The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerian companies are paying more to borrow in capital markets, signaling an end to the era of low rates which many issuers took advantage of to refinance higher-cost debt. Firms including MTN Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries have been forced to raise the rates offered on new debt issues due to “aggressive bids” by investors seeking higher yields, Stanbic IBTC Asset Management, said in a note to clients on Tuesday….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — The U.K. economy rebounded in February as a mass vaccination program and the prospect of a loosening of coronavirus restrictions lifted consumer confidence. Gross domestic product rose 0.4% following a revised 2.2% decline in January, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. All the main sectors of the economy saw output rise. The economy remains 7.8% smaller than it was before the pandemic hit Britain in February 2020. Britain is…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — It’s harder than ever to dismiss Bitcoin as a fad or a fraud, and even longtime skeptics have come around to at least a grudging acknowledgment that cryptocurrency isn’t going away. Digital assets are rapidly entering the mainstream, and financial advisors are fielding myriad questions from clients about this rapidly growing asset class. Big-name investors like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller revealed Bitcoin allocations in 2020, while…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Bitcoin neared an all-time high on Monday after a record run for stocks and ahead of a listing by the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. The token rose as much as 2.6% to $61,229, the highest in nearly a month but still short of the March 13 peak of $61,742. Bitcoin is up almost ninefold in the past year, a return that towers above that of more familiar assets like…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – If you saw a shark swimming towards you or a warm bath waiting for you, which one would you consider scary, which one dangerous? I don’t claim to be able to read minds, but something tells me that the shark seems scary to most, and a bath in no way appears to be dangerous. In his recent book, Guy Raz asks: “Why is that so many of us are…