By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asian shares adrift as tariff deadline looms
- Investors wary as trade deadline draws closer
- Nikkei flat, ASX drifts higher
- Pound wobbles as projected Conservative majority shrinks
Oil Markets
- Oil prices slip on surprise US crude inventory build
- US crude stocks rise by 1.4 mln bbls – API data
- Analysts had been expecting a drop in inventory
- Investors eye China-US trade negotiations for trading cues
- Brent down 0.6% at $63.97 a barrel (0121GMT)
- WTI down 0.5% at $58.94
Precious metals (10 Dec)
- Palladium breaches $1,900 ceiling after South Africa outages
- Spot gold settled up 0.1% at $1,463.88/oz.
- US gold futures settled up 0.2% at $1,468.10/oz.
Grains
- Soybeans fall for first time in 7 sessions
- Soybean futures down 0.1% at $9.00 a bushel (0221GMT)
- Corn futures down 0.1% at $3.76-3/4 a bushel
- Wheat futures down 0.1% at $5.23 a bushel
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Aswan forum in Egypt; 11-12 Dec [Nigeria’s Buhari et al. attending; Ramaphosa cuts short trip]
- South Africa’s Ramaphosa to meet Eskom executives
- South Africa inflation Nov-19 [fcst. 3.6% yy, prev. 3.7%]
- South Africa retail sales Oct-19 [fcst. 0.5% yy, prev. 0.2%]
- Kenya’s docked maverick Nairobi county governor Sonko bail hearing
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
- US imposes sanctions on Islamist rebels in eastern Congo
- Ethiopia deploys police in universities to stop ethnic violence
- South African mines grind to halt as floods deepen power crisis
- Rape map and murdered men – welcome to South Africa’s Republic of Sexual Abuse
- Al Shabaab gunmen attack hotel near president’s residence in Somali capital – police, group
- Petra Diamonds restarts South African mines
- Africa Oil – Freight rates swell as Angolan glut looms
- Unregulated teak trade fuelling South Sudanese violence – report
- African cities bet on new technology to fix growing water shortages
- Libya approves Total’s purchase of stake in Waha concessions
- South African rand tumbles on blackouts shock, platinum and gold shares shine
- Brazil’s Embraer signs $194.4 mln deal for 2 E175 jets with Congo Airways
- Nigerian stocks fall for seventh session to 1-mth low
- Alphabet’s Loon agrees airspace deal with Uganda for internet balloon service
- Algeria set for presidential election denounced by protesters as charade
- South Africa’s rand, Eskom dollar bonds hit by load shedding
- Madagascar to raise minerals taxes, take 20% stake in mining projects
- Angolan ex-president’s son on trial in rare corruption case
- Sudan’s Bashir questioned over 1989 coup that brought him to power
- Nobel peace laureate Abiy says militants, global powers threaten Horn of Africa
- South Africa’s Ramaphosa cuts short Egypt trip over power crisis
- Gambia asks UN judges to impose measures to protect Myanmar’s Rohingya
- Kenya’s coffee crop nosedives due to high temperatures, low prices
- South Africa’s Tongaat seeks new chapter with equity raise, debt restructure
- 2 days before election. Algeria jails 2 ex-prime ministers
- Egypt’s core inflation falls to 2.1% in Nov from 2.7% in Oct – central bank
- Rwanda’s inflation jumps to 6.9% y/y in Nov. – stats office
- South Africa’s Eskom plans more load shedding, says crisis manageable
- South Africa mining companies cut production due to power shortages
- Kenyan shilling unchanged against the dollar
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters