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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.