For the background to this series of posts: herehere and here. And the summary:

  1. Small investors have some investing options.
  2. You can invest occasionally in lump sums (the once-off investors) or monthly through debit orders (the monthly investors).
  3. As for things to invest in, I’m a general fan of low-cost equity-index-tracker ETFs (as is Warren Buffett). But there are other possibilities as well.
  4. This series of posts is there to see which would work out well.
  5. Then there are some indicators at the end.

But before we get there, let’s start with all the bad news of Week 28:

  1. Awkward trade deficit numbers were released (and I’m not sure why everyone is so taken aback by them – none of the platinum miners are back up to full speed yet – and that’s going to have an across-the-board impact).
  2. This led to more exchange rate weakening – even after the weakening that followed Gill Marcus’ announcement that she would not be making herself available for another 5 year term as SARB governor.
  3. So all in all – not great.

The Once-Off Investors

In pictures and tables:

Once Off Investors Graph

Once Off Investors Table

So anyone with dollar exposure had a good week.

The Monthly Investors

Monthly Investors Graph

Monthly Investors Table

 

Same story.

The Indicators

Week 28 Indicators

ALSI graph
And we’re almost back to where we were 5 months ago. Everyone is calling it the “correction”. And perhaps so. Except that “corrections” are usually associated with shifts between optimism and pessimism. And I think that everyone has been pessimistic for some time. Perhaps this is an “over-correction”?
10 Year Govt Bond Yield
Bond yields are up. My guess: there is some position unwinding as investors sell off bonds in order to convert their rands.
ZAR USD Exchange Rate
As discussed…
Oil Price
Meh.

ZAR Crude Oil Price

Gold and Platinum Price
More precious metal price declines. See last week’s post.
ZAR Gold and Platinum Price
In ZAR terms, so partial offset. At least most of the mining companies’ costs are denominated in rands…

Until next week!

Rolling Alpha posts opinions on finance, economics, and the corporate life in general. Follow me on Twitter @RollingAlpha, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rollingalpha.