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Covid19 related deaths in South Africa rose from 5 on Friday morning to 11 as at Sunday night, with an increase of the total number of confirmed cases rising 70 since Saturday. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said that the coronavirus death toll in the US could be “well short” of the estimates of the top health officials. This only if social distancing is done correctly, including total US shutdown for April. US Vice President Pence said “We are beginning to see the glimmers of progress,” with some day-to-day reductions in New York, the COVID-19 epicentre in the US. UK Prime...

6.6 million US workers filed for their first week of unemployment benefits for the week ending 28 March. The previous week’s number was 3.3 million. The worst number previously was 665 000 on March 28 in 2009. These two new numbers imply that the US unemployment rate is now 9.5%, up from 3.5% just a month ago, which was a historic low. The oil price surged up 22% to close to USD 30/barrel on Thursday when President Trump tweeted about chatting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia about cutting oil production. The South African positive virus count is lower...

The global infection rate is approaching 1m people, and with the total deaths, this implies a mortality rate of 5%, which is higher than predicted. We hope that this will drop with the roll-out of many more tests. Global equity markets fell yesterday with the US S&P 500 dropping the most two weeks. This comes on the back of President Trump’s statement warning Americans that there are “a painful two weeks ahead” and with the estimates of up to 240 000 American deaths. Big business and the Ultra-High-Net worth families continue to donate to SA with the Oppenheimer family giving...

The Rand held steady against the US dollar, ending the first day after the Moody’s credit downgrade and is currently below the USD/ZAR18 level (although it did spike past that level intraday). The infection rate in South Africa is not exponential. Global infection rates, though going up, have not spiked, with daily increases holding steady according to Johns Hopkins University data. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (University of Washington) has modelled the peak hospital bed requirements for the US as the 15th of April (https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections). New York state the epicentre of the US outbreak is reporting a slowing...

Sadly, South Africa recorded its first COVID-19 related deaths with a woman in Cape Town and a man in Ladysmith passing away over the weekend. Mental health issues are also increasing. A finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state died by suicide, apparently over concerns regarding the economic fallout from the virus. If you or anyone you know is struggling, have them speak to a mental health professional, there is help available. On Friday night passed, Moody’s downgraded our sovereign debt to sub-investment grade. The Coronavirus was the final straw. The Rand weakened and is currently testing R18 to the USD....