We had been hoping for an end to the USA/Iran war for some time now, and last week it finally happened. President Donald Trump and Iranian leadership signed an initial Memorandum of Understanding. The framework aims to end the recent war, reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz maritime chokepoint, and advance ongoing nuclear talks. The expectation was for equity markets to rally as investor concerns abate, but this didn’t happen, due to an old enemy getting some time in the spotlight, namely inflation. The newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh made it clear in his first FOMC meeting that he would make sure inflation did not go up, incinerating hopes for a lowering of interest rates.
The good news is that the price of oil fell to around $80 per barrel from $100 not too long ago. This will have a positive impact on inflation and limit any potential interest rate increases. The decrease in hostilities and lowering of the oil price have, however, not been kind to the rand or commodity prices. At time of writing the rand is trading at around R16.46 to the dollar, gold sits at around $4 126 and platinum had a 6% fall on the 18th of June.
On the equity side we witnessed something historic happening on the 12th of June, namely the SpaceX initial public offering. This officially became the largest IPO in world history, raising a record-shattering $75 billion and instantly cementing founder Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire. Shares were initially priced at $135, valuing the company at a staggering $1.77 trillion at debut. However, massive investor demand drove the opening-day trading price up to $150, with the stock closing its first session above $161. Currently it is trading at $185, an increase of 37% from the IPO price. If you have been paying attention, you would have noticed that something strange has been happening with the value of money. Not so long ago, the wealthiest person on earth had $50 billion, now there are 3 428 dollar billionaires, up from 3 028 in 2025 alone. The term “trillionaire” (thousand billion) made money a joke. It is as if the Zimbabwean dollar has become mainstream.