By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica
Global Markets
- US markets shut for Labor Day holiday
- Asian shares on shaky footing amid elevated valuations, oil skids
- Japan’s Nikkei falls, Chinese shares in red
- MSCI ex-Japan barely changed after two straight days of losses
- Currency market action muted
- Oil falls more than $1 after Saudi price cuts; Brent at $42.16
Oil Markets
- Oil drops more than $1 after Saudi price cuts, demand optimism fades
- Saudi crude prices to Asia fall the most in five months in Oct
- Brent down 2.1% at $41.75 a barrel (0000GMT)
- WTI down 2.3% at $38.86
Precious metals
- Gold gains as global growth worries support demand
- Spot gold up 0.2% at $1,935.50/oz. (0341GMT)
- US gold futures up 0.5% at $1,943.40/oz.
Grains
- US markets shut for Labor Day
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handles @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica]
- ECOWAS leaders meet face-to-face in Niamey; Mali, Eco currency & Covid-19 top on agenda
- Ghana’s main opposition NDC & flagbearer Mahama launch 2020 manifesto
- South Africa’s opposition EFF protest against racist slur by corporate
- South Africa FX reserves Aug-20 [prev. $57.88B]
- Covid-19 updates by authorities across the continent
Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today
- ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero was not kidnapped – President Kagame
- Algeria says new constitution to meet protesters’ demands, allow more reforms
- Senegal activates emergency floods aid plan after downpour
- Veteran Guinea opposition leader to challenge President Conde in October election
- France’s Le Drian: We must not let the guard down in Mali
- Nigeria to deliver aid by air in conflict-hit northeast
- First Abu Dhabi Bank to restart talks on Bank Audi’s Egypt unit – sources
- Tunisia police kill three suspected militants after fatal attack on officer
- Ousted Mali president leaves country for Abu Dhabi as transition talks begin
- Two France soliders killed, one injured in Mali – Presidency
- Ethiopia’s upper house rules Tigray regional vote unconstitutional
- Dozens of hippos at risk in dried-up water hole in Namibia
- Rowdy protests get Mali transition off to chaotic start
- Sudan declares 3-month state of emergency over floods – SUNA
- UK court allows Nigeria more time to appeal in $10 billion dispute
- Congo police fire tear gas to disperse protest over Rwanda diplomat
- Libya families file US lawsuit accusing LNA leader Haftar of war crimes
- Sudan and major rebel group agree to resume peace talks
- About 10 Mali soldiers killed in militant attack, army says
- Algeria’s Sonatrach says it controlled oil leaks
- Malawi’s economy to shrink 1.9% in 2020, president says
- Black Lives Matter forces South Africa sport to face past demons
- Mali’s junta faces reality check as honeymoon phase ends
- Turkey says France’s Macron ‘hysterical’ over Syria, Libya, East Med
- Ethiopia Airlines in rescue talks with South Africa Airways – CEO
- Militia enters city unopposed in east Congo, surrounds prison
- Thousands rally to support Congo’s threatened Nobel Laureate
- South Africa’s Eskom suspends managers it blames for plant breakdowns
- Ethiopia Tigray region to hold poll, defying federal govt
- Kenyans fear ‘ecologicial disaster’ if two swollen lakes merge
- Algeria’s Sonatrach says 2 oil leakages occurred at the OK1 pipeline due to bad weather
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters