By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji

Global Markets

• Stocks rally again on expected Fed rate cuts; euro on defensive
• Major Wall St indexes at record highs on rising cut hopes
• Global bond rally continues; Treasury yield hits 32-mth low
• Trade subdued, US financial mkts closed for holiday

Oil Markets

• Oil prices edge down, pressured by US supply
• Brent down 0.4% at $63.60 per barrel (0112GMT)
• WTI down 0.3% at $57.18 per barrel

Precious metals

• Gold steady as firm equities offset support from weak dollar, rate cut hopes
• Spot gold largely unchanged at $1,418.60 per ounce (0119GMT)
• US gold futures up 0.1% at $1,421.7 an ounce

Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]

• 35^th ordinary session of AU executive council in Niamey, Niger; 4-5 Jul
• 25^th Rwanda liberation anniversary in Kigali; African heads of state or representatives attending
• Africa Airtel IPO on Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos
• Manufacturing-themed 7^th Transform Kenya Forum #TransformKenyaSG in Nairobi; Kenyatta to open
• South Africa state capture inquiry continues
• South Africa’s Ramaphosa on working visit to Lesotho

Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]

• At least 44 die as air strike hits Libya migrant detention centre – UN
• Libya’s Tripoli Mitiga airport resumes air traffic following air strike
• Algeria interim leader says dialogue and elections only democratic solutions
• Nigeria’s NNPC says it paid debts owed to Mobil Producing Nigeria
• Industry doubts remain over Ivory Coast, Ghana cocoa floor price
• Eastern Libya forces attack drone control room at Tripoli base
• Sudan’s military rulers and opposition alliance meet for talks in Khartoum
• Burkina Faso urged to avoid curbs on security reporting
• Nigeria sex traffickers fleeing hotspot for new havens, activists warn
• South Africa’s rand steady as trade woes hit EM currencies, stocks dip
• Morocco’s Q2 economic growth slows to 2.6% – planning agency
• Sudan’s military rulers pardon 235 detained members of Darfur rebel group – state tv
• Africa Oil – Nigerian diffs firm on US imports of European gasoline
• Mozambique says militants kill 11 in attack near Tanzania border
• Wanted militant blows himself up in Tunisian capital
• UN’s Bachelet says Sudan protests biggest yet, time for transition
• More than 100 civilians killed in South Sudan violence after peace deal – UN report
• South Africa weighs new support measures for struggling Eskom
• Kenya private sector activity jumps in June – PMI
• Uganda shilling unchanged as banks’ and importer demand flat
• Zimbabwe runs out of passports, adding to long list of shortages
• Premium prices attract small farmers back to coffee growing in Zimbabwe
• South African business confidence slightly higher in June
• Naspers picks Mahanyele-Dabengwa as CEO for South Africa
• Zimbabwe president says needs to import 800k tonnes of maize – media
• At least 30 killed in hit on Tripoli migrant centre – UN
• Egypt non-oil private sector slows for second month – PMI

N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters