No one expected the interest rate hike last month, and certainly not the rand and market fallout that followed. If you had been reading the press, there had been concerns around the price of the stock market and the fact that the rand was looking vulnerable as the current account deficit continued to balloon.
There is no such thing as an amateur investor: the moment you lay out cash for an investment, you’re a professional, playing the game for money. Professional investors on the stock market should equip themselves with the basics — which are the measures you use to decide whether or not a share is good value at a particular price.
Police used clubs and tear gas to break up a political demonstration in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday that left several opposition supporters gravely injured, journalists and witnesses said. One protester lost his hand when a tear-gas canister exploded, according to eyewitness reports.
The figures are certainly impressive. According to Statistics South Africa, the country’s tourism industry has experienced growth of more than 100% since the demise of apartheid in 1994. But in a country struggling to overcome the effects of apartheid, these figures do not necessarily add up to a success story.
Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates flew to Pretoria on Tuesday to discuss the Aids pandemic with President Thabo Mbeki. Gates is in South Africa to attend a Microsoft-sponsored forum of African government and business leaders on ways technology can improve competitiveness on the impoverished continent.
In an ideal world, cars wouldn’t have to burn petrol and smog up the place. They would run on a combination of grass cuttings and rainwater and, as they passed, the air would be lightly perfumed with the heady smell of summer. And they would still be capable of doing 120kph, of course. And a bit more than that, when no one was looking.
The recent spate of online security breaches has got internet bankers concerned their funds aren’t as safe as they thought — but peace of mind is a mouse click away. Colin Thornton, MD of Dial-a-Nerd, South Africa’s fastest-growing IT support company that specialises in aiding computer users, says 50% of the company’s work now revolves around clearing PCs of spyware and adware programmes.
A Silicon Valley judge is being asked to stop an aviation designer from gabbing about a plan by high-flying Google’s founders to convert a wide-body passenger jet into a globe-ranging party plane. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Joseph Huber scheduled an August 7 hearing to resolve the dispute.
<i>The Financial Times</i> newspaper said on Wednesday it was to slash up to 50 jobs as it tried to restructure its editorial operations. The British business daily is seeking to integrate better its editing, reporting and production for the <i>FT</i>’s print and online operations.
Indian police used sniffer dogs and picked through the wreckage for clues on Wednesday after a series of bombs blew apart trains and killed 190 people in the financial capital, Mumbai. The teeming city, symbol of the growing economic power of the world’s largest democracy, was trying to get back to normal a day after the seven apparently coordinated blasts, which also left hundreds wounded.