In today's news headlines: * South Africa’s central bank on Wednesday launched a bond-buying programme, as it followed other countries in quantitative easing measures to drum up demand in credit markets and support banks; * Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says the possibility of load shedding during the 21-day nationwide lockdown is unlikely because demand for electricity from industry will disappear; * The South African government announced some tough, and some unpopular, restrictions - including banning the sale of alcoholic drinks - as the country prepared for a 21-day nationwide lock-down; * SAA has suspended all local flights and all tourist attractions have been instructed to close their doors; * Grocery retailer Shoprite has awarded employees a bonus as it gets set for a busy period in which South Africans will have to cook at home for three weeks; and * South Africa will continue to process platinum group metals during the lockdown.

In this episode, stock markets surge to their best session since 1933 after the US throws trillions of dollars at its economy. The South African Reserve Bank has started to follow suit, and we’ll hear from a respected economist why this is a very good idea. On the other hand, not such a good idea is Donald Trump’s intention to reopen the US economy in three weeks as we hear about conditions on the ground in America’s virus epicentre, New York City. And on the local front, we get to grips with the 21 day lockdown and hear about how to use these three weeks to best effect.

The US has adopted a "whatever it takes" approach by throwing trillions of dollars at its economy to offset the deflationary impact of Covid-19. Independent economist Rian le Roux believes South Africa needs to follow the American example and commit to injecting more than has this far been set aside. The respected former chief economist of Old Mutual says it would be folly to under-estimate the deflationary impact of the 21-day shutdown and other consequences of the war against the virus, arguing that in these unique circumstances, for the SA Reserve Bank to create money is actually a very good idea. - Alec Hogg

For vastly experienced stock market watcher David Shapiro, the $2trn US Government stimulus package is to be applauded. He has little doubt this was the right call - even though it came on top of the promise of even more support from the Federal Reserve. In times of war, he reasons, you spend first to ensure victory and worry later about how to pay for it. - Alec Hogg

Small Business Institute executive director Bernard Swanepoel, perhaps best known for his former role as CEO of Harmony Gold - which he built up from a small gold producer to one of the world's largest - is on the boards of a number of South African mining companies, including Impala Platinum and African Rainbow Minerals. He is also the co-founder of his own small business, a specialist strategy consultancy THINKspiration, and a partner at To-The-Point Growth Specialists. In this podcast, Swanepoel speaks to BizNews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg - a media entrepreneur who founded Moneyweb and BizNews - about how small business can survive the onslaught of the Covid-19 virus, which he describes as a war on the economy. Swanepoel reminds us that there is not enough money for government to help everyone, so we should all do as much as we can to keep small businesses around us afloat as the coronavirus washes over the world. - Jackie Cameron

In today's news headlines: * Supermarkets have been inundated by shoppers and businesses are preparing to shut down operations as the country braces for a three-week lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus; * Economists say South Africa is in a basket of countries that will be in recession, with one warning the economy could shrink by 5%; * SA mines will come to a standstill, which has spurred platinum and palladium prices upwards; * City Lodge Hotels is in crisis, as the company struggles to keep afloat after the coronavirus pandemic crushed global hotel occupancies; and * Stark warning from a real estate investor that troubles in the US commercial mortgage market could infect global banks on a scale worse than that precipitated by events in 2008.

Episode three of Biznews's Inside Covid-19 podcast is twice as long as usual as we look back on the momentous lockdown announcement. Jonny Broomberg paints the global picture, highlighting why South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is receiving so many plaudits for Monday night’s announcement of a complete lockdown – and why, from an economic perspective, it took so much courage. A couple of entrepreneurs follow him, with Bernard Swanepoel, wearing his Small Business Institute hat, and then Marc Wachsberger, founding CEO of The Capital, shares how he has adjusted the business to offset the impact of a virus that has laid much of the tourism and hospitality sector to waste. We also hear from experienced money manager Sam Houlie of RECM Counterpoint who explains why he’s spoilt for choice right now, and hasn’t been this eager to buy shares since the Global Financial Crisis. Closing off this episode we hear how the super wealthy are handling the obvious threat of the Covid Crisis to the property sector where many are heavily invested.

In today's news headlines: * South Africa is going into a 21-day national lockdown from midnight on Thursday. This was the announcement from President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said pharmacies, banks, petrol stations and grocers will remain open; * Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 nations joined an emergency call on Monday to discuss the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy and work toward a joint response; * Old Mutual has finally managed to get rid of its former CEO Peter Moyo, it seems. South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal has refused Moyo leave to appeal a decision overturning his temporary reinstatement and dismissing the case against his sacking in June, the insurer said; * Looking at performance on the Johannesburg stock exchange, the big losers of the day were property stocks. The Redefine share price plunged a staggering 27% on Monday; and * South Africa’s rand weakened at the start of the week, threatening to break through a lifetime low against the dollar as concerns over coronavirus infections and likely stricter measures weighed on already shaky sentiment, as stocks fell, says Reuters.

In episode two of our daily podcast on the Covid-19 pandemic, we examine where South Africa is in the cycle in the wake of President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement of a three week lockdown where citizens are being confined to their home barracks until April 16. Also in this episode, a view from investment professionals that the war will be relatively short, perhaps only 90 days; more good news from the Asian front where the battle is clearly being won; and an on the ground report from our colleague in London.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a 21-day lockdown starting at midnight on Thursday to contain the spreading of Covid-19 and 'flatten the curve' in South Africa. It comes as cases in the country increased six-fold in the last 8 days. His announcement also includes the establishment of the Solidarity Fund to assist in supporting South Africa's vulnerable. The Government is contributing a R150m as seed capital and is opening the fund up for local and international contributions. Ramaphosa also announced that the Rupert and Oppenheimer families will each contribute R1bn to assist small business affected by the turndown in economic activity. In this time of lockdown South Africans will only be allowed to buy food, medicines, to render essential services and collect social grants. - Linda van Tilburg

Online education specialists Advantagelearn.com has opened its 2 000 maths-teaching videos, covering Grades 8 to 12, to all South African learners. In this podcast, founder James Lees explains that this is part of the company's contribution to helping in the fight against Covid-19, enabling students who have been forced to stay-at-home to keep up to date with their lessons. - Alec Hogg

It's half a dozen years since star asset manager Delphine Govender left her cushy home at Allan Gray to co-found Perpetua Investment Managers. In this insightful discussion drawn from the latest episode of Rational Radio, she offers some perspective on the current stock market turbulence. Delphine shares some of the value investing disciplines of Benjamin Graham and his disciple Warren Buffett, an extremely valuable tool for those looking for future profits.

In one of those MUST LISTEN podcasts, Ian Douglas provides us with a very human perspective on his long-time friend Sol Kerzner, the legendary South African entrepreneur who passed away on Saturday evening. Douglas separates the fake from the real in sharing Kerzner's story - from growing up in a tough neighbourhood to a life of riches and glamour. His secret: vision, sure, but never stopped sweating the small stuff.

In this interview drawn from the latest episode of Rational Radio, Ocean Basket's CEO Grace Harding says the company's owners are in it for the long-term. She likens the current situation to one where you go wake up in the morning to a whole new world, with customers having disappeared virtually overnight. Grace has some savvy ideas for others in the restaurant business - do what you can to leverage your kitchens, but don't bank on that saving you. it's now time to batten down the hatches. - Alec Hogg

SA's favourite market commentator David Shapiro applies half a century of experience to interpreting the current stock market turbulence. And in this podcast, drawn from the latest episode of Rational Radio, he likens the fight against Covid-19 to a 90 day war: surmising that the market has absorbed the shock and will now be looking for the greenshoots of recovery.

In this week's episode of Rational Radio, David Shapiro and Delphine Govender help us keep cools head while Mr Market is losing his. Plus a MUST LISTEN interview about SA's late Sun King with Ian Douglas who shares the person behind the image - his long-time friend of Sol Kerzner's. Also Ocean Basket's CEO Grace Harding talks about the challenge of handling a sudden 58% drop in sales and James Lees explains why his company is making its archive of over 2 000 online maths tutorials available, for free, to high school students now confined to (home) barracks.

Welcome to Episode One of Biznews.com's new daily podcast that will keep you updated on the Covid-19 latest developments. In addition to the latest news, in this episode Discovery Health CEO Ryan Noach helps us better understand the virus and how SA's leading health insurer is responding; there's heartening news from the US about an old malaria drug that is proving effective against this novel coronavirus; NinetyOne's CEO Hendrik du Toit explains why investors should approach this as they would a world war; and leadership guru Robin Sharma offers some sage philosophical advice.

In today's news headlines: * South Africa could lose its last investment-grade credit rating. Moody’s Investor Service is scheduled to release an assessment of the country on Friday. The loss of an investment-grade credit rating could lead to heavy fund outflows, battering the rand even further, warns Bloomberg. * Tributes pour in for Sol Kerzner, one of the world’s most innovative hoteliers, founder of the Southern Sun hotel group, Sun International and Kerzner International, who died at the weekend. * SAA has suspended all intercontinental flights until May 31 in response to a government travel ban aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. * MTN said it would reduce the cost of monthly data bundles of 1 gigabyte (GB) and below by between 25% and 50% from April 15, after a finding that South Africa’s mobile data prices were the highest on the continent. * As global central banks and governments continue their running battle to allay market fears over the scale of their response, President Cyril Ramaphosa has met with business leaders to discuss ways to contain the economic damage from Covid-19 in South Africa. * Looking at performances on the JSE, Capitec bounced back by more than an astonishing 40% on Friday after its share price was battered earlier in the week. Steinhoff shed 10%, with coronavirus-imposed lockdowns in Europe impacting negatively on operations overseas.

President Cyril Ramaphosa held a number of consultations in Pretoria today with smaller political parties and the representatives of business organisations to discuss a joint approach to tackling the effects of Covid-19 on South Africa. There was agreement that steps should be taken to look after the vulnerable, the needs of consumers and to ensure that stocks of products are maintained throughout the outbreak. The Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel said the government is monitoring the impact of the virus on the global economy and got feedback from the business community that they would take forward into the Command Council. Representatives of the Black Business Council, Business Unity South Africa and the Banking Association of South Africa pledged to help the government and their consumers to deal with the fallout from the crisis. - Linda van Tilburg

As the coronavirus pandemic grinds on, the death toll is rising. But in many places, the economic toll is rising even faster. In this episode, featuring content from the Bloomberg Businessweek podcast, we take a look at the economic impact of the coronavirus and what governments around the world are doing about it. South Africa, with its high debt burden, low growth, and fragile households, may be particularly vulnerable to the economic shocks the pandemic is causing.

There are welcome surprises in this captivating podcast with Canadian author and leadership guru Robin Sharma, whose latest book, "The 5AM Club", has added to an already huge army of fans. Among them is hearing the former litigation lawyer whose book sales now top 15m, spent four years on his latest bestseller, with much of the writing done in Franschoek and Cape Town. They, together with Robben Island, feature prominently in what for me is his best book yet. I became a Sharma fan after one of his presentations some years back encouraged my adoption of starting each day when the rest of mankind is sleeping. In this engaging discussion, Sharma elaborates on some of the book's practical, habit-creating suggestions, talks about his love for SA and influence of Nelson Mandela and his views on why the world is going through such stress right now - and how best to handle it. - Alec Hogg

Among the paradoxes of business is the way successful entrepreneurs love attracting people who are just like them - but usually baulk at giving them their own wings. Eventually, however, sanity does prevail. But for Hendrik du Toit, who started Investec Asset Management with a phone and a briefcase in 1991, that journey took 29 years. Du Toit and his tightly knit team who manage £120bn in assets for clients around the world, last week celebrated their independence with the listing of their newly renamed Ninety One in London and Johannesburg. Poor timing perhaps - but as Du Toit explains in this wide-ranging interview, the team which now owns 20% of the business, are not losing any sleep over a share price that's half what was expected ahead of the Covid-19 Crash. They're taking the long view. As any sane money manager needs to. - Alec Hogg

In today's news headlines: - The South African Reserve Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 5.25% as it seeks to support an already fragile economy that’s expected be hit hard by the coronavirus; - There were large drops on the JSE again yesterday, Capitec the biggest casualty with a 38.51% drop but MultiChoice and retailers benefitted from consumers digging in to weather the restrictions of movement due to the coronavirus. The rand fell to R17.42 against the dollar; - New regulations have been introduced by the Government to prevent price hikes in essential products like toilet paper, hand sanitiser and baby formula for the next three months. Private medical tests for Covid-19 are also covered by the regulations. - The Government is going to erect a 40km fence at its biggest border post with Zimbabwe to prevent people infected with coronavirus from entering the country as a measure to contain the spread; and - Nersa has issued public consultation papers to procure emergency power and to allow the building of more privately owned power plants.

Capitec, the South African bank twice rated the world's best in the annual rankings by London-based Lafferty Group, was the biggest casualty on a wipeout day for financial shares. The stock's share price lost an astonishing 38.5% in two trading sessions, down from Tuesday's R1 110 to close at R682 tonight (Thursday). Those two trading days have knocked R50bn off the business's imputed valuation with its market capitalisation now R80bn. Is this a portend of worse to come, or the buying opportunity of a lifetime? Capitec's directors were quick to release a statement on SENS in an effort to calm its shareholders' jangling nerves. And as you'll hear in this podcast the bank's argument gets some welcome support from Kokkie Kooyman, for many years South Africa's leading banking sector investment analysts. In this special podcast the Denker Capital co-founder explains the reason for financial shares falling by an average of 7% on the JSE today - and why Capitec has been singled out for such a bludgeoning.

Google the word ‘brain’ and the phrase ‘the least understood organ of the body’ and ‘final frontier’ pops up time and time again. What is intriguing about neuroscience as one of the scientists at UCT’s new neuroscience institute pointed out; you use an organ, the brain, to study itself. The University of Cape Town’s Neuroscience Institute is an African first which is bringing the various fields for basic research in brain disease and disorder under one roof in their quest to find African solutions. To achieve this, the Director of the Institute, Graham Fieggen says, he is going for a collaborative, global approach. - Linda van Tilburg