🔒 Flash Briefing: Jack Bogle dies; Mrs May deals; SA holds DRC presidential key

By Alec Hogg

In today’s global headlines:

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• Jack Bogle, the father of index investing and a crusader for private investor’s rights, has died. He was 89. The founder of Vanguard, the low-cost product provider which is today the world’s largest asset management group created the first index fund in 1975. Vanguard chief executive Tim Buckley said, “Jack Bogle made an impact on not only the entire investment industry, but more importantly, on the lives of countless individuals saving for their futures or their children’s futures.” The world’s leading investor Warren Buffett is a Bogle fan and stopped proceedings to introduce his friend to the Berkshire pilgrims at last year’s AGM. Buffett said if all investors had heeded Bogle’s ideas, they would be hundreds of billions of dollars better off.
• Theresa May’s Conservative Party government narrowly survived a vote of no confidence last night, thanks to the support of the ten members of its Northern Irish ally, the DUP. A motion introduced by opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, was defeated by 325 votes to 306. Had the DUP voted the other way, the motion would have passed by a single vote forcing a general election. Mrs May said last night she had held constructive meetings with the Liberal Democrats and MPs from the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties, but her approach had been refused by Corbyn. After the massive vote against her Brexit plan on Tuesday night, she needs to make significant adjustments for any new proposal to pass through Parliament when it must be presented again on Monday. Leading lights in UK organised business, which had backed Mrs May’s original Plan, are now supporting the growing call for a second Brexit Referendum.

• On Wall Street, stronger than expected December quarter results from US banks saw a rebound in their share prices last night. Goldman Sachs led the way with a 9% surge, its biggest one day gain in seven years. Goldman’s recently appointed chief executive David Solomon apologised for the role the bank had played in the $6.5bn corruption scandal at Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. The bank is being sued for billions by the new Malaysian government. In the December quarter Goldman set aside a $516m provision for litigation and regulatory matters.
• In South African-related news, president Cyril Ramaphosa today joins the 15 other SADC leaders at a crisis meeting in Addis Ababa. A statement on the SA Presidency’s website said the South African leader arrived in the Ethiopian capital last night primarily to review and assess the political situation in the DRC. This follows the presidential election where 18-year incumbent Joseph Kabila is accused of having engineered a false result. The stakes are high. China and Russia have declared they will not interfere in the DRC’s domestic matters and the West appears to be waiting for a lead from SADC. Ramaphosa’s office says after the SADC leader meeting they will join for a consultative session with the heads of government of the Great Lakes regional body and the African Union Commission chairperson.