Tag: Moody’s

Many of us became more comfortable with using technology for everyday purposes like buying groceries, clothing and medication. One aspect of investing that was magnified during the lockdown was the importance of diversification. Introducing different asset classes and geographies into a portfolio can certainly be put down as one of the major lessons from last year.

2020 has been an unusual and challenging year in many ways, particularly in global markets. This article speculates on the outlook for forex traders in the months to come. With the US Elections still fresh in our minds; a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon and the South African economy still under significant strain, 2021 is going to be a revealing year.

Moody’s and Fitch downgraded SA’s foreign-currency sovereign rating and its local-currency rating.

As Shakespeare said: 'all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.' Today, COVID-19 is the world's dominant player, and it is wreaking havoc.

South African investors are still absorbing the twin blows of being downgraded by Moody’s into junk territory and, just four days later, the expected Fitch decision to take the South African sovereign debt rating down a further notch into junk territory.

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.

Recent weeks have seen the local market hit by a triple whammy. Both local and global markets have crashed as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic begins to be felt resulting in a market sell-off; a rapid decline in oil prices has created a global supply shock. In addition to that, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded South Africa’s credit rating to junk or sub-investment grade.

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.

Moody’s finally dropped the sword on South Africa on Friday evening, following in the steps of fellow ratings agencies S&P and Fitch in downgrading the country’s sovereign credit rating to sub-investment grade or 'junk status'. And the COVID-19 crisis and current lockdown mean that even before factoring in the impact of Moody’s decision, the economic outlook for SA in 2020 is harrowing.