Sanlam Private Wealth Morning Digest Friday 18 August 2017

American Markets

Wall Street ended sharply lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 recording its largest 1-day decline in three months. This slump was mainly attributable to increasing concerns regarding US President Donald Trump’s administration and a terror attack in Barcelona. The NASDAQ featured as the region’s worst performer, down 1.94%, while the S&P 500 shed 1.54% to close the session off at 2,430.01 index points. Furthermore, the Dow Jones ended 1.24% lower at 21,750.73 index points, negatively affected by a 1.6% decline in Wal-Mart after the group released its latest quarterly results earlier on in the session.

Local Markets

On Thursday, local markets ended in negative territory, weighed down by prospects of reduced liquidity in global financial markets and as investors digested a number of local earnings reports. By the end of the session, the JSE All Share index had fallen 0.21% to settle at 55,415.27 index points, outperforming a 0.3% decline in the Top 40 index. The banking index featured among the worst performers, down 0.54%, with Standard Bank dropping 1.06% after releasing its results. In contrast, the gold mining index surged 2.07%, spurred on by a 4.71% increase in Gold Fields and a 0.48% uptick in Harmony after they too released their latest results during the session.