STANLIB's Weekly Focus 18 February 2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF STANLIB’s WEEKLY FOCUS
FINANCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL INDEX BOTTOMING?
* The JSE FINDI rose 2.3% last week and is showing signs of possibly having bottomed.
* Similarly, the banks index rose 4.9% last week, not surprisingly.
* The General Retailers’ index rose by 5.9% last week, as did the Construction index by 5.1%.
* It is usually the case that the best value in shares is evident during times of maximum pessimism.
STANLIB UNIT TRUSTS EXCELLING
* The STANLIB Shariah Fund is ranked 1st over three and six months out of 62 funds in the huge General Equity sector.
* The STANLIB Resources Fund as well as the STANLIB Gold & Precious Metals Fund hit all-time record highs last week!
* The STANLIB International Aggressive, Balanced and Conservative FoF’s also hit all time record highs last week, finally surpassing the previous highs of late 2001.
SNIPPETS OF INFO
* Iron ore prices have jumped 65% in the latest deal negotiated with Japanese importers.
* The US trade deficit (imports minus exports) fell 6% in 2007, its first decline in five years.
* International food prices continue to soar.
ECONOMIC UPDATE
* USA January retail sales held-up better than expected, boosting short term morale, however the trend is still firmly lower.
* A sharp decrease was recorded in US consumer confidence in February, as measured by the University of Michigan.
* The latest economic data points towards further easing by the Fed in March.
* Locally, all eyes will be on the Budget presented by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel this Wednesday 20 February at 14h00.
* SA manufacturing production and retail sales slowed significantly in December 2007.
* The weakening trend in manufacturing looks set to continue due to the recent electricity outages.
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