Events that moved the market 2022

US stocks ended 2022 lower, with sharp losses driven by aggressive interest rate hikes to curb inflation, recession fears, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising concerns over Covid cases in China.

Eskom releases its delayed 2021/22 financial results reporting a net loss of R12.3 billion for the year ended 31 March 2022.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is re-elected ANC leader during the party’s national conference, beating close rival Zweli Mkhize.

Ghana’s annual consumer inflation accelerates to a new 21-year high of 50.3 the previous month, driven by utilities, food and fuel.

André de Ruyter marks the eleventh Eskom boss to have left the company in just over a decade. De Ruyter’s resignation comes at a time when South Africans moved between Stage 5 and Stage 6 power cuts.

SA Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago announces the MPC’s decision to increase the repurchase rate by 75 bps to 7%, with effect from 25 November 2022.

A California judge sentences Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins Brazil’s presidential election, but with incumbent Jair Bolsonaro still not conceding defeat there were concerns the far-right contender might challenge the result.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns, brought down just six weeks into the job by an economic programme that shattered investor confidence and enraged much of her Conservative Party.

Global consultancy firm Bain & Company is banned by Treasury for 10 years from tendering for public sector contracts.

The sterling sinks to an all-time low of US$1.0350, as investors battle to digest new UK Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng's plans to cut the tax of high-income earners.

The Monetary Policy Committee increases the repo rate by 75 bps to 6.25.

The Fed raises its target interest rate to a range of 3.00 and signals more large increases to come in new projections showing its policy rate to peak at 4.6% in 2023.

CPI prices are 8.3% higher compared with last year. Prices rise across a wide range of goods and services, triggering a sharp sell-off on Wall Street, the worst since June 2020.

The European Central Bank raises interest rates by a record margin ‒ from 0.50 ‒ to combat double-digit inflation in a number of member countries.

SA GDP contracts 0.7 in the previous quarter.

Eurozone inflation hits a record high in August of 9.1%, with high energy prices the main driver.

Tencent logs its first-ever revenue decline after its workforce shrank almost 5%, a prime example of how China’s worsening economy is hurting its corporations.

UK inflation accelerates to the highest in 40 years. The Consumer Price Index rises 10.1% from a year earlier.

The US Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 75 bps for the second straight month.

The repo rate is raised by 75 bps, the steepest hike since September 2002. Prime is increased to 9%.

The euro crosses a major threshold for the first time in more than two decades, reaching parity with the US dollar.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, who stepped down in 2020, is assassinated while giving a speech in Nara.

Following the resignation of nearly 60 members of his government, Boris Johnson steps down as prime minister of the UK.

South Africa records FDI inflows of R27.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022, due to foreign entities increasing equity investments and granting loans to domestic subsidiaries.

South Africa’s Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla repeals the country’s last remaining coronavirus-related restrictions, such as the wearing of masks, curbs on gathering sizes and border checks for Covid.

The yen falls to a 24-year low as Japan’s easy monetary policy increasingly contrasts with developed peers hiking rates.

The S&P 500 falls nearly 9 below its January highs. Also, the yield on 10-year Treasuries touches the highest level since 2011, and two-year rates the highest since the financial crisis.

Eurozone inflation accelerates to an all-time high of 8.1% year-on-year, intensifying the debate at the European Central Bank about how rapidly to raise interest rates.

The SA Reserve Bank hikes the repo rate by 50 bps, taking the bank’s key rate to 4.75.

US data show that over the year, the CPI food index increased 9.4 later this year.

The Fed delivers the biggest interest rate increase since 2000 – 50 bps ‒ unleashing the most aggressive policy action in decades to combat soaring inflation.

President Ramaphosa declares a national state of disaster following the floods in KZN, which destroyed 4 000 homes, killed over 400 people and disrupted fuel lines and food supplies.

Tencent shares surge, joining the rest of China’s gaming industry in a rally after regulators approved the country’s first batch of new titles in more than eight months.

EU countries agree to ban coal imports from Russia. The UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, the first suspension since Libya in 2011.

Tencent faces a record fine after China’s central bank discovered its WeChat Pay service had violated anti-money laundering rules. Tencent’s shares extends losses to trade as much as 10% lower in afternoon trading.

SA reports its largest current-account surplus on record as last year imports were suppressed by the impact of the pandemic, while gold exports rose. The surplus on the current account widens to 3.7% of GDP.

President Biden announces the US prohibiting the import of Russian oil, coal and natural gas on the day the European Commission planned to reduce demand for Russian gas by 75%.

The European Union says it’s excluding seven Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system, following similarly drastic steps by the US, Britain and Canada.

March sees a petrol price hike of R1.46/litre for petrol and up to R1.48/litre for diesel. These continued increases will have an immediate effect on the poor, as well as long-term inflation.

Eurozone inflation rises to an all-time high, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to send energy costs soaring at an even faster pace. Consumer prices jumped 5.8% from a year ago.

Russian forces invade cities across Ukraine after Putin ordered an operation aimed at demilitarising the country.

The SA Reserve Bank announces an increase in the repo rate to 4.

The World Bank approves South Africa’s US$750 million (around R11.4 billion) loan request as part of efforts to address the socio-economic impact of Covid and bolster economic recovery.