South Africa was rocked this week by leaked emails providing further evidence of the Gupta family’s influence over President Jacob Zuma and his family, key cabinet ministers and the boards of state-owned enterprises. Even so, President Zuma survived yet another attempt to remove him from his position at an ANC NEC meeting last weekend. Global…
The deadliest terrorist attack in the UK since the 2005 London bombings took place yesterday at an Ariana Grande concert – 22 people have died and 59 have been reported as wounded.
Markets this week are dominated by the scandals currently rocking US President Donald Trump —including the firing of FBI Director Comey and allegations that he leaked highly classified information to the Russians. President Trump’s unpredictable behaviour and low approval rating mean that he’ll be the major market mover for some time to come. Global News…
The rand has held up well in recent months, despite political volatility and the downgrade of South Africa’s sovereign credit rating by two rating agencies. This has prompted new finance minister, Malusi Gigaba, to say that Jacob Zuma’s reshuffle of his cabinet has not had much impact on the rand or South African markets. However,…
S&P and Fitch downgraded South Africa’s credit rating this week to ‘junk status’, both citing President Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle for their unscheduled decision. The rand is now the world’s worst performing emerging market currency, after being the best performer in the first few months of the year. Global News Over the past ten days, the…
We said that last week was politically charged; this week was even more so. On Thursday, President Zuma reshuffled his cabinet without consulting the ANC’s Top 6, in turn causing upheaval on the markets and in the political landscape. S&P has downgraded South Africa’s sovereign credit rating, the rand has tumbled, and the ANC may…
This week has been politically vibrant. From Trump stepping away from his proposed health care plan sighting, “Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated” opting to move onto tax cuts. To Zuma recalling Pravin Gordhan from an international investment roadshow, amongst alarmed whispers of a cabinet reshuffle and the removal of the Finance Minister.…
The biggest issues of the last week were the fact that precious metals got sold off due to dollar strength and the upcoming Fed meeting on Wednesday – where there is a strong suspicion of a rate hike. South African politics is currently as colourful as ever with politicians tap dancing around the blame conspiring…
Global News: The MSCI World Index has gained 0.4%, over the past week, while the MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index fell by 1%. Since December 2016, the EM Index has risen by 13.4%, all in US dollar terms. In the US, shares continue to surge in reaction to Trump’s speech last week, strong consumer confidence,…
