Business

5 things you need to know before trading starts today

Staff Writer

 ·9 May 2016

Here’s what is happening in the markets:

• Ratings agency Moody’s has kept South Africa’s credit rating at two notches above junk status, it announced this weekend – however, the country’s outlook has been set to negative. While South Africa is safe, for now, it will face pressure to improve the economic situation in the country. Moody’s, as well as the IMF see a slight recovery in SA, with both groups praising measures put in place by government and the Reserve Bank to cut wasteful spending.

• South Africa is not out of the woods yet, however – ratings agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch both have the country only one notch above junk status, and both agencies are yet to conduct their review of the country. S&P will conduct its review in the coming weeks, and Fitch will follow later in the year. Economists are not optimistic, with many predicting that one or both of these agencies will push South Africa to junk.

• South Africa’s rand fell more than 1% against the dollar on Friday before recouping the losses, but remains vulnerable to a weak outlook for the domestic economy in the near term. Stocks ended weaker after US jobs data came in lower than forecast adding to concerns over the pace of economic growth that have weakened investors’ appetite for risk globally. On Monday the rand was trading at R14.81 to the dollar, R21.35 to the pound and R16.87 to the euro.

• In global news, Asian stocks were mostly lower on Monday after a disappointing US jobs report and worse-than-expected trade numbers out of China raised questions about the underlying strength of the world’s biggest economies. US stocks rebounded from early losses to close higher on Friday as investors viewed the day’s jobs data as less disappointing than first thought.

• Oil prices rose about 2 percent in early Asian trading on Monday as supply outages persisted over the weekend from Canada’s wildfires that have shut half the country’s vast oil sands capacity. US oil was up $1.05, or 2.3%, at $45.71 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 85 US cents, or 1.9%, to $46.22 a barrel.

In other news: Security around Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has been stepped up as the advocate has received a number of death threats. According to weekend reports, the PP received a text message warning, saying that a Cape Town gang boss has been paid R740,000 to kill her, and to make it look like natural causes.