STANLIB STANLIB Podcasts

US labour market continues to be strong, deferring early interest rate cuts

Loading player...
A range of data in the past week shows the US labour market remains extremely strong. For example, the US gained 303 000 jobs in March, well above market expectations, while the unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 26 months. Given that wage growth is still relatively high at 4.1%, and the recent surge in oil prices could create further inflationary pressure, the US Federal Reserve is likely to maintain a “wait and see” approach towards interest rate cuts. The first US rate may only occur in about September and there could be two, not three, cuts this year.
8 Apr 2024 English South Africa Investing · Business News

Other recent episodes

SA economy grows, but not fast enough; US small businesses struggle

In this podcast, STANLIB’s Chief Economist, Kevin Lings, unpacks SA’s GDP growth and the latest US ADP report on US private sector employment. The local economy grew by an encouraging 2.1% year on year, largely because historical data was revised higher, but he warned this is not a sustainable growth…
8 Dec 10 min

SARB makes cautious 25 bps rate cut but next US rate cut is uncertain

In this podcast, STANLIB’s Chief Economist, Kevin Lings, considers the factors that are restraining SA’s inflation rate and have influenced the Reserve Bank in cutting the benchmark interest rate by 25 bps at its latest meeting. He also analyses latest US jobs data, which showed an increase in unemployment to…
24 Nov 16 min

Will AI boom become AI bust?

In the seventh episode of our “The More You Know” series, Mark Lovett, STANLIB Head of Investments, shares his experience of other market bubbles to help put the current AI hype into context. He emphasises the need for investors to identify the winners and losers in this new technology wave…
18 Nov 21 min

S&P surprises with positive outlook for SA

In this podcast, STANLIB’s Chief Economist, Kevin Lings, examines the reasons why S&P decided to revise SA’s credit rating from BB- to BB, while Fitch kept its rating unchanged. SA’s weak GDP growth rate remains a concern for all credit rating agencies but while S&P took a more positive view,…
17 Nov 16 min
All episodes