held up by increased trading revenue due to activity in the fixed income market as investors snapped up bargains.
Read MoreSanlam’s Fourie: Why I’m happy to underperform when the market recovers
There is a strong chance that beaten-up sectors such as energy and financials will lead the eventual recovery from the coronavirus crash, according to Sanlam’s Pieter Fourie – but the manager said this is not enough to convince him to buy into these areas of the market.
Read MorePushed towards Risk
Earlier this week European leaders crossed the Rubicon and agreed an unprecedented economic programme. The EU have agreed a deal on a €750bn recovery fund to address Covid-19 damage; importantly, all raised by issuing EU common bonds for the first time. The issuance of these bonds will enhance the trading bloc’s financial autonomy from the US, furthering its potential role as a reserve currency.
Read MoreA V-shaped recovery is the norm, not the exception
There is heightened uncertainty around the impact that Covid-19 (worsened by the recent Moody’s downgrade on SA government bonds) is currently having on markets and explains the dramatic volatility in markets in recent weeks.
Read MoreA picture is worth a thousand words
The spectacular photos that Paul Choy has captured thus far, as part of his Walk Mauritius journey, truly tell amazing tales of the beautiful contry of Mauritius and its people.
Read MoreA time for patience
When the famous Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, wrote, ‘The two most powerful warriors are patience and time’, he could not have foreseen how perfectly it would sum
up today’s global predicament.
Can investors trust the media?
Investors are swamped with tips in newspapers, on television and online, but are media pundits worth their salt? The media has always fed off individuals’ insatiable appetite to take a punt on the stock market – offering ‘expert’ tips and forecasts in a bid to sell newspapers to investors or direct eyeballs to a television show or website. There is little doubt these forecasts are highly influential.
Read MoreThe winners and losers from Covid-19
Almost every business around the world is affected by Covid-19 in one way or another. While some have been forced to completely close, others have welcomed a tsunami of new customers that had not even heard of their product a matter of weeks before the crisis hit
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