A weaker-than-expected US inflation report early in the month, combined with weaker US employment data, reaffirmed investors’ belief that the Federal Reserve will soon begin cutting interest rates. Against this backdrop, interest-rate sensitive asset classes, like Listed Infrastructure and Listed Property outperformed.

In contrast, developed equities returned a more muted 1.3% over the month, as investors grew more skeptical about the potential for future earnings growth from large-cap growth stocks. Commodities, as measured by the broad Bloomberg Commodity Index, fell by 4.9% during July. Oil prices contributed to the decline as the market weighed the impact of weaker demand from China against supply issues arising from tensions in the Middle East.

South African equity and bond markets again reported strong gains in July. Local gold mining companies, AngloGold (+13.7%) and Goldfields (+16.7%), delivered stellar returns for the month, as did most of the local financial companies. British American Tobacco also reported a strong gain of 13.9% for July.