Sanlam Investments: January 2017 market update
The year 2017 started with world leaders decisively executing on voters’ wishes. Prime Minister Theresa May made it clear that there would be no half-measures when Britain exits the European Union. It will leave the EU’s single market and extend its trade freely beyond Europe. On the other side of the Atlantic, President Donald Trump signed into law an immigration restriction on seven Muslim-majority countries. Only a few days before the Dow Jones had shattered the 20 000 barrier for the first time, but Trump’s so-called ‘travel ban’ caused global equity markets to retreat somewhat from these record highs. The new law did, however, boost traditional ‘safe havens’, such as gold and the Japanese yen.