Last week saw the JSE close strong after Futures and Options Close-out and the rate hike decision. $2.6bn was traded on Friday, after $4bn worth of shares changed hands on Thursday. Anthea and Gareth discuss the role of rating agencies and question the hype surrounding SA’s potential downgrade. On Friday Goldfields did an accelerated book build and issued 38.8m shares at R59.50 each. The company said that the book build was oversubscribed and that capital will be used mostly to pay down debt, the share closed 12% lower on the day. Steinhoff continues its expansion in Europe and is now paying $975m for Darty, thereby outbidding FNAC. Gareth can’t understand why anyone would want to own a traditional store like FNAC, reinforcing the reason why they need to buy Darty. He also points out that Big Concerts SA was recently sold to a US company.