With just over half of the current year elapsing, murders in Jamaica fell 14.5 percent to July 6 compared with the same period last year, with 602 persons murdered committed, down from 704 last year for the same period, data from Jamaica Constabulary Force show.
Last year murders were down 12.5 percent to 655 compared with 749 for the same period in 2022. If the trend so far in 2024 continues murders could fall below 1,200 for the first time since 2015.
This is the second year of a steep decline in murders in Jamaica in recent times but the third year of decline as 2023 was marginally lower than the 1,508 murders in 2022. Last year murders fell from 1,498 to 1393, a 9.3 percent fall, a development that bodes well for the country and its economy. Continued economic growth in the country and reduction in unemployment will aid in the fall in murders in the future historical data suggest.
Some murder hotspots are seeing a turnaround in 2024 but others have moved in the opposite direction. For the year to date, murders skyrocketed 77 percent in St Andrew Central to 39, St Andrew South had an increase of 27 percent to 33, Kingston Eastern saw 13 percent more murders with 34 persons dying by unlawful means. St Elizabeth suffered a 39 percent increase with 18 murders and Trelawny had 13 persons murdered, an increase of 30 percent.
The hotspots for murders of St James and Westmoreland saw a reduction of 31 and 12 percent to 73 and 57 murders respectively, St Ann has a decrease of 24 percent from 42 murders last year to 32 this year, Clarendon had a 38 percent fall to 37 from 60 in 2023, while Kingston Western dropped 39 percent higher to 28. St Andrew South lost 20 percent of its residents with 51 persons losing their lives by murderers compared with 64 in 2023 to early July. St Catherine North had a 10 percent reduction in murders with 46 versus 51 in the same period in 2023 and the South saw 19 percent fewer persons falling to their death by unlawful means with 44 deaths, down from 54 in 2023.
Down day for Junior Market
Activities on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Monday, with a 17 percent rise in the volume of stocks traded, with a slightly higher value than Friday resulting from trading in 39 securities, down from 42 on Friday and ending with prices of 10 rising, 20 declining and nine closing unchanged, with the market Index slipping to close out the day.
The market closed with trading of 4,681,030 shares for $10,064,255 up from 4,006,350 units at $9,943,397 on Friday.
Trading averaged 120,026 shares at $258,058 compared with 95,389 units at $236,748 on Friday with the month to date, averaging 154,665 units at $338,960 compared to 161,098 stock units at $353,985 on the previous day and May with an average of 451,257 units at $953,021.
JFP Ltd led trading with 981,369 shares for 21 percent of the total volume followed by Express Catering with 676,059 units for 14.4 percent of the day’s trade and Derrimon Trading with 495,470 units for 10.6 percent market share.
At the close of trading, the Junior Market Index dipped 19.53 points to wrap up trading at 3,679.53.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average PE Ratio of 12.5, based on last traded prices in conjunction with earnings projected by ICInsider.com for the financial years ending around August 2025.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close, Access Financial declined 51 cents to $19.49 in trading 163 shares, Blue Power increased 15 cents and ended at $3.20 with 5,033 units crossing the market, Cargo Handlers lost $2.04 to finish at $11.91 after an exchange of 900 stocks. Consolidated Bakeries slipped 13 cents in closing at $2.05 with 4,200 stock units clearing the market, Derrimon Trading fell 10 cents to close at $2 with investors dealing in 495,470 shares, Dolphin Cove skidded 69 cents to end at $21.81 in trading of 6,721 stock units. Future Energy climbed 7 cents to $3.37 after an exchange of 203,189 stocks, Honey Bun sank 19 cents to end at $7.81 with a transfer of 4,976 units, 
Knutsford Express dipped 20 cents in closing at $11.30 after 5,673 shares passed through the market. Lasco Financial popped 12 cents to finish at $1.64 with traders dealing in 2,279 stock units, Lumber Depot shed 12 cents and ended at $2.67 in an exchange of 5,759 units, Medical Disposables gained 9 cents to close at $2.28 with investors transferring 207,498 stocks. MFS Capital Partners dropped 14 cents to $1.20 after 196,207 shares crossed the market, Regency Petroleum sank 7 cents in closing at $2.14 in an exchange of 33,069 stock units and tTech declined 29 cents to end at $2.18 with investors swapping 507 units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated
More gains for JSE USD Market
Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange US dollar market ended on Monday, with a 23 percent decline in the volume of stocks that were exchanged after 265 percent more US dollars changed hands than Friday, resulting in trading in seven securities, compared to six on the prior trading day with prices of two rising, one declining and four ending unchanged.
The market closed with an exchange of 519,135 shares for US$98,529 compared to 670,997 units at US$26,968 on Friday.
Trading averaged 74,162 stock units at US$14,076 versus 111,833 shares at US$4,495 on Friday, with a month to date average of 42,458 shares at US$5,106 compared with 40,528 units at US$4,560 on the previous day and December that ended with an average of 28,010 units for US$1,403.
The US Denominated Equities Index climbed 3.24 points to lock up trading at 250.69, with a gain of 8.5 percent for the year to date.
The PE Ratio, a measure used in computing appropriate stock values, averages 10.7. The PE ratio is computed based on the last traded price divided by projected earnings done by ICInsider.com for companies with their financial year ending and or around August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close, First Rock Real Estate USD share ended at 5 US cents with investors swapping 995 units, 
Margaritaville rose 1.5 cents to end at 11.5 US cents with 17,321 stocks, crossing the market, Proven Investments ended at 13.5 US cents after investors traded 6,017 shares. Sygnus Credit Investments ended at 8.98 US cents 89 stock units passed through the market and Transjamaican Highway gained 0.01 of a cent to close at 2 US cents after exchanging 418,713 shares.
In the preference segment, JMMB US8.5% preference share fell 3 cents to US$1 in trading 75,000 stocks and Sygnus Credit Investments E 8.5% remained at US$11.788 after an exchange of 1,000 units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Tourist arrivals continue to slow
Tourist arrivals to Jamaica are up solidly for the year to November with an increase, of around 20 percent, but the rate of growth has slowed considerably since April with an increase in stopover arrivals of 14 percent compared with 28 percent in March and 44 percent for the first quarter. By July the rate of growth dropped to 12 percent for the month as growth starts returning to more sustainable levels.
Recent data emanating out of Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay shows 403,600 passengers being handled in November, 7.3 percent more than the 376,100 handled in November 2022, with the pace of growth down from 10.3 percent in October and the Kingston Airport processing 123,000 passengers, 6.6 percent fewer than the 131,700 handled in November 2022. Passenger activity in Kingston declined for a third consecutive month with October down 8.9 percent compared with October 2022.
For the first eleven months of 2023, the Montego Bay Airport processed 20.4 percent more passengers, with 3,918,900 being handled in 2022 moving to 4,716,800 in 2023. Total passenger movements grew by 13.5 percent at the Norman Manley International Airport from 1,402,300 in 2022 to 1,592,000 in the first eleven months of 2023.
Drop in Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange
Trading activity dropped on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday, resulting in the trading of 22 securities up from 18 on Friday, with seven stocks rising, eight declining and seven remaining unchanged after a 50 percent drop in the volume of stocks traded and a 43 percent plunge in compared to Friday
Investors exchanged 246,017 shares for $2,554,120 down from 487,619 stock units at $4,456,955 on Friday.
An average of 11,183 stock units were traded at $116,096 compared to 27,090 shares at $247,609 on Friday, with trading month to date averaging 18,341 shares at $175,279 compared with an average trade for November of 19,241 shares at $227,402.
The Composite Index declined 7.80 points to 1,179.50, the All T&T Index lost 5.77 points to wrap up trading at 1,789.41, the SME Index remained unchanged at 80.00 and the Cross-Listed Index dropped 1.40 points to conclude trading at 73.74.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows six stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and seven with lower offers.
At the close, Agostini’s increased 49 cents in closing at $68.50, with 3,340 units crossing the market, Angostura Holdings ended at $21.50 with a transfer of 13 stocks, Ansa McAl lost $1.90 to end at $54 after 200 shares were exchanged. 
Ansa Merchant Bank climbed 61 cents to $43.50 in trading 3,092 stocks, Calypso Macro Investment Fund slipped 1 cent to $22.75 in an exchange of 227 shares, Endeavour Holdings ended at $15, with investors trading 20 stock units. First Citizens Group popped 2 cents to $49.27 with trading in 10,244 units, FirstCaribbean International Bank ended at $7 with traders dealing in 8,759 stocks, GraceKennedy rallied 4 cents to $4.05 after an exchange of 88,315 units. Guardian Holdings fell 10 cents to $18 with investors dealing in 6,124 shares, JMMB Group dipped 4 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.30, with 2,966 stock units crossing the exchange, L.J. Williams B share ended at $2.26 in switching ownership of 1,025 stocks. Massy Holdings popped 1 cent to close at $4.45 after a transfer of 60,031 units, National Enterprises skidded 4 cents in closing at $3.50 with stakeholders exchanging 21,279 stocks, 
National Flour Mills declined 3 cents to end at $1.72 after 836 shares passed through the market. NCB Financial gained 6 cents in closing at $2.91 in an exchange of 26,360 stock units, Prestige Holdings advanced 80 cents to $9.50 with investors transferring 239 shares, Republic Financial dipped 24 cents to $120 after an exchange of 4,560 stocks. Scotiabank ended at $70 with shareholders swapping 1,532 units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL remained at $10.50 as investors traded 6,081 stocks, Unilever Caribbean ended at $11.29, with 253 shares changing hands and West Indian Tobacco lost 26 cents to close at $9.25 with an exchange of 521 stocks.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
JSE shares tumble to open October
The Markets gave back quite a lot of Friday’s headed gains as trading commenced for October with the Junior Market to the JSE Main Market indices declining sharply but the JSE USD Market Index rose.
At close, the JSE Combined Market Index shed 3,243.01 points to close trading at 338,145.95, the All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 3,568.87 points to finish at 352,223.23, the JSE Main Index fell 2,970.48 points to settle at 324,071.95, the Junior Market Index dived 51.88 points to end trading at 3,907.46 after Fosrich and Fesco dropped back from the late close surge in price on Friday and the JSE USD Market Index shed 2.50 points to settle at 256.33.
At the close, investors traded 25,939,993 shares in all three markets, down sharply from 50,931,729 stock units on Friday. The value of stocks traded on the Junior and Main markets amounted to $118.24 million, down from $256.86 million on Friday. Trading on the JSE USD market ended with investors exchanging 266,503 shares for US$6,378compared with 2,780,944 units at US$60,312 on Friday.
In the preference segment, Productive Business Solutions 10.5% preference share advanced $1 to end at $1,215.
The market’s PE ratio, the most popular measure used to determine the value of stocks ended at 21 on 2022-23 earnings and 11.1 times those for 2023-24 at the close of trading. ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
The PE ratio chart covers all ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, grouped by industry, allowing for easy comparisons between the same sector companies and the overall market. The EPS & PE ratios are based on 2023 and 2024 actual or projected earnings, excluding major one off items.
Investors need pertinent information to successfully navigate numerous investment options in the local stock market. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
Investors should use the chart to help make rational decisions when investing in stocks close to the average for the sector and not going too far from it unless there are compelling reasons to do so. This approach helps to remove emotions from investment decisions and place them on fundamentals while at the same time not being too far from the majority of investors. Investors who buy when the price of a stock is close to the average will find that they are not inclined to overpay for a stock.
The net asset value of each company is reported as a guide to assess the value of stocks based on this measure quickly. The chart also shows daily changes in stock prices and the percentage year to date price movement based on the last traded prices.
Dividends paid or payable and yields for each company are shown in the Main and Junior Markets’ daily report charts along with the closing volume pertaining to the highest bid and the lowest offer for each company.
Trading up on JSE USD Market
Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange US dollar market ended on Tuesday, with the volume of stocks changing hands rising 128 percent valued 23 percent more than on Monday, resulting in trading in nine securities, similar to Monday and ended with prices of two rising, three declining and four ending unchanged.
Overall, 401,339 shares were traded, for US$48,561 compared to 175,984 units at US$39,421 on Monday.
Trading averaged 44,593 units at US$5,396, versus 19,554 shares at US$4,380 on Monday, with a month to date average of 47,869 shares at US$3,999 compared to 48,101 units at US$3,900 on the previous day, down from August with an average of 57,291 units for US$4,251.
The US Denominated Equities Index dropped 3.66 points to undefined 254.00.
The PE Ratio, a measure used in computing appropriate stock values, averages 9.4 The PE ratio is computed based on the last traded price divided by projected earnings done by ICInsider.com for companies with their financial year ending between November 2023 and August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows two stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
At the close, First Rock Real Estate USD share fell 0.2 of a cent to end at 5.8 US cents with shareholders swapping 9,526 shares, Margaritaville rose 3.02 cents to close at 14.02 US cents in an exchange of just one stock unit, 
Proven Investments advanced 0.5 of a cent to 14 US cents with an exchange of 325,066 units. Sterling Investments remained at 1.9 US cents with investors dealing in 5,408 stocks, Sygnus Credit Investments ended at 9.07 US cents in switching ownership of 90 stock units, Sygnus Real Estate Finance USD share remained at 10 US cents after 81 units crossed the exchange and Transjamaican Highway dipped 0.07 of a cent to end at 1.62 US cents with traders dealing in 60,714 stocks.
In the preference segment, JMMB Group 6%lost 7.27 cents and ended at US$1 in an exchange of 395 shares and Productive Business Solutions 9.25% preference share ended at US$12 after 58 shares were traded.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Downward trend of murders in Jamaica
Murders in Jamaica have been on the increase since 1962, the year of independence and surged sharply after, averaging just under 1,000 per year between 1996 and 2003, peaking between 2004 to 2010 with an average of 1,545 per annum, followed by a substantially lower average of 1,136 between 2011 and 2016 with the average climbing back to 1,415 since then.
Close analysis suggests that murders in the country may have peaked but that there has been a steady decline since, with more to come. The decline this year is a continuation of the new downward trend.
In 1962, the year of independence for Jamaica, there were 63 murders which jumped by 153 percent over the 351 in 1979 to 889 in the politically charged murderous 1980. Murders have gotten out of control since, with respective governments unable to tackle this chronic problem and bring resolution to it.
From a surge in 1980, murders fell back to the 400 level but it gradually started to rise at the start of 1990 and broke the 1,000 mark in 1997 when there were 1,038 murders and remained elevated, hitting 1,471 in 2004 and then 1,674 the following year before hitting a new high of 1,683 in 2009.
In 2011, there were 1,133 murders down from 1,447 in 2010 following the incursion into Western Kingston by the security forces that seemed to have disrupted some of the criminal activities in certain areas in the country.
The accompanying chart shows murders peaking with a downward trajectory even before an 11 percent decline in 2023 to August. The data also shows that the upward trend was broken in 2010, with murders falling back below the red line, although it spiked higher for a few years, that has not really changed the downward drift as can be seen from the black line that is sloping downward after peaking in 2005. Barring some extraordinary developments murders are set to be lower than the 2023 figure and likely to be the in the range of 2018 to 2020 with an average of 1,316 murders.
The chart shows annual murder in Jamaica from 1962 onwards and reflects a scenario where the trend line in the early years put the country with a murder rate around 600 per annum assuming there were no developments to reduce the rate below that level.
Junior Market gains, Main Market falters
The Junior Market rose for a second day in a row but remained below the close for August while the Main and the JSE USD Market fell on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Tuesday, with the value of stocks traded rising above Monday’s levels accompanied by a fall in the volume of stocks traded.
At the close, the JSE Combined Market Index shed 1,567.18 points to finish trading at 335,914.48, the All Jamaican Composite Index fell 512.67 points to 355,125.22, the JSE Main Index dropped 1,935.10 points to 321,763.77, the Junior Market Index popped 26.05 points to 3,898.55 while the JSE USD Market Index fell 2.20 points to end at 243.25.
Trading of Preference shares ended, with Jamaica Public Service 7% preference share dropping $12 to $41.
At the close, investors traded 6,987,843 shares in markets, down from 9,618,088 stocks on Monday. The value of stocks traded on the Junior and Main markets was $56.7 million, up from $53.06 million on Monday. Trading on the JSE USD market ended with investors exchanging 195,527 shares for US$19,350 from 193,702 units at US$30,250 on Monday.
The market’s PE ratio, the most popular measure used to determine the value of stocks ended at 17 on 2022-23 earnings and 11.4 times for 2023-24 at the close of trading. ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
The PE ratio chart covers all ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. It shows companies grouped by industry, allowing for easy comparisons between the same sector companies and the overall market. The EPS & PE ratios are based on 2023 and 2024 actual or projected earnings, excluding major one off items.
Investors need pertinent information to successfully navigate numerous investment options in the local stock market. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
Investors should use the chart to help make rational decisions when investing in stocks close to the average for the sector and not going too far from it unless there are compelling reasons to do so. This approach helps to remove emotions from investment decisions and place them on fundamentals while at the same time not being too far from the majority of investors. Investors who buy when the price of a stock is close to the average will find that they are not inclined to overpay for a stock.
The net asset value of each company is reported as a guide to assess the value of stocks based on this measure quickly. The chart also shows daily changes in stock prices and the percentage year to date price movement based on the last traded prices.
Dividends paid or payable and yields for each company are shown in the Main and Junior Markets’ daily report charts along with the closing volume pertaining to the highest bid and the lowest offer for each company.
Murders drop 10.8% in Jamaica
Murders in Jamaica fell 10.8 percent to the 26th of August this year compared to the similar period last year, with 899 persons murdered to August 26, down from 1,008 last year for the same period last year, data from Jamaica Constabulary Force show.
Increases occurred in Hanover with 28 persons, an increase of 104 percent, with 55 murders. St. Ann has a rise of 29 percent from 41 murders last year to 53 this year. Clarendon rose 11 percent to 72 and Kingston Eastern 6 percent more than the 38 experienced in 2022, while Kingston Western popped 6 percent higher to 52.
St Catherine North had the most significant reduction of 33 percent, with 33 fewer deaths by force, compared with a total of 101 in 2022, while Westmoreland saw a decrease of 19 percent, but it continues to be a hot spot with 79 murders and that was picked up by Hanover up by 28 deaths from 27 in 2022, while St James remains a considerable problem area with a mere 4.4 per fall from 137 to 131.