News and Insights

And so another decade ends with a year that proved that we continue to live in interesting times. 2019 will be remembered for deals and doves, protests and populism, bailouts and Brexit, Miss Universe beauties and rugby beasts. Here is our…
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Global monetary policy has moved through various regimes over the past decade: from traditional interest rate cuts to unconventional measures, such as quantitative easing (QE), forward guidance, and yield curve control. In many economies, policy rates have reached the lower…
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Investors have had a day to digest Finance Minister Mboweni’s make-or-break Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). According to the market reaction and news headlines, the mini-Budget (as the MTBPS is often referred to) fell woefully short of already pessimistic…
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The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this week met market expectations by cutting the policy rate form 2.50% to 2.25%. Moreover, quantitative tightening (QT), which is the shrinking of the Fed’s balance sheet, ended on 1 August – two…
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It has been an erratic three months for equity markets. The S&P was Goldilocks in April (+3.9%), but lost it all and then some in May (-6.8%) due to Trump’s tariff tweets. There was a strong rebound in June (+7.2%)…
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Protectionism once again stole the limelight on May 5th when Trump’s tweet reignited slumbering trade war concerns. Until that point global markets had slipped mostly back into complacency, fuelled by a now dovish Fed and a stimulating China, and with…
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By now, we are all suffering from election indigestion. Even so, it is worth highlighting some of the key take-aways from what was a relatively incident-free and apathetic event, given the sharp decline in voter turnout, from 73.5% to 66.0%.…
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Fears of a US recession escalated during the fourth quarter of 2018 amid the slump in risk assets and tightening in financial conditions. Notwithstanding the Fed’s dovish pivot in response to these concerns and attendant easing in financial conditions, various…
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As another rating review loomed, many market participants thought South Africa was moving closer to the end of its investment grade status. Yet Moody’s decided not to review the sovereign now, enabling a rally in the rand and bonds despite…
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The perceived risk associated with an adverse credit rating action waxes and wanes with investor sentiment, the currency, the political rhetoric of the day, and now load shedding. Power rationing has intensified in March; hence, it is no surprise that…
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