By Kevin Lings, Stanlib economist One of the most important upcoming economic and investment issue is how the US government deals with its impending fiscal crisis at the end of 2012. The US fiscal authorities are facing two major problems. Firstly, the expiration of numerous tax benefits at the end of 2012. Secondly, the automatic [...]
Tag Archives | economy
US facing massive $626 billion in fiscal tightening at the end of 2012
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2012 is a challenging year
Local economic update: April 2012 By Tendani Mantshimuli, consumer economist, Liberty Life South Africa’s economy grew by 3% last year and is expected to grow by 2.8% this year. South Africa being a small and quite open economy is prone to the fortunes of the global economy. For now the turmoil in the global market [...]
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Business confidence declines in second quarter
The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI) moderated by seven index points from 55 in the first quarter to 48 in the second quarter of 2011. An index level just below the neutral 50 mark means that around half of the respondents surveyed are satisfied and the other half dissatisfied with prevailing business conditions. Despite the [...]
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Recent credit rating downgrades: Greece and Italy
By Arno Lawrenz, CIO, Atlantic Asset Management Last Friday, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded Greece’s sovereign debt rating by 3 notches in one go. This was followed shortly by Standard & Poors (S&P) downgrading Italy by a notch. What are the likely repercussions and meanings of these actions? There are many rumours surrounding what [...]
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Very modest rise in inflation
April CPI as measured by Stats SA came in at 4.2%. In their BJM Express Newsletter, BJM say that this figure was below the consensus forecast of 4.4%, and slightly up on March’s reading of 4.1%. “On a monthly basis, inflation increased 0.3% of which the transport category and specifically petrol made the biggest contribution.” [...]
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Where are the jobs?
SA has a pretty poor record when it comes to employment. The current mantra – and an extremely important one it is – is jobs. Above all else. Unfortunately they are not coming through and latest figures from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey show that instead of a decrease – SA unemployment increased and [...]
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Kagiso PMI maintains high level
The seasonally adjusted Kagiso PMI stabilized at a fairly high level of 56.4 during April, only marginally lower than the 13-month peak of 57.2 index points reached in March. “Both the current activity and forward looking indicators remained robust, suggesting that the improved growth momentum in the factory sector during 2011Q1 was sustained in [...]
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SA recovery on track despite global shocks
South African consumers can find some reassurance in the fact that, despite the serious shocks seen around the globe in the first quarter of the year, the economic recovery underway in South Africa is still on track and growth prospects remain positive, according to Johann Els (pictured), senior economist at Old Mutual Investment Group SA [...]
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Rates increase on the horizon?
Economic developments, particularly the potential second round inflation effects of the past year’s commodity and administered price shocks, would most likely prompt the SA Reserve Bank to hike interest rates towards the end of this year and will continue with hikes in 2012. This was the comment of private client wealth manager Citadel’s Chief Investment [...]
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Tax Guide 2012
Latest Issue - 30 April 2012
In This Issue:
- Local and offshore ETFs
- Why stock selection is key
- Medical Survey - the cost of healthcare
- New player in life insurance market
Newsletters
Newsletter 17 May 2012: Lump sum versus debit order, 3 essentials for a confident investor
In today’s newsletter we look at investing with a lump sum or regular contributions – how do they stack up against each other? We also share three investment tips to cope with uncertainty. Being right about muddle-through hasn’t made investing any easier Most predicted that politically and often economically the year 2012 would be a [...]
