The Markets Daily

Cast aside technicals and fundamentals, volatility is being priced off the value of tweets. I’m being dramatic of course but crucial US stimulus proposals are being bandied about on social media like trivia on the inside of a bubble gum wrapper.

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In a grand show of authority rather than influence, Trump singlehandedly derailed US stimulus talks through a single tweet. His comment showed complete disregard of any and all progress between the House and Republicans and turned a blind eye to urgent calls by the Fed to increase spending.

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One million deaths, more than 35 million people infected worldwide and yet the leader of the free world, Donald J Trump, has urged citizens to not let covid rule their lives.

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The fly on the wall analogy isn’t as effective in a digital world. But it’s the thought that counts as we contemplate the outcomes of the ANC’s virtual Legotla.

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Potus and non-farm payrolls. Need I say much more? The storyboards are lit with speculation surrounding the US presidential couple’s covid diagnosis after a close aide tested positive. There’s a cruel irony in the recent revelation - one that doesn’t need much explanation.

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A pinch and a punch, it’s the first of the month. A childish sentiment but a firm reality check as we begin the fourth quarter of 2020. Signs of economic recovery are broadening, but repeated waves of covid-19, eight months after the initial outbreak, continue to demand sustained policy support, elevating the importance of personalities like Nancy Pelosi and Steve Mnuchin.

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Politics is very much in focus in the US and the UK right now. The first debate by presidential nominees for this year’s US election, held last night, has been described as “ill-mannered”. In between interruptions and name-calling some issues were discussed.

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Following the UK’s reimposition of a curfew on bars and restaurants is the reimpositions of curfew on bars and restaurants and barring of attendance of professional sports matches in the Netherlands. This as the rate of infections of covid-19 are rising across the channel as well.

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We’re into the last stretch of what can only be described as a most bizarre year. For South Africans, Heritage Day (celebrated on 24 September) provided a welcome reminder of our cultural and societal diversity. More importantly, it provided few with a welcome reprieve from our hum drum work from home existence.

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Good morning to the South African stalwarts that have returned to their desks this fine Friday, some may be out of necessity, some out of choice. A good way to think of today is long weekend, interrupted! Sometimes it can feel like a week’s worth of change happens in one day, and sometimes like nothing has changed at all.

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