South Africa GDP rebounds in Q3

The NASDAQ inked yet another record on Monday albeit in a depressed session for stocks amid continued delays in the next US stimulus package and increasing COVID-19 cases. The NASDAQ rose 0.45%, marking the sole gains of the day, while the DOW and the S&P shed 0.49% and 0.19% respectively. Yield on 10Y USTs fell 3bps to 0.9228%.

The pound shed some of its recent gains as the UK-EU trade deal found no resolution with the December 31 deadline looming. In a bid to resolve the impasse Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet up with EC President Ursula von der Leyen this week ahead of Thursday’s European Council meeting. The pound traded as low as $1.3226 on Monday before paring losses to close at $1.3380. Yield on 10Y UKTs fell 6bps to 0.283%.

Asian stocks were lower amid the recent turn in risk sentiment as COVID-19 cases surged in the US. The HANG SENG led losses, down 0.76%, while the NIKKEI and the CSI shed 0.30% and 0.19% respectively. The ASX was higher however at 0.19%.

Brazil’s central bank is expected to hold the Selic on Wednesday at the record low 2% as inflation starts to pick up; mid-November inflation came at 4.22% YoY, above the target 4%. Economists in the latest central bank survey in turn upped their end-2020 forecast to 4.21% from the previous 3.54%. the real closed firmer at 5.1068 to the dollar while BRAZIL 30s were about flat, trading in the mid 104s.

South Africa’s GDP rebounded in Q3, with annualized QoQ growth coming at 66.1% from Q2’s revised annualised contraction of 51.7%; GDP closed 6.0% lower YoY however. The central bank expects the economy to shrink 8% in 2020 before rebounding 3.5% in 2021. The rebound comes as the rand has gained more than 10% this quarter so far to mark the second-best performance in EM currencies after Mexico’s peso. The rand closed firmer at 15.1465 to the dollar while SOAF 30s were flat, trading in the low 113s.