The South African bond market was slightly firmer before midday on Friday as the rand retracted after hitting its best level against the dollar since the beginning of the year. Local bonds usually track the rand. After president-elect Donald Trump’s press conference on Wednesday, the local currency strengthened to its best New Year level of R13.50/$ due to a weakening greenback. While Trump was expected to give clarity about his plans for the US economy, his speech shed little information on the fiscal outlook. Dow Jones newswires said bonds stalled over the past few weeks, reflecting some concerns that policy details may fail to live up to market expectations. Investors had wagered that the prospect of large fiscal spending, lower taxes and lighter regulations proposed by Trump would lead to stronger economic growth, "accelerating inflation and a potentially faster pace of interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve". The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note was at 2.354% from ...
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