WM Market Update – July 2018
Global: First shots fired in the trade war!
US equities continued to improve as employment numbers were indicative of a growing economy, and earnings results were ahead of expectations. The US June nonfarm payrolls added 213,000 new jobs, far outweighing expectations of 195,000, while May’s employment numbers were also revised upwards.
Although concerns remained over the Trump administration’s proposed punitive trade taris, an indication later in the month that the US, China and Europe were prepared to renegotiate trade terms also helped improve market sentiment. The oil price registered a sharp decline as OPEC and Russia announced an increase in supply.
Domestic: Slow road ahead.
South African equities failed to follow global markets higher in July, as the local economy remained in the doldrums and a rming of the Rand in the latter part of the month impacted on market performance. The FTSE/JSE All Share Index declined to yield a negative -0.2%, with the Resources and Industrial indices being the worst performers.
The platinum price declined 1.7% and this coupled to a decline of 2.3% in the gold price were contributing factors to the poor Resource Index performance.
