By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asian shares slip, looming US-China trade talks in focus
- US border deal deal talks collapse, govt shutdown looms
- Dollar index near 6-wk high
Oil Markets
- Oil prices fall as US rig count rise, trade concerns
- US Wood River refinery outage weighs on WTI
- Rosneft pressures Putin to end supply cuts with OPEC
- But US sanctions against Venezuela support crude prices
- Brent down 0.8 pct at $61.61 per barrel (0347GMT)
- US WTI down 1.2 pct at $52.09 per barrel
Precious metals
- Gold prices hold firm on trade, growth concerns
- Spot gold steady at $1,313 per ounce (0059GMT)
- US gold futures firm at $1,317 per ounce
Grains
- Soybean prices inch up, creep away from 3-wk low
- Most active CBOT wheat futures unchanged at $5.17-1/4 per bushel (0112GMT)
- Most active corn futures up 0.1 pct at $3.74-3/4 per bushel
- Most active soy futures up about 0.2 pct at $9.16 per bushel
- Most active rice futures down about 0.1 pct at $10.36 per hundredweight
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Nigeria’s judicial council to decide suspended chief justice Onnoghen’s fate today
- South Africa state capture inquiry resumes
- African Union meeting of heads of state continues in Addis Ababa
Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Libyan force stops plane in campaign for south
- Egypt forecasts weaker average exchange rate for FY 2018/19
- Sudan security forces use tear gas to break up women’s protest
- Zimbabwe teachers’ unions suspend national strike
- Egypt sees average oil price of $67 for 2019-20 budget
- Algeria’s president Bouteflika to seek fifth term – APS agency
- Final investment decision for Mozambique gas block seen by March-April
- Egypt core inflation rises to 8.6 pct y/y in January – cbank
- UN-recognised govt of Libya says its forces reach El Sharara oilfield
- South Sudan to return to pre-war oil production levels by mid-2020: minister
- South Africa’s Eskom to implement power cuts over capacity constraint
- Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation rises to 12.7 pct in Jan – CAPMAS
- East Libya forces launch air strikes near el Feel oilfield – engineer
- 7 jailed for life over Tunisia musuem, hotel massacres
- Algeria energy revenue up 15 pct in 2018, trade deficit down
- Marriott teams up with Kuwait Projects on St Regis resort in Morocco
- Scores of Chadian rebels held after French air strikes
- Chad army says more than 250 rebels held after French airstrikes
- Libya’s NOC discusses Sharara oil field crisis with Repsol
- Sudan forces fire tear gas at Khartoum mosque – witnesses
- Africa Crude – Nigeria differentials down on port power failure
- EU wheat recovers from 2-mth low as Egypt demand lends support
- Libya arrests suspected al-Qaeda leader, source says
- Uganda frees BBC journalists detained over drugs investigation
- Ivory Coast pariliament speaker resigns ahead of possible presidential run
- India’s Bharti Airtel unit to merge with Telkom Kenya
- Morocco recalls envoy to Saudi Arabia for consultations – Morocco media
- Mandela’s life and legacy celebrated in London exhibition
- Rand volatility rises as investors turn bearish after Ramaphosa speech
- Zimbabwe miner RioZim again suspends production over dollar payments
- Glencore’s Zambia unit suspends operations after 3 workers die in fire
- South Africa’s NUM union tells Ramaphosa to scrap Eskom split plan
- Kenya shilling unchanged as importer demand is matched by remittance flows
- South Africa’s Harmony Gold expects drop in half-year earnings per share
- South Africa’s Eskom bonds rise on Ramaphosa’s pledge to split utility
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
