Tag: diversification

In times of uncertainty, investors typically flock to safe haven assets, gold probably being one of the most known and talked about. This year alone has seen the price of gold soar nearly 19% as investors seek diversification from more traditional assets like stocks, bonds, or property.

At the start of 2020, the South African economy was already on the back foot. GDP shrank 1.4% quarter-on-quarter in Q4 of 2019, following a contraction of 0.8% in Q3. That was even before COVID-19 had arrived. The Moody’s, Fitch and S&P rating agency downgrades in March and April all signalled that the South African economy is in for a rough time over the next year at least.

Active and passive investing are simply different methods of gaining access to financial markets, and there are benefits and drawbacks to each. Our view is that one does not have to choose between active and passive, but that the two work very well together in an investor’s portfolio.

Bouts of market volatility may be unsettling but they are an unavoidable feature of long-term investing. The important thing is to avoid making mistakes along the way. These investment guidelines hold true for any environment, but they’re particularly useful to keep in mind during times of extreme volatility.

Manufacturers and distributors are operating in intensely pressured times. Stats SA reported that manufacturing output contracted for the ninth consecutive month in February of 2020 with the full extent of the damage caused by COVID-19 and the nationwide lockdown still unknown.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide surpassed one million last week. This number probably still understates the true spread of the coronavirus given the lack of testing in many places, and the fact that some infected persons don’t show symptoms.

There was more salt in the wounds for South Africa when Fitch announced that they were downgrading government's credit rating another notch, this follows the announcing by Moody's a week ago that they were also downgrading the credit rating.

The Moody’s downgrade of South Africa’s credit rating should have happened long ago. We’ve known for a long time that our fiscal metrics have been unsustainable, so despite the coronavirus, this is unsurprising.

Local investors should stay invested to reap strong future returns. An early decisive response to the COVID-19 threat should contain the spread of the virus in South Africa, but the economic repercussions in the short term will be costly. Local measures to contain the virus will add to an already weak economy and negative global impact.

Markets are walking on eggshells as the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first reported from Wuhan, China in late December 2019, is wreaking economic havoc. Data from the world’s second largest economy shows a plunge in business activity in the last month, including massive declines in passenger traffic, electricity generation, shipping volumes and real estate transactions.