“The only way this problem can be cured is with Tariffs, which are now bringing tens of billions of dollars into the USA. They are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold.” – Donald Trump, US President “When those with the most knowledge and the largest platforms subordinate truth to political alignment, they…
After powering equities markets to new heights in 2023 and 2024, the Magnificent Seven club of stocks has tumbled down to earth in the first quarter of 2025. These stocks have lost trillions of dollars in valuation, dragging the Nasdaq composite into correction territory (-10%) and pulling the S&P 500 down 5% for the quarter.…
For many years now, we have had a strong bias towards the Quality style of investing within our clients’ portfolios and our house-view funds. Traditional quality fund managers will pick the stocks of companies that have a track record of consistent earnings growth, whilst maintaining healthy balance sheets throughout good and bad times. These quality…
To say that the Trump administration’s varied and often controversial executive orders and policy changes have kept market participants on edge is an understatement. Philip Saunders, director of the Ninety One Investment Institute, explains in a recent podcast dated 19 March, why US assets, having been a dominant force for investors for so long have…
Within a few days from now, Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated as the 47th president of the US. His return to the White House is, as we have noted in previous newsletters, cause for both trepidation and anticipation for equity markets, given his promises to slay many of the sacred cows in modern…
At the outset of 2024, some of the more optimistic banks and analysts forecast that there was scope for the rand to power to R16/$ by the end of the year. But despite the optimism surrounding the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) and hope for interest rate cuts in the US, the…
For many years, trusts in general were not subject to punitive tax and regulatory scrutiny, which made them the most tax-efficient vehicle for high-net-worth families to preserve wealth and pass this down to their heirs. However, tax authorities around the world have increasingly tightened up on many of the loopholes that once made them so…
The USDZAR exchange rate has been a very informative instrument through which to view major political events that have unfolded in our country over the last 20 years. Knowledge of the fair value estimate, awareness of the mean-reversion characteristics of the fair value residual, and the ability to decompose the residual into an Emerging Market…
The third quarter of 2024 might have been good for equities, but it was less so for the US dollar. The US dollar index (DXY) dropped around 4.8% against a basket of currencies, turning in its worst quarterly performance in nearly two years. According to Reuters, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data indicates that net bets…
