Risk and uncertainty continue to characterise 2022, from both geopolitical as well as financial market perspectives. An intra-year low for the S&P 500 was reached on 12 October, while the FTSE/JSE reached its low point on 29 September. Yet from these points of pessimism, there have been encouraging announcements and data that the aggressive rate…
Billions of dollars in crypto holdings have disappeared this year in a series of business collapses. According to Bloomberg News, the combined value market capitalisation of crypto assets has fallen by an estimated 73% since peaking in November 2021, wiping out $2 trillion in value. Casualties and/or failures have included TerraUSD, Luna, Three Arrows Capital…
Yesterday, it was announced that US inflation had cooled in October by more than forecast, causing US stocks to surge the most since early 2020. On the day, the S&P 500 gained 5.5% in a euphoric reaction to the possibility that the US annual inflation rate may well have now peaked, and that the worst…
On 29 July 2022 we wrote about the fact that in these paradoxical times, bad news is good news. This theme continued in the last week as the earnings of some of the largest tech companies disappointed, which reportedly plays right into the Fed’s hands. While it’s not helpful for investors to see the earnings…
An article forwarded to us this week highlights how living standards in the UK have fallen significantly behind Western Europe and their real wages are not only lower than they were 15 years ago, but they’re likely to be even lower next year. “In the past 30 years, the British economy chose finance over industry,…
There have been several jokes lately – perhaps in the last 45 days – welcoming the UK to the Emerging Markets’ club, or even to the Fragile Five. Indeed, with inflation in double digits, their currency having lost more than 20% against the dollar since the start of the year to late September and their…
We’ve borrowed the title for our News Flash this week from the book of the same name by Dr Dan Ariely, in which he refutes the common assumption that humans behave in fundamentally rational ways – a form of behavioural economics. Traditional economics is routed in the set of simplifying assumptions which include that humans…
The answer to this question is addressed eloquently by Karl Leinberger, Chief Investment Officer of Coronation Fund Managers, who explains that “the human brain is hard-wired to survive physical threats, not to take advantage of a market crisis. Fear is paralysing and so investment time horizons shrink to prioritise survival now. There is a constant…
Yesterday has been called “Super Thursday,” the day central banks around the world followed in the Fed’s footsteps, hiking rates by anywhere between 0.5 and 0.75 percentage points. The aftermath has been a major sell-off in equities as well as a spike in bond yields. The Bank of England raised interest rates to 2.25% and…
