News flash Slowly, then all at once

Slowly, then all at once

After another week of high drama for the global banking sector, the world seems reasonably safe from a systemic crisis. Swift action from regulators – and even competing banks – in the wake of the crises at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), First Republic Bank, Silvergate, Signature Bank and Credit Suisse has helped to restore market…

News flash Unexpected Outcomes

Unexpected Outcomes

When we look back at March 2020, financial markets were gripped by Covid- induced panic. The S&P500 Index dropped by a staggering 34% within 5 weeks, registering one of the steepest and fastest falls on record. Yet by the end of the year, markets had staged a dramatic recovery even though a vaccine was not…

News flash Mixed Messages

News Flash – Mixed Messages

Markets don’t react well to mixed messages and volatility was in play this week amid a range of contradictory signals. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell failed to offer clarity about the future direction for inflation and interest rates. On Wednesday, he both scaled back signals that the Fed might hike interest rates more aggressively and indicated…

News flash Adapt or die

News Flash – Adapt or die

The world is in a structural state of flux at the moment—from persistent inflation in the rich world and the war in Ukraine, to South Africa’s ongoing power generation crisis. The pattern of concurrent shocks and interconnected risks we see in the global economy today is described by some as the ‘polycrisis’. Yet the leadership…

News flash Between a rock and a hard place

Between a rock and a hard place

Stock markets remained volatile this week with central banks and policymakers navigating the difficult trade-offs between keeping inflation under control and preventing a severe economic downturn. In the US, markets vacillated as investors balanced robust economic indicators against fears that this same economic strength will provoke the Fed to raise interest rates higher and for…

News flash Wanted – trillions of dollars

Wanted – trillions of dollars

Major currencies dropped against the US dollar this week with a red-hot job market, resilient consumer spending and persistent inflation, suggesting that the Fed will continue on its present path of hiking interest rates. Yet, this week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), confirmed that the US is on track to add nearly $19 trillion to…

News flash State of the Nations

State of the Nations

The State of the Nation Address is an annual fixture on most countries’ political calendars, an event when the head of the state updates citizens, the legislature, and the executive about the government’s priorities for the year. It’s an opportunity to outline the regime’s progress towards its goals as well as its plans to solve…

News flash The sweet spot

The sweet spot

What a great start to the year for equity investors! Combined forces such as a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes in the US; a record quantum of share buybacks; the re-opening of the Chinese economy; resilient cash-flow generation of leading quality companies for calendar year 2022, upward revisions to global GDP for 2023,…

News flash The rebound of quality companies

The rebound of quality companies

Quality-style global equity managers typically deliver a more defensive return profile during periods of sharp market drawdowns. Quality companies are characterised as having low levels of leverage, strong balance sheets and cash flow generation, together with lower cyclicality of earnings, and, as such, our selected portfolios should have fared better than markets in general during…