JSE has to navigate global sea of red on Thursday
The JSE looks set for another day of losses on Thursday, with global equities under serious pressure as recession and trade war fears take their toll on risk assets.
The World Trade Organisation has given the go-ahead for US tariffs on the EU, in retaliation for subsidies for aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The tariffs on whisky, aircraft parts and other goods are expected to begin on October 18.
US data has also disappointed, underscoring fears that a recession is looming for the world’s largest economy.
Private US payrolls growth for September was well below expectation on Thursday, with focus now shifting to US nonfarm payrolls on Friday, this week’s major data release.
Carmakers in the US have also underperformed, with disappointing reports from Ford and General Motors confirming the dire picture in the sector already evident in reports from Japanese auto US sales on Tuesday, National Australia Bank analyst Rodrigo Catril said in a note.
Asian markets had slumped on Thursday morning, with the Australian Securities Exchange down 1.83%. The MSCI World Index has fallen 1.71%.
At 6.15am gold and platinum were flat at $1,499.26/oz and $887.65 respectively. Brent crude was up 0.45% to $57.70 a barrel, recovering a little from Wednesday’s 2.53% slump.
The rand had recovered 0.21% to R15.26/$.
On Wednesday the FTSE 100 and CAC 40 had fallen more than 3%.
There is little on the local corporate calendar on Thursday, while in economic news the Standard Bank purchasing managers index (PMI) for September is due later.
The PMI for August showed private-sector activity had slipped to its lowest level in more than two years, amid broad-based declines including in new orders, output, employment and inventories.
Source: businesslive.co.za
