By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica
Global Markets
- Asian stocks shrug off Sino-US tension to resume gains
- Dollar slipping and stocks on the march
- MSCI AxJ +1%, Nikkei +1.7%, Hang Seng +2.2%
- US-China trade talks eyed
- Brent last up 0.4% at $45.16
Oil Markets
- Oil firms on US stimulus hopes, Asian demand recovery
- Brent up 0.2% at $45.06 a barrel (0027GMT)
- WTI up 0.3% at $42.08
Precious metals
- Gold slips as dollar bounces, focus on US-China row
- Spot gold down 0.5% at $2,017.98/oz. (0234GMT)
- US gold futures down 0.6% at $2,028.10/oz.
Grains
- Corn jumps 1% on USDA crop condition report
- Corn futures up 0.9% at $3.25-3/4 a bushel (0056GMT)
- Soybeans up 0.1% at $8.74-1/2 a bushel
- Wheat up 0.5% at $4.93-1/2 a bushel
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handles @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica]
- South Africa manufacturing production Jun-20 [fcst. -51.6% yy prev. -49.4%]
- South Africa state capture inquiry continues
- Key African countries on lockdown or restricted; subdued economic activity
- Covid-19 updates by authorities across the continent
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
- At least 10 dead in Ethiopia protests over autonomy – health officials
- Tunisia PM designate to form techncratic govt without parties
- At least 6 killed as Somalia security forces put out prison uprising
- Mauritius must brace for ‘worst case scenario’ after oil spill, says PM
- Islamic court in northern Nigeria sentences man to death for blasphemy
- Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation fell to 4.2% in July – CAPMAS
- France helps hunt for killers of aid workers in Niger
- Namibia to auction fishing quota to raise money for Covid-19 medicines
- Aid group ACTED says 4 women, 4 men killed in Niger
- Army says east Congo militia killed 16 villagers
- Algeria court jails journalist three years
- Ivory Coast cocoa outlook good despite below-average rain – farmers
- Anxious Mauritians uses hair to stem Japan ship’s oil spill
- France & Niger determined in battle against terrorists in Sahel – Le Drian
- France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor investigates Niger killings
- Kenya’s famed wildebeest migration begins without foreign tourist crowds
- Residents fight upscale evictions in Kenya conservation push
- Egypt mulls law to protect women’s identities as MeToo movement escalates
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters