A Volatile 2019: Everything You Need to Know
For market watchers and investors, the biggest surprise of 2019 was arguably the generally good performance of global equities. Overall, global equity prices were supported by the accommodative stance of monetary authorities. Also, interest rates were kept low – and even cut – in some geographical jurisdictions.
Weekend Reads: Are We Going Nuts?
I thought this Moneyweb article was an excellent summary of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s medium term budget policy statement, but if you can’t manage to hold your attention for the entire article, the post below from The Atlantic might explain why…
- Mini budget in a Nutshell – Moneyweb
- Is Google Making us Stupid? – The Atlantic
Looking Back at (a Newsworthy) Third Quarter
On the local front, the SA Reserve bank (SARB) cut the repo rate by 25bps to 6.5% in July. It was left unchanged in September. The domestic economy remains weak.
Average inflation was 4.3%, which was below the mid-point of the SARB target range.
The Rand traded in a volatile range – from a low of USD/ZAR 13.97 to a weakest level of USD/ZAR 15.50 in mid-August.
Why Recession Fears Are Rising in the US
The appearance of a yield curve inversion has market watchers spooked…
Over the past few months, there has been a great deal of anxious chatter about the possibility of a recession in the US. Arguably, much of this fear stems from what is known as the ‘yield curve inversion’. Historically, yield curve inversions foreshadow a recession.
Weekend Reads: Trump and Technology
Two interesting reads for the long weekend. I hope you find them as insightful as I did:
Trump’s trade war: even worse than you think, by Professor Barry Eichengreen
Why Technology Favors Tyranny (An article adapted from Yuval Noah Harari’s book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century) – The Atlantic
Quarterly Economic Review: Us/China Trade Dispute Weighs Heavily on Outlook
The broader, global view…
- The ongoing and often vicious trade dispute between the US and China has led to a material slowdown in global trade during the first half of 2019;
- Major Central banks, in particular the US Federal Reserve (FED) and the European Central Bank (ECB) have indicated that they will probably provide additional stimulus during the second half of the year to help offset some of the weaknesses caused by the slowdown in global trade;
- South Africa has not been immune to the negative effects of the trade disputes and export performance in 2019 has been adversely affected by the slowdown