By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji

Global Markets

• Caution grips Asian shares before Fed minutes, seminar
• MSCI ex-Japan near flat; Nikkei falls 0.4%
• Trump says he had to ‘take China on’
• Eyes on Fed minutes, Jackson Hole meeting for rate outlook

Oil Markets

• Brent oil rises above $60, buoyed by US inventory drawdown
• API data shows bigger-than-expected drop in US crude inventory
• US warns Iran tanker not to deliver oil to Syria
• Weekly EIA inventory at 1430 GMT
• Brent up 0.2% at $60.16 a barrel (0136GMT)
• WTI up 0.2% at $56.25

Precious metals

• Gold prices hold firm above $1,500, Fed minutes in focus
• Spot gold down 0.1% at $1,505.42/oz. (0116GMT)
• US gold futures flat at $1,516.20

Grains

• Corn firms after 2 days of losses, US crop tour in focus
• Most active CBOT wheat futures down 0.2% at $4.65-3/4 per bushel (0121GMT)
• Most active corn futures up 0.1% at $3.69-1/4 per bushel
• Most active soy futures up 0.2% at $8.69-3/4 per bushel
• Most active rice futures up 0.1% at $11.29 per hundredweight

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

• Angola, DRC, Congo & Uganda leaders to meet in Luanda
• Nigeria’s Buhari to inaugurate new cabinet
• Sudan’s new joint military & civilian sovereign council to be inaugurated
• Zambia’s Lungu in India for 3-day state visit
• South Africa state capture inquiry continues
• South Africa inflation Jul-19 [fcst. 3.9% yy, prev. 4.5%]

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

• Solar-irrigated farms face an unexpected threat in Zimbabwe: hungry elephants
• Sudan forms 11-member sovereign council, headed by military leader
• Southern Somali state shutters main city, airport ahead of election – senior local official
• More than a hundred migrants feared dead off Libya coast
• Zambia says no meeting planned with Vedanta over Konkola mine
• Africa Oil – Nigerian programmes expected as Angolan diffs set to rise
• Burkina Faso leader laments “dark stain” after attack kills 24 soldiers
• Egypt security forces kill 11 suspected militants in Sinai
• South Africa’s rand pauses recent slide, stocks down
• Zimbabwe opposition to review strategy in face of “political asphyxiation”
• Cameroon seperatist leaders condemned to life in prison
• Libya sends mobile petrol stations to conflict-hit west
• South Africa to consider new nuclear energy in affordable way
• Egypt’s Banque du Caire expects to seel minority stake by early 2020
• Cash-strapped South Africa state arms firm ordered to hand over taxes – union
• Ghana cashes in on slave heritage tourism
• South Africa’s Harmony Gold eyes potential in AngloGold Ashanti assets
• South Africa High Court rules against Denel – union
• Uganda shilling unchanged as commodity flows match importer appetite
• Qatar to build new port in Somalia’s Hobyo
• South Africa will look into modular nuclear technology – energy minister
• Kenya shilling holds steady against the dollar
• Zimbabwe police deploy hundreds in Gweru, MDC challenges another protest ban
• Annual earnings at South Africa’s Shoprite miss estimates
• Vedanta and Zambia President Lungu to discuss KCM in India
• South Africa’s Harmony Gold full-year earnings rise 19%

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