Rand comes unstuck as trade war reality check sets in
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has tempered optimism about a quick resolution to the dispute, which has held markets hostage for months
The rand was weaker on Monday morning, reflecting the reality check that a trade dispute between the US and China may not be resolved overnight. Markets surged late last week, pulling the rand along with them, when US President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that the world's two biggest economies were making progress to resolve the tit-for-tat tariff dispute, which is threatening to hurt the economy. As a highly liquid currency, the rand is a good barometer of risk-on/risk-off trade. But White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has since tempered optimism of a quick resolution to the dispute, which has held markets hostage for months. The renewed trade concerns were compounded by high US treasury yields and a strong dollar, following the better-than-expected US jobs report on Friday, which supported the case for continued increases in US interest rates. Higher US rates have contributed a great deal to bond outflows. Foreigners were net sellers of local bonds worth just more than ...
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