Market Update: The Everything Bubble Is Back. What It Means for Investors
“I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” (Sir Isaac Newton, after losing a fortune in the South Sea Bubble, 1720) Newton’s post-South Sea Bubble lament in the 17th century feels timely again. This week, market historian Edward Chancellor warned in a Reuters column that the 2021 “Everything […]
Market Update: Why Markets Keep Finding Their Way Back to the Same Place
This year, just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. But despite the turmoil markets have shown remarkable resilience. Time and again, investors have been confronted with events that seemed destined to derail global growth, only for fundamentals to reassert themselves. As wars, technology, and economic policy continue to pull markets in different directions, one question remains: why do markets keep ending up in almost exactly the same place?
Market Update: While Wall Street Wobbles, South Africa Gains Momentum
Since the year dot, narratives have driven investor sentiment. June’s narrative was largely positive for South Africa as investors uprated our investment potential, but it was decidedly rocky for US investors, with chipmakers leading stock markets to heady highs before driving them down to disconcerting lows.
Climbing a “Wall of Worry” on an Unstable Footing
Global markets are currently climbing a classic “wall of worry”, stubbornly rising against a persistent backdrop of uncertainty.
However, this rally is increasingly viewed as fragile, driven more by positioning and narrative than by a fundamental assessment of the real risks arising out of the Iran war.
How Long Is a Piece of String? Investing Through the Iran War
Since bombs first fell on Iran in late February, causing most asset prices to tumble, the question on everyone’s lips has been: How long will the war last? The truth is nobody knows.
With intense uncertainty about the endgame of the war now the biggest factor in global financial markets, here are five key considerations for investors when it seems there’s no end in sight.
Market Update: The Investor Costs of Living with Unending Tariff Uncertainty
On so-called Liberation Day last year, investors got a taste of the uncertainty to come from Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff decisions.
In February, the landmark Supreme Court ruling reining in the US President’s tariff powers was initially greeted with excitement. But Trump swiftly announced a global 10% tariff, before upping it to 15%. This highlights the nature of the perma-crisis we are living through: it’s the relentless uncertainty, not the tariffs themselves, that inflicts the most serious damage. Find out what that means for investors.
Market Update: Our Survival Guide for Investors in 2026
January offered investors an early stress test for 2026. A rapid succession of geopolitical shocks, policy surprises, and market reversals left portfolios swinging sharply between risk-on and risk-off. Far from an anomaly, this turbulent start may well be a preview of the year ahead: expect policy uncertainty, geopolitical noise, and abrupt shifts in market leadership. […]
Market Update: The Year Trump Didn’t Manage to Break the Financial Markets
When Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, no one could have imagined what was to come. From imposing the highest tariff rates in a century to orchestrating mass deportations and engineering the longest government shutdown on record, Trump’s leadership upended the post-war world order. (And recent events in Venezuela suggest that […]
Market Update: November Delivers Several Early Gifts for SA Investors
Just in time for the festive season, November 2025 brought the economic gifts South African investors had long anticipated. In a series of positive developments, the country achieved its first sovereign rating upgrade in two decades, set its first monetary policy target change in a quarter-century, and saw the JSE surge to all-time highs, driven […]
Market Update: Can Investors Still Benefit From Gold’s Record-Breaking Run?
Gold broke through the psychologically significant $4 000-per-ounce barrier, surging over 25% and trading above $4 300 in late October. This rally represents a fundamental shift in how global investors view wealth preservation in an increasingly uncertain world. The gold price’s record rally has been driven by a perfect storm of factors: President Trump’s aggressive […]
