Finance

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s energy crisis eased as state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. scrambled to repair broken plants and supplemented supply using gas turbines and pumped-storage facilities. Power cuts, known locally as load shedding, should be limited to 2,000 megawatts on Wednesday — down from a peak of 6,000 megawatts on Monday — and are expected to end next week, Eskom said in an emailed statement. The outages temporarily…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citadel Securities is sometimes dismissively referred to as “Citadel’s trading arm” — seen as a forgotten backwater of Ken Griffin’s hedge fund empire, where quants toil on complex algorithms to arbitrage tiny differences in stock prices or calculate bid-ask spreads for Treasuries. It’s much more than that. The market-making firm, which is actually separate from Griffin’s hedge fund, generated $3.5 billion of revenue last year — more than the…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulled off a delicate political maneuver by announcing in quick succession articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump as well as the delivery of a trade deal that’s one of his highest priorities. The seemingly conflicting turn of events in the space of a single hour on Tuesday illustrates the political landscape Pelosi faces heading into the 2020 election year that will decide control…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Jeremy Corbyn is a controversial leader even in his own party. The man seeking to dethrone Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister has been criticized for failing to tackle racism in the Labour Party and for moving it too far to the left. He has also won support for radical plans to combat climate change and a raft of populist policies, some a throwback to 1970s-style socialism, including re-nationalizing…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – A few hours in the genteel English countryside next week could be the biggest risk to Boris Johnson in the final stretch of his election bid.   The British prime minister will interrupt his campaign to briefly host NATO leaders at a luxury resort with a golf course and spa. Despite the tranquil surroundings, those close to Johnson fear the gathering at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire could turn into a…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – A leading U.K. think tank offered a damning analysis of both the Conservatives’ and Labour’s election pledges, and warned voters to expect higher taxes than either party has outlined. In a brutal assessment of both manifestos for the Dec. 12 vote, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that “neither is a properly credible prospectus.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour have outlined vastly different offerings for voters. While Corbyn is…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – British automakers warned that the next U.K. government needs to deliver a “world-beating Brexit trade deal” to bolster their competitiveness and safeguard jobs following a split from the European Union. Carmakers need a frictionless border free of tariffs and customs, regulatory alignment and access to talent, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders lobby group said ahead of the country’s general election on Dec. 12. A victory for Prime…