Market Watch

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Sentiment in South Africa’s services sector fell to a record low in the second quarter, providing further evidence that the economy probably suffered a historic decline in that period. A quarterly index measuring confidence in the sector fell to 7 from 17 in the three months through March, the Bureau for Economic Research said in an emailed statement Tuesday. That’s the lowest reading in the 15-year history of the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa): Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues have long recognized that some of the post-crisis rules that make the banking system safer also could end up making the financial markets more brittle. That’s a risk that was highlighted by last year’s turmoil in the money markets and was flagged as far back as 2014 — at a Fed board meeting that approved tough liquidity requirements to make banks more secure and which Powell…

GABON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gabon, one of the lowest-rated sovereigns in Africa, sold the first Eurobonds from the continent this year, with investors snapping up the high-yielding debt even as concerns over the outbreak of the coronavirus continued to weigh on global markets. The government issued $1 billion of 10-year securities with a yield of 6.625%, at the lower end of the final price guidance and well below the initial price target of 7%, according…

GABON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gabon is starting investor meetings Monday for a planned Eurobond sale that will test demand for hard-currency debt from one of the lowest-rated issuers in the region. The sale comes amid record debt sales by emerging-market borrowers this year as a lull in trade tensions and a rally in U.S. Treasuries spur demand for higher-yielding assets. Average yields on Eurobonds from sub-Saharan Africa are 2.5 percentage points higher than the emerging-market average, promising potentially juicy…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Commodity investors will focus this week on Washington’s top trade policy issue since Donald Trump won the presidency: reshaping relations with China. Tariff Man is to host a hard-won signing ceremony with Beijing on a first-phase deal, and markets want all details and ask what’s next. Earnings season kicks off in earnest with numbers midweek from aluminum maker Alcoa Corp., followed by Schlumberger Ltd. on Friday. The oilfield services giant…