News archive

US markets returned to their winning ways yesterday, with the S&P 500 adding over 1% and breaking through 6 400 for the first time. Traders took the latest consumer-price report as "good enough" to keep the party going, with the expectation of one rate cut before the end of the year. Core inflation accelerated to a 3.1% annual rate in July, excluding volatile food and energy costs, up from 2.9% the previous month.

In company news, AI-startup Perplexity says it's offered $34.5 billion to buy Google's Chrome browser. Perplexity is only worth $18 billion, but it's shooting its shot because US antitrust authorities are trying to force Google to spin it off. Elsewhere, Elon Musk took a swipe at Apple's App Store policies, accusing the company of giving OpenAI special treatment.

Here's the lowdown, the JSE All-share closed up 0.64%, the S&P 500 rose 1.13%, and the Nasdaq was 1.39% higher. Record highs, baby!

US stocks slipped on Monday, ahead of a key monthly inflation report. Tariff mania continued, with gold declining after Trump saying out of the blue that there would be no levies on that metal. Later in the day, he backed off on taxes on goods imported from China by offering another 90-day reprieve.

In company news, Trump (who else?) signalled he's open to letting Nvidia sell a toned-down version of Blackwell chips, its most advanced, to China. Both Nvidia and AMD have also agreed to fork over 15% of their Chinese AI chip sales revenue to the US government. This is bizarre, as export taxes are prohibited by the US Constitution. Elsewhere, Intel shares jumped 4% after its CEO visited the White House, days after the President publicly criticised his China links and urged his removal.

At the close, the JSE All-share closed down 0.22%, the S&P 500 fell 0.25%, and the Nasdaq was 0.30% lower.

US markets enjoyed an exuberant Friday, rollicking to new highs. Tech stocks rose again after a week of excellent earnings reports, mostly ignoring tariff setbacks and inflation fears. The S&P 500 is now up 28% from its early April lows. Thanks for coming.

In company news, advertising automation company Trade Desk was the biggest loser in the S&P 500, tumbling 38.6% after issuing lacklustre revenue guidance. Elsewhere, sports gear-maker Under Armour shares plunged 18.1% on tepid sales forecasts. Finally, Monster Beverage climbed 6.4% after reporting record sales of caffeinated sugar water.

In summary, on Friday, the JSE All-share closed up 0.21%, the S&P 500 rose 0.78%, and the Nasdaq was 0.98% higher. All right then.

US markets ended the day mixed. The S&P 500 had a tough afternoon, but almost crawled back to par with defensive sectors like utilities and consumer staples doing the heavy lifting. The Nasdaq did better, notching its 17th record high of 2025. Nvidia and Apple both fared well.

In company news, Intel slipped 3.1% after Donald Trump called for the CEO's resignation, because he has Chinese roots, despite being an American citizen who was born in Malaysia. Elsewhere, language-learning app Duolingo jumped 13.8% after reporting stellar earnings. How long is your streak? Lastly, Crocs got stomped, down a brutal 29% after admitting that cost-cutting, consumer belt-tightening, and tariff headaches would all crunch their revenue.

Izolo, the JSE All-share closed up 0.49%, the S&P 500 fell 0.08%, and the Nasdaq was 0.35% higher. Not too bad, really.

US markets returned to their winning ways yesterday, with tech stocks leading the charge. The so-called Magnificent Seven reached a new all-time high, thanks to smart moves from Apple, Amazon and Tesla. Apple's gains were due to Tim Cook's photo-op at the White House, where they pledged to onshore some aspects of iPhone production, after a $100 billion spending plan.

In company news, McDonald's served up a solid 3.0% share price move as sales improved last quarter. Elsewhere, Walt Disney slipped 2.7% after its third-quarter revenue missed expectations, and it announced a deal between its ESPN unit and the NFL. Finally, e-commerce platform Shopify soared 21.9% after posting much stronger earnings than expected.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed up 0.34%, the S&P 500 rose 0.73%, and the Nasdaq ended a delicious 1.21% higher. That's more like it.

US markets went down slightly last night, for reasons that are hard to discern. Weakening services activity and persistent price pressures might be feeding into concerns about the Fed's next step. Company results out yesterday were uninspiring, and bank stocks tumbled on chatter that team Trump is working on an executive order to punish banks that discriminate against conservative customers. Huh?

In company news, Advanced Micro Devices fell 6.5% despite a bullish sales forecast, other than in China. Elsewhere, Super Micro Computer slumped 16.3% after disappointing results. Lastly, Amgen shares were unchanged after raising its 2025 outlook, thanks to strong sales from drugs like Repatha.

At the close, the JSE All-share closed up 0.36%, but the S&P 500 fell 0.49%, and the Nasdaq was 0.65% lower. Ah well.

US markets snapped back to winning ways yesterday, erasing Friday's losses. Perhaps last week's very weak bad jobs report will induce the Fed to cut interest rates in September. Strong company earnings are still rolling in, so there is no cause for negativity, just yet.

In company news, Tesla closed 2.2% higher after awarding Elon Musk a new incentive package of 96 million shares, worth around $30 billion. Elsewhere, Spotify shares rose 5.0% after it hiked subscription prices, locking in loyal listeners. Finally, American Eagle Outfitters rose 23.6% thanks to more hype about Sydney Sweeney's jeans.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed up 1.60%, the S&P 500 rose 1.47%, and the Nasdaq marched 1.95% higher. That will do nicely, thank you.

Markets were messy on Friday. The US unemployment rate climbed from 4.1% to 4.2%, and historic jobs data from May to June was revised downwards significantly, by a total of 258 000. All of a sudden, what seemed like a strong jobs market is looking rather shaky.

Trump didn't like the jobs numbers, so he fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics head and accused her of manipulating them for political reasons. The BLS said the lumpy data adjustments were due to fewer staff (budget cuts) and access to less data (budget cuts). Now a non-partisan entity has been dragged into the mud, the sort of thing that happens in Turkey, not the USA.

In company news, Reddit jumped 17.5% after reporting an increase of 21% in daily active users. Elsewhere, Amazon dropped 8.3% because its AWS cloud hosting unit only grew by 18%, less than the stellar numbers reported by main competitors Google and Microsoft. Finally, Coinbase fell 16.7% due to lower-than-expected revenue growth from crypto trading.

On Friday, the JSE All-share fell 0.79%, the S&P 500 flopped by 1.60%, and the Nasdaq ended 2.24% lower. Oof, that stinks.

Markets started the day strong after inline inflation data and sparkling big tech earnings, but lost their way in the afternoon. President Tariff had a busy day, imposing taxes on imports to the US from almost every country. In his mind he is winning, but American consumers will soon be paying extra. Keep in mind that imports are only about 15% of US GDP, so it's not a train smash.

In company news, Meta rose 11.2% after a heroic set of quarterly numbers, fuelled by AI initiatives. Elsewhere, design software maker Figma debuted on the market at $33 per share, and rocketed higher to close at $115.50. Booyah! Finally, Microsoft also knocked it out of the park and briefly joined the $4 trillion club. More on that below.

In summary, the JSE All-share dropped by 0.80%, the S&P 500 fell by 0.37%, and the Nasdaq ended just 0.03% lower. Ah, damn.

US markets were cruising higher until the Fed's interest rate decision yesterday. As expected, they did nothing, but in his press conference Jerome Powell seemed a little hawkish, emphasising a wait-and-see approach. One can understand his position - with a strong labour market, solid GDP growth and rising US import taxes, there is no rush to cut rates.

In company news, home fitness company Peloton star jumped 18.8% due to an analyst upgrade. Snack maker Mondelez got chomped by 6.6% after posting slower organic growth and slimmer margins last quarter. Finally, online trading platform Robinhood continued its record run, gaining another 2.7% to give it a 185% gain in 2025.

The price of copper in the US fell 19% after Trump said he would exclude the metal from massive import tariffs. What the hell? That is a huge move in the price of an economically central commodity.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed up 0.15%, but the S&P 500 slid by 0.12%, and the Nasdaq ended 0.15% higher. Today should be better.

US markets opened up yesterday but slid lower and retreated from record highs as the day wore on. The negative close broke a six day winning streak for the S&P 500. A cautious mood spread ahead of the Fed's interest rate decision this afternoon, and some major tech earnings updates tonight.

In company news, Novo Nordisk shareholders went home hungry yesterday; it dropped 22% after posting weaker GLP-1 guidance, mostly due to being bested by rival Eli Lilly. UnitedHealth fell another 7.46% on poor numbers; that share price is down 48% for the year. Lastly, appliance maker Whirlpool got washed, down 13.4% after raising concerns about fiercer competition from Asian rivals.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed up 0.47%, but the S&P 500 slipped by 0.30%, and the Nasdaq ended 0.38% lower. As Saffas like to say when something unfortunate happens: "shame".

Wall Street scraped through another green close. The market started in a cheery mood following the EU/US trade deal, but that faded as attention turned to major economic and company news which comes later this week. With 5 minutes to go the S&P 500 shot up, squeaking into positive territory as the closing bell rang.

In company news, Nike's fortunes finally seem to be turning. JP Morgan upgraded the company to 'overweight', pushing the share price 3.8% higher. In AI news, AMD raised the prices of its chips, boosting the entire sector, with notable increases for AMD (4.3%), Super Micro Computer (10.2%), ASML (2.6%), and Nvidia (1.9%).

Elsewhere, the new European trade agreement resulted in a hangover for beer manufacturers; Anheuser-Busch Inbev (-5.5%), Heineken (-9.4%), and Molson Coors (-2.5%).

In summary, the JSE All-share closed down 0.22%, but the S&P 500 rose by 0.02%, and the Nasdaq ended 0.33% higher. Ok then.

US markets set a new record every day last week. The words of an iconic South African TV advert come to mind, 'not too shabby hey Nige'. The big news over the weekend was that the US and EU have agreed to a one-sided trade deal, setting export tariffs at 15%, which one commentator called "less worse than expected", so markets look set to rise further today.

In company news, Deckers Outdoor (Uggs and Hoka shoes) soared 11% on better-than-expected numbers. In the same industry, Puma plummeted 15.7% after warning of weak demand and the threat of tariffs. Finally, Intel fell 8.5% because they are laying off 15% of their workforce and scaling back chip foundry plans.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed down 1.05%, but the S&P 500 rose by 0.40%, and the Nasdaq ended 0.24% higher. That was a great week.

It was close, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out another record high last night. In case you were wondering, the old Dow Jones index hasn't hit a record since December, showing how it is largely irrelevant these days. The Dow only contains 30 companies, which was helpful back in the day when calculations were done by hand. The downside of the small list is that a poor performance from just one stock can have an outsized impact. In this case, UnitedHealth was down 5% yesterday and 45% for the year.

In company news, struggling medical syringe maker West Pharmaceutical Services bounced back by 23% due to strong demand for their GLP-1 delivery systems, highlighting the growing adoption of this new class of weight-loss drugs. Elsewhere, IBM fell 7.6%, even after posting market-beating revenue and profit numbers, because of an underwhelming sales forecast for the rest of the year.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed down 0.21%, the S&P 500 rose by 0.07%, and the Nasdaq ended 0.18% higher. A gain is a gain, it still counts.

US markets rose again yesterday, with the S&P 500 hitting its 12th all-time high for the year. Trading got off to a good start on news of a US trade deal with Japan, and maintained its momentum on reports that the US and EU are close to a deal, setting a 15% tariff on most goods. The Nasdaq Composite also made history, closing above the 21 000 mark for the first time.

In company news, elevator manufacturer Otis Worldwide is going down (-12.4%) after weak earnings. Elsewhere, Google is up 1.8% after hours following pleasing second-quarter results that included a surge in revenue from their cloud hosting division and a big hike in future capital spending. Elsewhere, Tesla fell 4.4% overnight after reporting a 16% drop in net income and another dip in automotive sales.

In summary, the JSE All-share closed up 0.86%, the S&P 500 rose 0.78%, and the Nasdaq was 0.61% higher. You have to be in it to win it.