By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica

Global Markets

• Asia shares push higher as more countries ease lockdowns
• Nikkei up 1.6% after Wall Street rally
• More countries ease lockdowns despite new infections
• Treasury yields edge up ahead of Fed chair speech

Oil Markets

• Oil prices drop amid supply glut, fears of 2^nd coronavirus wave
• US rig count falls to record low – Baker Hughes
• Brent down 2.4% at $30.24 a barrel (0114GMT)
• WTI down 3.3% at $23.93

Precious metals

• Gold gains as new wave of infections raises further stimulus hopes
• Specs cut bullish positions in gold in week to May 5 – CFTC
• Spot gold up 0.5% at $1,708.75/oz. (0325GMT)
• US gold futures down 0.1% at $1,711.70/oz.

Grains

• Soybeans hit near 1-mth high on Chinese buying
• Soybean futures up 0.6% at $8.55-3/4 a bushel (0132GMT)
• Corn up 0.9% at $3.22 a bushel
• Wheat up 0.5% at $5.24-1/2 a bushel

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

• Kenya’s Kenyatta meets factionalised ruling Jubilee party senators
• Zambia closes border with Tanzania on covid
• IMF decides $2.7 bln Egypt loan
• Nigeria’s Buhari chief of staff pick awaited
• Key African countries on lockdown or restricted; subdued economic activity
• Covid-19 updates by authorities across the continent

Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today

• Tunisia reports no new coronavirus cases for first time since early March
• President says one person infected 533 with coronavirus at Ghana fish factory
• Morocco central bank asks banks to halt dividends during coronavirus pandemic
• Libya – Massive bombardment hits Tripoli as water supplies threatened
• Three killed and 79 wounded in tribal clashes in eastern Sudan
• Twenty killed in attacks on villages in western Niger
• Algeria to lift ban on car imports
• Turkey threatens to target Haftar’s forces in Libya if attacks persist
• Three UN peacekeepers killed in roadside bomb in northern Mali – statement
• Italy aid worker kidnapped in Kenya has been freed – PM Conte
• Egypt headline inflation rises to 5.9% in April – CAPMAS
• Mayor killed in ambush in Cameroon’s restive region
• Egypt state banks collect over $7 bln from high-yield certificates
• Egypt fuel subsidy bill drops 65% in 9 months through March – official
• Tunisia cereal imports to rise by 20% in 2020/21 season – FAO
• Sierra Leone president accuses main opposition party of inciting violence
• Algeria approves 2-7% increase in retirment pensions
• South Africa suspends use of Land Bank debt as collateral after default
• Kenya & Uganda hit by power blackout, electricity back in most of Kenya
• Jet fuel tank farm at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport attacked, causing fires – Libya’s NOC
• Kenya power blackout due to glitch in transmission grid – Kenya Power
• Morocco Attijariwafa Bank Q1 profit falls 23.8%
• Turkey & Italy say shells hit near their Libya embassies
• Ghana records over 500 coronavirus cases at industrial facility
• Reported coronavirus cases in Egypt jump by nearly 500
• Ghana instructs Eni and local producer to combine oil fields
• South Africa court halts layoffs at ailing airline SAA
• South Africa rand gains on improved risk demand, markets end stronger
• South Africa defence firm Denel fails to pay pension contribution, taxes
• South Sudan Kiir, Machar differ over states, jeopardising unity govt
• South Africa central bank switches back to one daily repo auction
• South Africa Ramaphosa says Africa needs 2-yr debt standstill
• Ethiopia jails former minister for corruption
• Malawi court upholds ruling annuling Mutharika’s election win
• South Africa to parole 19,000 prisoners to curb coronavirus
• Uganda hospital, Somali town washed away by East Africa floods
• Nigeria comics fight covid-19 with gags and slapstick slaps
• Madagascar coronavirus herbal mix draws demand from across Africa despite WHO misgivings
• South Africa fx reserves rise in April as gold price rally cushions outflow shock
• Kenya shilling firms, lifted by horticulture & remittances
• South Africans mourn a metre apart as covid-19 curbs funerals
• South Africa net foreign reserves rise to $45.5 bln in April
• Tunisia allows Turkish medical aid plane to land for Libyans

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