Sasol has been dealt a further blow with Moody's cutting its long-term credit rating to junk largely due to the problems it has encountered getting its US chemicals project off the ground. Although the oil and chemicals group said it didn't expect the downgrade to have a material impact on existing funding costs, its shares continued to weaken on Friday.

Ingham Analytics' latest note on Sasol - "What a gas" - has a cryptic message to it and is well timed given the steep decline in the Sasol share price. It also coincides with S&P and Moody's completing their periodic review of Sasol credit rating. Find out what Henry Hub gas prices have to do with the Lake Charles Chemicals Project and why there could be a sliver of a silver lining for Sasol by following this link.

Also in today's newsletter, Anglo American Platinum's shares also fell sharply after it declared force majeure due to an explosion that has taken one of its converter plants out of action until next year, with another also needing repairs. That will curtail processing of the metal, resulting in a downward revision to the group's production targets this year. While Amplats' shares declined on Friday, other producers rose due to the gap this will leave in the market.

Also today, a bullish trading statement from Capitec and a slightly less favourable one from Sanlam ahead of results later this week. And Pioneer Foods' takeover by PepsiCo has been approved by the Competition Tribunal, paving the way for its delisting from the JSE this month.

In The Week Ahead, Chris Gilmour looks at last week's rollercoaster ride for markets as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates in response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, while at home the economy entered another recession. As well as Sanlam, results to watch out for this week include AVI, Merafe, FirstRand and Absa.

I hope you have a good week.

Stephen Gunnion

Managing Editor, InceConnect

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