After drifting sideways around R18.50 to the Dollar for most of last week the Rand finally got the memo and reacted to Dollar weakness on Friday. Unfortunately for us it’s a US public holiday today so we’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see if further gains are on the cards.

It may seem like Donald Trump is keeping the market on its toes with his regular social media posts but a study by JPMorgan reminds us that his first term truly was a rollercoaster ride by comparison. Last week he increased his intensity by posting 20 messages that moved the currency market, but at his peak first time around his average was 60 market moving posts a week!!!

Budget Speech Wednesday has arrived and on the local front, all eyes will be on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana as he delivers his first budget under the GNU.  Concerned/pessimistic articles claim that he is stuck between a rock and a hard place but let’s see if he has a few tricks up his sleeve. 

It just goes to show that the best time to have an unprecedented local scandal, like postponing the annual Budget Speech for the first time in our democratic history for example, is to do it when the Dollar is on the back foot!!!

It just goes to show that the best time to have an unprecedented local scandal, like postponing the annual Budget Speech for the first time in our democratic history for example, is to do it when the Dollar is on the back foot!!!

An analyst recently quipped that the market will remain unfazed for as long as Donald Trump is seen as “the boy who cried wolf” when it comes to the threat of trade tariffs. The clock is suddenly ticking very loudly on a major tariff threat and the rest of this week has become a worrisome period for the Rand.

The market was holping that we would get news of a last minute deal to avert the looming tariff threats but it looks like that deal is not going to come, and while the currency market hasn’t reacted too severely just yet the same cannot be said for equities.