Brent surged 10%. US retail sales blew out. The Rand gave back two weeks of gains... It was supposed to be three in a row... ...and right up until Tuesday morning, it nearly was. Last week the Rand closed at R16.21/$ — its strongest level since February, on Friday's news that Iran had declared the Strait of Hormuz "completely open." (We wrote at the time that the market had moved on Araghchi's words, not Trump's clarifications, and that the ceasefire itself remained unresolve

Peace talks fell apart Monday... by Friday the Rand had gained 33 cents anyway. It looked like the worst possible start to the week... ...and ended as the Rand's second-best performance of 2026. The Iran peace talks that markets had been banking on fell apart over the weekend, and by Sunday night Trump had ordered a full US naval blockade of Iranian ports. Monday morning opened with Rand selling, oil surging, and safe-haven demand flooding back into the Dollar — the kind of s

Another week down, and what a week it was for the markets on many fronts.... ...with the Rand itself being among the players as it pushed below R17/$ for the first time since February 2023! And here's the kicker - we called it to a tee with our forecast last week. But that historic breakout wasn't the only story... Global markets had one of their most volatile weeks in months, with the Dow hitting record highs before crashing 797 points in a single day, Bitcoin capitulating