After being minted for 230 years it looks like the US penny has come to the end of the road. Donald Trump has ordered the end of penny production, and when considering that the US Mint made 3.2 billion pennies last year alone at a cost of 3.7c for the 1c coin then calling time on it makes a lot of sense.

After being minted for 230 years it looks like the US penny has come to the end of the road. Donald Trump has ordered the end of penny production, and when considering that the US Mint made 3.2 billion pennies last year alone at a cost of 3.7c for the 1c coin then calling time on it makes a lot of sense.

The worrying news is that Donald Trump appears to be singling South Africa out for some special attention, and very unwelcomed attention as he has cut off all US funding while opening the door to resettling our “refugee” farmers in the States. The good news is that he has immediately moved on to much bigger headlines which will without doubt take the world’s gaze away from SA.

In the world of equity investing the saying goes, “it’s not about where you open, it’s about where you close.” The Rand is taking a leaf out of that book after opening on Monday morning under severe pressure, but that’s just a distant memory now as we look to close the week out significantly stronger.

Two down and two to go. Unfortunately I’m not talking about the number of days till we get to Friday but rather the major US tariff battlefronts with Canada and Mexico pretty much sorted while we still need similar resolutions for China and Europe.