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When patience meets politics

17 July 2018

“It’s the economy, stupid” was the mantra of Bill Clinton’s 1992 election campaign. He beat incumbent president George Bush largely because of this focus at a time when the US slipped into a brief recession. James Carville, the Clinton adviser who coined the phrase, is also known for saying that, if reincarnation existed, he would like to be reincarnated as “the bond market” because it can “intimidate everybody”.

Sanlam Investments Market review: June 2018

12 July 2018

The American economy strained under the revived discussions on trading tariffs for US aluminium and steel imports. Neighbouring countries Canada and Mexico responded in turn, with Canada issuing retaliatory tariffs and Mexico threatening to increase tariffs on agricultural produce. Trump also suggested that China, the EU and UK will face protectionist action, further reducing investor confidence in global markets. The Dow Jones Index suffered three weeks of losses, but spiked in the month’s last three days mainly due to a strong performance by Nike.

SA could get to a growth rate of 3.7% or more

27 June 2018

“We should put behind us the era of diminishing trust in public institutions and weakened confidence in leaders,” was a key statement to come out of President Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address earlier this year. Statements such as this show that President Ramaphosa is clearly keenly aware of the issues facing South Africa, and appears to be sensitive to the challenges ahead. During his first address as State President, he spoke of a necessary collaboration between business and labour, the need to ensure economic growth, and a requirement to encourage significant new investment. In addition, he indicated that some tough love was needed to close the fiscal gap, stabilise debt and restore state-owned enterprises to health.

Trade war rumblings and the rand’s retreat

26 June 2018

There’s an old saying in markets that when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. When the US throws punches, markets can get bruised. US President Trump announced that tariffs would now be implemented against $50 billion of Chinese imports to punish China for alleged unfair trade practices. China’s predictable retaliation led to Trump calling for an additional tranche of tariffs on another $200 billion of goods. This caused renewed jitters on global equity markets, effectively nipping a promising rally in the bud.

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If you had to choose one approach to protect your hard-earned investment cash from today’s market madness, which would it be?

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