Author: The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A stealth rally in cryptocurrencies is currently underway. Investors can’t be faulted for having missed an 8% breakout in Bitcoin over the past week — a string of listless daily moves by the digital coin camouflaged a big upward swing that’s happened just as U.S. stocks are also attempting to emerge from a recent downturn. “There is a positive correlation between stocks and Bitcoin since last year and that never…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Thailand will bar the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payments for goods and services, saying the wider use of digital assets threatens the nation’s financial system and economy. Business operators — including crypto exchanges — must not provide such payment services, and are barred from acting in a manner that promotes the use of digital assets to pay for goods or services, the Securities and Exchange Commission…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Global bond markets have suffered unprecedented losses since peaking last year, as central banks including the Federal Reserve look to tighten policy to combat surging inflation. The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, a benchmark for government and corporate debt total returns, has fallen 11% from a high in January 2021. That’s the biggest decline from a peak in data stretching back to 1990, surpassing a 10.8% drawdown during the financial…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Currency speculators are placing their bets on the South African rand at a record pace, even as Russia’s assault on Ukraine sends investors fleeing from most riskier assets. Hedge funds turned net long on the rand to the tune of 13,402 contracts as of March 15, swinging from a net short position of 239 contracts the previous week. The change was the biggest since the Commodity Futures Trading Commission…