Events that moved the market l Q3 2020

Following a 40% decrease in its jet production, Airbus is cutting 15 000 jobs across Europe. Boeing is cutting over 12 000 US jobs.

The Afrimat Construction Index plunges below 100 for the first time since the index started – to 97 in the first quarter of 2020. This does not yet include the impact of the lockdown.

SA's consumer confidence index drops from -9 in the first quarter to -33 during the second quarter of 2020.

Amazon.com shares reach $3 000 for the first time after an extended rally.

South Africa’s manufacturing output falls 49.4% year-on-year in April during lockdown.

Growth in SA CPI prices falls to 2.1% year-on-year, its lowest level in more than 15 years as the cost of fuel declines and spending slows in lockdown.

Nearly a quarter of all companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific index have scrapped or cut dividends in 2020. About half of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s members did the same.

EU leaders agree on a stimulus package worth 750 billion euros to pull their economies out of the 2020 recession.

South Africa’s retail sales plunge by a record 50.4% in April and 12% in May.

The South African Reserve Bank announces another 25-basis points cut in the repo rate. This brings the prime commercial lending rate to 7%.

A weaker dollar pushes the gold price past the previous high set in 2011.

The IMF approves South Africa’s rapid financing instrument (RFI) of $4.3bn (about R70bn), to meet financing needs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

US gross domestic product shrinks by 32.9% annualised in the second quarter from the first, the most in quarterly records dating back to 1947.

Royal Dutch Shell posts a net loss of $18.1 billion for the second quarter, due to massive asset write-downs, and warns that job cuts are on the way.

Shares in paper manufacturer Sappi plunge almost 13% after reporting a quarterly loss on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic and falling demand for paper.

Apple announces a 4-for-1 stock split after its shares surged more than 80% in the past year. Its previous split was in 2014.

Ad sales, which make up the bulk of sales at the Google parent, are down 8.1% from the same period last year. This is the first-ever decline. 

The euro area contracts by 12.1%. Spain took the biggest hit, shrinking 18.5% in the second quarter, while French and Italian output dropped by double digits.

The lockdown leads to an under-recovery of R82 billion for the fiscal year to 15 July.

Microsoft adds 5% to its share price in one day after confirming that it’s continuing talks to buy popular social media platform TikTok in the US.

South African Breweries cancels R5 billion of planned investments over revenue losses suffered during the ban on alcohol sales.

Liberty reports an interim headline loss of R2.2 billion as it prepares for more Covid-19 death claims. Death and disability payments increased by 5.1%

Glencore scraps its dividend to lower debt as the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to book a $3.2 billion impairment charge.

Turkey’s lira tumbles to its lowest level against the dollar on concerns about the level of Turkey’s reserves and its aggressive interest rate cuts.

Toyota Motor Corp posts a 98% plunge in its first-quarter operating profit as the pandemic has halved its global sales.

South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) announces that it is ready to implement R30 billion worth of construction projects.

The move to ban US residents from doing business with Tencent’s WeChat app erases $46 billion from Tencent’s market value. The US president’s executive order, which also applies to ByteDance’s TikTok, fuels concern that the deteriorating US-China relationship will weigh on companies, economies and markets.

Petrochemicals group Sasol announces about R112 billion in impairment charges – more than its market capitalisation of R 94.9 billion.

The number of people in work in Britain falls by 220 000 in the three months to June, the most since 2009.

The UK economy posts a 20.4% contraction in the second quarter, a record slump, pushing Britain into its first recession since 2009.

Tencent reports a profit that beats the highest analyst estimate. Sales rose 29% and net income increased to 33.1 billion yuan in the three months to June.

The world’s third-largest economy shrinks by an annualised 27.8% in April-June, the biggest decline since comparable data became available in 1980.

Apple’s market value pushes past $2 trillion, the first time a US company has surpassed this level.  

Impala Platinum flags a more than 300% surge in annual earnings, boosted by an increase in metals prices and a weaker rand.

Standard Bank announces that its half-year profits dropped by 43%.

Massmart reports a more than R1 billion earnings drop after it lost approximately R2.3 billion in liquor sales in March and April.

Nedbank says it expects its headline earnings per share for the half-year to end June to fall between 67% and 72% from the same period last year.

Absa’s headline earnings declines 93% for the first half of 2020 and the group announces that it will not be paying an interim dividend due to higher credit impairments.

RCL Foods reports an annual loss reflecting the impact of Covid-19 and a R1.5 billion impairment on its assets.

Sun International plans to cut 3 300 jobs in SA and Chile as part of a restructuring plan to survive the pandemic, which took the firm into a half-year headline loss of R885 million.

Consumer prices in the euro area fall for the first time in four years, with the inflation rate coming in at -0.2%.

Impala Platinum’s annual earnings jump by nearly 400% after higher metal prices and a weaker rand offset the impact of the pandemic.

South Africa’s GDP for the second quarter of 2020 shrinks by 16.4% non-annualised, the steepest decline since at least 1990.

Despite its liquor and furniture outlets being closed during the lockdown, Shoprite Checkers’ operating profit increases by 8.7% for the year to June.

Momentum posts a headline loss of R251 million in the second half of its financial year, largely because of additional provisions of nearly R1 billion for pandemic-related claims.

Harmony Gold posts an annual loss of R828 million after derivative losses caused by a weaker exchange rate, despite soaring gold prices.

Discovery’s shares fall 3% on the day after the insurer reports spending of R2.2 billion on new initiatives despite a 94% full-year profit fall.

South African retailer Woolworths reports a 65.1% drop in earnings for the year to June.

South Africa’s headline consumer price inflation stands at 3.1% year-on-year in August.