April opened with renewed U.S. recession fears and global market volatility following the announcement of new tariffs. A late-month 90-day pause helped ease concerns, lifting global equities modestly. Inflation surprised to the downside in both the U.S. and UK, yet equity performance was mixed across major indices. Asian markets struggled amid weaker Chinese manufacturing data, while Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend with a positive return. Locally, the JSE All Share rebounded strongly, with broad-based gains across industrials, resources, and financials. The rand weakened, oil prices fell sharply, and gold rallied.