Tag: trade wars

Although we all know the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 first emerged in China, there is some debate as to exactly when. As it spread through the city of Wuhan, authorities took what at the time seemed like an extraordinary decision to place the whole metropolitan area in quarantine from late January onwards.

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.

Despite various geopolitical and economic challenges at the beginning of 2019, markets managed to deliver very strong returns for the year. And investors will be relieved to see that equity markets look set to start 2020 on a slightly better footing, as many of these uncertainties have been addressed to some extent over 2019.

The first quarter GDP growth of 2019 for South Africa announced 4 June, and it is once again a negative number. The numbers are showing that the South African economy contracted 3.2% year on year, following a 1.4% growth in the previous period. It was the sharpest decline in the GDP since the first quarter of 2009, as output declined sharply in manufacturing, mining, agriculture and utilities.

There are many concerns swirling around South African investors at the moment, making it a particularly tricky time to establish a level of strategy conviction. Major geopolitical events could have any number of outcomes and in South Africa (SA), pervasive uncertainty seems to be the watchword as we inch towards elections in May. 

It’s that time of year again where more than 3,000 of the world’s top leaders including heads of state, central bankers and representatives from many of the world’s top companies converge on the little town of Davos, Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF).