Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Saudi Arabia and other key producers in OPEC signaled their intention to keep oil supplies constrained for the rest of the year, while pledging to prevent any genuine shortages. It was less clear how far Russia, their main partner in the wider OPEC+ producers’ coalition, shared that view. While most nations at a meeting in the kingdom on Sunday supported extending production cuts to the end of 2019, Russian…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Benchmark Treasuries enter the coming week with yields plumbing their 2019 lows, leaving bond bulls emboldened as the standoff between the U.S. and China drags on. With a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies moving further out of view just as global economic growth is ebbing, and political angst building in Europe, Treasuries are exerting a magnetic pull for investors seeking safety. Short-term yields are hovering at the lowest in…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s the biggest pile of debt in the world — the $15.9 trillionU.S. Treasuries market. It’s been built with the help of foreign central banks and investors, who have clamored to buy U.S. government bonds through good times and bad. But what happens if their appetite wanes? Both China and Japan — the biggest foreign owners of Treasuries — have pared their holdings from the record levels of…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is a much more important country than most people in the U.S. probably realize. With more than 190 million people, it’s Africa’s largest country by far (Ethiopia, the second-largest, has a little more than half as many). And with a fertility rate of about 5.5 children per woman, among the world’s highest, Nigeria is only going to grow in importance — by the century’s end, the country is projected to…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) -A plan to build Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum mine at a cost of about $4 billion is floundering because a military stake in the project has deterred potential backers, according to people familiar with the funding discussions. The African Export-Import Bank has the mandate to raise money for the mine, a joint venture between Russian and Zimbabwean investors. While the bank provided $192 million of its own funds, meetings in the past year…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – For more than a year, Apple Inc. avoided major damage from the U.S. trade war with China, thanks in part to a White House charm offensive by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. But the company now faces its first major hit — from both sides of the dispute. A new round of tariffs proposed by the U.S. on Monday includes mobile phones, meaning the iPhone, Apple’s most important product that is…