The US dollar has had its worst half-year in five decades, reflecting its most pronounced first-half decline in value since 1973, when President Richard Nixon was in office. The currency is down more than 10% against a basket of major currencies for the year to date, sliding 13.85% against the euro alone. Emerging markets (EM),…
The second three months of 2025 were action-packed, shaped by US President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff moves and a volatile geopolitical environment. The pace of events was dizzying, but investors should be pleased with the end returns in the face of this period of elevated turbulence. At the outset of the quarter, most analysts and…
The JSE delivered remarkable returns for the first half of 2025, outperforming most stock markets in other developed and developing markets alike. The All Share Index (ALSI) was up 16.7% in rand terms and 24.26% in US dollars for the six months to June 30, well ahead of the dollar returns of the S&P 500…
It has been just over a year since South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) was formed. The following research piece, penned on 3 July by Louw Nel and Jee-A van der Linde of Oxford Economics, explains that the GNU has struggled since its existence because it was formed in an ad hoc manner; the…
