Since the start of the year South African markets have been catching up to US stock markets — which have been on a tear since Donald Trump swept to victory in the presidential election in November. On Friday, the day of his inauguration, Wall Street continued its rally and was hovering near record highs. The JSE All Share ended the day 0.70% higher, bringing its gain for the year to 3.71%. Trump's promises to increase spending on infrastructure, cut corporate taxes and loosen the regulatory burden that followed the 2008 financial crisis have bolstered US banking stocks. "Trump does have the ability to send markets and currencies into a tailspin when he talks, often because of the outrageous things that he says. So there might be reason to be cautious. Keep in mind, though, that short-term volatility should generally be considered noise and for the most part noise should be ignored," said Petri Redelinghuys, founder of Herenya Capital Advisors. The rand last year recorded its first a...
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