We are almost three quarters of the way through 2018 and last week was characterised by new highs, new lows and some level of certainty.
Amazon were the second company in US history to break through the $1 trillion market cap last week following in the footsteps of Apple a couple of weeks prior. Despite Amazon closing just below the $1 trillion mark, the achievement of hitting this magic number is more significant, as it did so in just over 20 years; it took Apple almost 40 years. Amazon have a much more diversified product base than Apple which will no doubt have helped them reach the $1 trillion level more quickly.
South Africa fell in to recession in the first half of 2018, following two consecutive quarters of declining GDP growth. This is the country’s first recession since 2009 with declines reported in agriculture, trade and manufacturing in the second quarter of the year. This will pose a challenge to relatively new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who pledged to revitalise the economy and crackdown on corruption.
There were further losses in currencies last week led by the South African Rand, which fell over 3% following the announcement of the country’s poor economic data; this is the weakest level experienced by the Rand since June 2016. The Argentinian Peso and Turkish Lira also extended their losses in excess of 1% and 0.5%, respectively; an all-time low for the Peso.
A level of certainty was assured by Mark Carney who is now expected to stay at the Bank of England beyond 2020 to provide continuity during the Brexit transition. Carney has been coy about his ongoing tenure at the BoE in the past but firm confirmation of an extension of his leadership is expected in an announcement from the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, later this week.
This coming Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Lehman’s crash which will likely be extensively revisited by the media over the weekend.
