Monthly financial markets outlook | August 2021

All major global asset classes ended in the green in July, but the headline numbers do not tell the full story about the market dynamics that led to that outcome. The performance of global equities was very narrow reminiscent of 2020. The S&P 500 which houses the US’s largest companies touched a new all-time high in July supported by above-average earnings deliveries by most of its constituents. European equities were up 1.8% on the back of the reopening momentum as most governments in the bloc ease lockdown restrictions. The fixed income segment was driven by inflation linkers and investment-grade bonds. Global inflation-linked bonds jumped 4%, followed by global investment-grade bonds and US high yields which delivered 1.3% and 0.4% for the month.

  • 20th August 2021
  • By 27four Investment Managers
  • Featured

Monthly financial markets outlook | June 2021

All major local asset classes delivered decent returns in April. The JSE All Bond Index bounced back on easing global inflation concerns on the back of an unequivocal commitment to defend the low-interest rate regime from the US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed). The Fed reassured markets that the inflation prints and employment numbers are still far from its targets.

Top 5 controversial AGM resolutions for May 2021

We exercise our voting rights on behalf of our clients diligently because we believe it is one of the most effective ways of entrenching corporate citizenry. We therefore review the voting issues per resolution at each annual general meeting and vote in line with our policy. In March, we voted on 90 resolutions of which 59 were in favour and 31 were against.

Monthly financial markets outlook | May 2021

All major local asset classes delivered decent returns in April. The JSE All Bond Index bounced back on easing global inflation concerns on the back of an unequivocal commitment to defend the low-interest rate regime from the US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed). The Fed reassured markets that the inflation prints and employment numbers are still far from its targets.

Top 5 controversial AGM resolutions for April 2021

We exercise our voting rights on behalf of our clients diligently because we believe it is one of the most effective ways of entrenching corporate citizenry. We therefore review the voting issues per resolution at each annual general meeting and vote in line with our policy. In March, we voted on 90 resolutions of which 59 were in favour and 31 were against.

The Just Energy Transition in South Africa – Implications and...

We exercise our voting rights on behalf of our clients diligently because we believe it is one of the most effective ways of entrenching corporate citizenry. We therefore review the voting issues per resolution at each annual general meeting and vote in line with our policy. In March, we voted on 90 resolutions of which 59 were in favour and 31 were against.

Monthly financial markets outlook | March 2021

November lived up to its reputation of being generous, as it handsomely rewarded long-suffering investors with solid returns across all major asset classes. The FTSE/JSE All Share Index recorded its second-best performance for the year after gaining 10.5% while vanilla bonds and inflation linkers gained 3.25% and 1.95% respectively.

Our top 5 controversial AGM resolutions for March 2021

Governance issues — appointment of chairs and election of board members — dominated company resolutions in February. Governance issues have evolved over the past few years and so have the reactions to these issues. We voted on 143 resolutions in February: 100 in favour and 43 against.