Traders Seek Growth in Emerging Markets as Recovery Angst Builds

Traders Seek Growth in Emerging Markets as Recovery Angst Builds

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Some of the assets most exposed to fears around the spread of the delta variant are luring traders with tempting signals of strength and stability. Emerging-market corporate earnings have outpaced estimates for the first time in 30 months amid an economic rebound in developing nations. Meanwhile, MSCI’s index of emerging currencies remains up this year, defying the declines seen this month. Stocks fell 2.2% today, erasing this year’s gains as China’s widening-technology-sector crackdown weighed on…

Read More

Ethiopian Bond Yields Surge as Conflict in North Escalates

Ethiopian Bond Yields Surge as Conflict in North Escalates

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopian bonds plunged, sending yields to the highest in more than a year, as the nine-month conflict in the Tigray region spilled into a neighboring area. The chief administrator of Ethiopia’s Amhara region on Sunday issued a call to arms to defend his territory against rebels advancing southwards from Tigray. Fighting has already spread to the Afar region on Tigray’s eastern border, jeopardizing a key trade artery that…

Read More

Bitcoin Hovers Around $32,000 After Boost From Musk, Ark’s Wood

Bitcoin Hovers Around $32,000 After Boost From Musk, Ark’s Wood

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin held around $32,000 in a consolidation of a rebound stoked by comments from Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wood on the future of the largest cryptocurrency. The digital asset traded near $32,000 as of 10:35 a.m. in Singapore on Thursday after jumping 6.5% a day earlier. Other cryptos, including Ether and Dogecoin, held onto gains, as did the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index.Tesla Inc. already owns Bitcoin but Chief Executive…

Read More

U.K.’s Covid Travel Tests Spawn a $520 Million Free-for-All

U.K.’s Covid Travel Tests Spawn a $520 Million Free-for-All

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Early in the pandemic last year, London property developer Arnaud Touret bought a batch of 5,000 rapid Covid tests from South Korea. He set up a laboratory to analyze the results, hired a chief medical officer and applied for U.K. accreditation for his new venture. His company, Covid Home Test U.K. Ltd., is now among more than 400 businesses listed on the government’s website offering PCR tests for travelers on their…

Read More

Stocks Climb, Futures Steady on Earnings Optimism: Markets Wrap

Stocks Climb, Futures Steady on Earnings Optimism: Markets Wrap

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Asian stocks climbed Thursday after solid company earnings boosted Wall Street, easing concerns about peak economic growth and coronavirus flareups. The dollar held a decline. An MSCI Inc. gauge of Asia-Pacific shares rose for a second day, led by cyclical sectors like materials and energy, though technology also pushed higher. Hong Kong and Australia outperformed, while Japan is shut for a holiday. European contracts advanced and U.S. futures edged up…

Read More

Biden Dismisses Inflation Worries, Warns on Hiring Difficulties

Biden Dismisses Inflation Worries, Warns on Hiring Difficulties

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Joe Biden dismissed concerns that the U.S. would experience persistent inflation as the economy emerges from the pandemic while cautioning that restaurants and others in the hospitality sector might take longer to recover. “There will be near-term inflation” because the economy is picking back up, Biden said Wednesday night at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati. But most economists believe that “it’s highly unlikely that it’s going…

Read More

Ramaphosa’s On Trial as Much as Zuma: Bobby Ghosh

Ramaphosa’s On Trial as Much as Zuma: Bobby Ghosh

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – After South Africa’s week from hell, the trial of Jacob Zuma has been postponed until August 10, and it will be months, perhaps even years, before a judicial panel decides whether or not the former president is guilty of corruption. His successor faces far swifter judgment in the court of public opinion. President Cyril Ramaphosa is scrambling to undo the damage, physical and political, wrought by the widespread rioting in…

Read More
1 81 82 83 84 85 1,076