By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica
Global Markets
- Record-breaking stocks take a breather, data weighs on dollar
- Lull in momentum as Wall Street scales record peaks
- MSCI AxJ heads for steady week, softest in a month
- Dollar bounce runs out of puff as US labour market looks weak
- Brent last up 0.4% at $45.06, gold steady at $1,947.66/oz.
Oil Markets
- Oil climbs for third straight week, buoyed by producers holding back output
- Brent up 0.4% at $44.07 a barrel (0158GMT)
- WTI up 0.2% at $42.90
Precious metals
- Gold rises as softer dollar, recovery concerns lift demand
- Spot gold up 0.4% at $1,949.83/oz. (0030GMT)
- US gold futures up 0.6% at $1,958.30/oz.
Grains
- Soybeans, corn set for 2nd week of gains; US crop outlook weighs
- Wheat futures up 5.8% so far this week
- Soybeans on course for weekly gain of 1%
- Corn set to add 0.7% for the week
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handles @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica]
- Ghana presidential frontrunners Akufo-Addo & Mahama tour regions
- Ghana’s ruling NPP launches 2020 manifesto (22 Aug)
- Kenya’s Kenyatta cabinet reshuffle back in focus
- Key African countries on lockdown or restricted; subdued economic activity
- Covid-19 updates by authorities across the continent
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
- On Libya’s front lines, Sirte is focus for regional rivalries
- Morocco may reimpose full lockdown as Covid-19 cases surge – King
- Miner B2Gold says Mali border shutdown to be short-lived after coup
- Regional delegation to visit Mali to try to reverse coup as junta, opposition close ranks
- Mali junta orders border re-opened after coup
- Somalia pirates release last 3 hostages as armed men attack Panama-flagged ship
- Scientists peer inside ancient Egypt cat, snake and bird mummies
- Nigeria to bar flights from countries that block Nigerians – minister
- Ivory Coast, Ghana create joint body to coordinate cocoa policies
- France’s Macron asks for quick transition to civilian rule in Mali
- Senegal port seeks removal of 2,700 tonnes of chemical that caused Beirut blast
- Mauritius starts to scuttle Japan oil-spill vessel
- South Africa’s Gold Fields profit jumps on surging bullion prices
- Libya’s humanitarian crisis deepens, talks needed – Red Cross says
- Ethiopia protest clashes kill at least nine, most by gunshot, doctors say
- African beginning to “bend the curve” of coronavirus – Africa CDC
- Nigeria considers using private firms to coronavirus tests after foreign flights resume
- OPEC+ needs to fix daily oversupply of more than 2 mln barrels – document
- Sonae ditches partnership with Angola’s dos Santos in Portugal’s NOS
- South Africa airports group ACSA gets new funding, shelves projects
- France says its military operation Barkhane will continue in Mali
- Uproar after Somali lawmaker presents bill to legalise child marriage
- Nigeria’s wet market thrive desipite coronavirus pandemic
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters