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BETI reveals economy struggling to get going as strikes take their toll

14 November 2013 | General

South Africa’s economy is once again in decline, following the protracted strike in the motor industry, according to the October results of the BankservAfrica Economic Transaction Index (BETI).

Grant Thornton quarterly tracker data shows further decline in SA business confidence on the back of emerging market blues

13 November 2013 | General

Flight of capital dents economic prospects despite relatively positive view on ability to grow revenue and profit.

SA Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Review – September 2013

07 November 2013 | General

The South African Reserve Bank published its bi-annual Financial Stability Review for September 2013 today. We highlight some of the salient points.

US Fed in Holding Pattern, but for How Long?

06 November 2013 | General

At its October 29-30 policy meeting, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) again put off the so-called “tapering” of its $85 billion-a-month asset purchase plan, now over a year old, until some future date. In an official statement released at the conclusion of the meeting, the Fed cited fiscal policy issues as restraining growth and said it will continue its quantitative easing program (known as “QE”) until the job market improves “substantially.” Christopher Molumphy, chief investment officer of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group®, believes the Fed won’t likely ease off the liquidity pedal until the first quarter of 2014 and thinks any outright increase in interest rates probably won’t be seen until 2015. More from Molumphy on Fed policy and what it might mean for the interest-rate markets. The October Federal Open Market Committee meeting held no real surprises for most market participants. It had been a relatively short period of time since the previous meeting in September. On top of that, the 16-day US government shutdown in the intervening period resulted not only in distortions in some of the economic data, but also data release delays.

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