By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica
Global Markets
- Asia shares off to cautious start, US crude slides
- Nikkei down early, S&P 500 futures ease back
- Corporate earnings, factory surveys loom for the week
- US May crude futures slide on supply glut
Oil Markets
- US oil falls more than 10% to lows not seen since 1999
- Brent down 0.8% at $27.87 a barrel (0142GMT)
- WTI down 14% at $15.65
Precious metals
- Gold slips as dollar firms amid doubts over US restart plan
- Spot gold down 0.3% at $1,679.95/oz. (0316GMT)
- US gold futures down 0.2% at $1,695.20/oz.
Grains
- Wheat rallies as doubts about Russia shipments stoke supply fears
- Wheat up nearly 1% on Russia exports suspension plans
- Soybeans flat, corn down 0.5% on weak oil prices
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handles @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica]
- Ghana lifts lockdown, maintains restrictions
- Mali 2nd round parliamentary elections on Sunday; results processing
- Key African countries on lockdown; subdued economic activity
- Covid-19 updates by authorities across the continent
Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today
- MSF says aid worker dies in Nigeria after contracting coronavirus
- Rwanda’s Kagame says Africa could take ‘a generation’ to recover from coronavirus – FT
- Kenya’s Safaricom forecasts 7% coronavirus hit to M-Pesa revenue
- South32 Q3 metallurgical coal output rises, South Africa coal ops to restart
- ‘Armed bandits’ kill 47 in northwest Nigeria’s Katsina state – police
- Algeria’s GDP growth falls to 0.8% in 2019
- Tunisia extends coronavirus lockdown to May 4, expects gradual easing
- South Africa tries to ease internal Lesotho tension after PM deploys army
- Zambia official says Glencore reverses plan to shutter copper mines
- Expelled from Mozambique, fugitive cocaine boss heads to Brazil jail
- Escape of ebola patient in Congo sparks fear of further infection
- Nigeria oil union suspends industrial action after Exxon Mobil workers freed
- Zimbabwe extends coronavirus lockdown by two more weeks but mines can get back to work
- Libya forces loyal to Tripoli govt try to build on military momentum
- Number of coronavirus cases in Egypt passes 3,000
- Nigeria president chief of staff dies from coronavirus
- South Africa SAA offers severance packages to all staff after state pulls plug
- Lesotho embattled PM Thabane deploys army to streets
- Morocco govt extends coronavirus lockdown to May 20
- SEC says Italy’s Eni agrees to settle charges in Algeria graft case
- IMF, World Bank urge action to cover $44 bln gap in Africa pandemic needs
- Rwanda uses drones to help catch lockdown transgressors
- IMF, World Bank say Africa to get $57 bln from official creditors in 2020
- South Africa mobile operators may need weeks to speed up data
- IMF says Africa faces fiscal gap of $44 bln to deal with pandemic
- Africa can still contain COVID-19 outbreak – WHO
- Congo mine closures would cause economic & social crisis, minister says
- Malawi high court sets aside coronavirus lockdown pending review
- South Africa Ramaphosa dismisses call to lift ban on alcohol during lockdown
- Nigeria oil hub quarantines 22 Exxon Mobil workers – governor
- Namibia suspends poultry imports from South Caroline, Ukraine due to bird flu
- South Africa rand slips, stocks higher on coronvirus vaccine hopes
- Total working with Mozambique to mange Covid-19 cases at LNG site
- Africa Oil – Offers head even lower as glut swells
- World Bank chief says more trade will ease pandemic’s economic impact
- Africa needs more than $200 bln to respond to pandemic, UN chief says
- Namibia to close national parks until May 5, anti-poaching operations continue
- World Bank Development Committee urges debt help for middle-income countries [Nigeria, etc]
- Mixed blessing for some, as South Africa shelters homeless in schools, stadiums
- South Africa Implats plans gradual return to operation after regulations eased
- World Bank says no ‘free ride’ for commercial creditors on debt relief
- Saudi grand mufti: Ramadan, evening, Eid prayers to be done at home amid coronavirus
- At least 300,000 Africans expected to die in pandemic: UN agency
- South Africa competition watchdog recommends approval of AngloGold-Harmony deal
- Uganda shilling trades flat on depressed appetite from importers, banks
- South Africa Implats plans gradual return to operation after regulations eased
- South Africa mobile operators granted emergency lockdown spectrum to meet data demand
- IMF’s Georgieva underscores need to help Africa, other emerging markets
- Nigeria urges ‘appropriate’ debt solutions for middle-income countries
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters