MARKET WRAP: JSE starts week on negative note as industrials and banks retreat
Markets have seesawed in recent months, reacting to heightened rhetoric on trade, with investors fearing an escalating global trade war
The JSE closed weaker on Monday in global risk-off trade as the Dow opened weaker and European markets closed in the red on global trade-war concerns. The European auto sector has been hard hit after President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to impose tariffs on European vehicles, despite opposition from US lawmakers and domestic and foreign auto makers. Trade is expected to be prominent on the agenda when European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker visits the White House on Wednesday. Markets have seesawed in recent months as investors reacted to heightened rhetoric on trade, and the imposition of US tariffs and retaliatory measures from China and Europe, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The trade-related sell-offs were driven more by sentiment than fundamentals, said Patrick Spencer, Baird’s vice-chairman of equities. Even though tariffs made up a fraction of world GDP, the concern was that "companies will just stop spending because they don’t know what’s going to happen." O...
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