Investments / General

Investing an a post-Covid world

Stock Pick of the Week with Momentum Securities: 10 June - Alibaba Group

Momentum’s leading stockbroking division – Momentum Securities – will be bringing you their Stock Pick of the Week, each week on a Wednesday or Thursday. The stock pick motivation is available as written content and a downloadable video and audio clip.

The story so far

We are well into winter and approaching the midpoint of 2021. The contrast with the same point a year ago is notable. Back then, South Africa was about to be knocked down by the first wave of Covid-19 infections. Although we are again in the early stages of a new wave, the third one, the situation is different in that government restrictions are considerably less strict this time and are likely to remain so.

Inflation accelerates but also some good news for SA

May started off with a pleasant surprise for South Africa. Compared to an estimated National Budget deficit of 12.3%, as presented by Minister Mboweni during his Budget Speech earlier this year, the actual shortfall came in at 11.2% of GDP. Other good news was the announcement by Minister Gorhan that Eskom had reduced its debt by almost a fifth after repaying matured loans and benefiting from a strong exchange rate.