The Markets

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – The year’s first fallen unicorn is about to test public markets’ appetite for unprofitable start-ups, and so far it’s not looking like a positive bellwether for the class of 2020.  Mattress retailer Casper Sleep Inc. is planning to cut the target price range for its Wednesday initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said, shrinking its potential market value to well below the $1.1 billion valuations it…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – European equities turned higher with U.S. index futures and Asian shares on hopes for a breakthrough in fighting the coronavirus, and as investors digested the latest corporate earnings. Treasuries reversed earlier gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rebounded alongside contracts on the three main American gauges after a string of reports on possible vaccines and treatments for the deadly Wuhan virus. Gains in tech and travel shares were supported by PMI readings that suggested the…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa)- Ghana’s government, which is poised to sell as much as $3 billion in Eurobonds this week, would have drawn comfort for a successful deal by Gabon that showed demand for Africa’s high-yielding hard-currency debt remains strong. The West African country is concluding a series of meetings with international bond investors on Monday. Gabon issued $1 billion of securities on Thursday at a yield on the lower limit of the price-guidance range, even…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa)- The pound is back in the doldrums as concerns about a chaotic Brexit at the end of the year loom into view. Sterling fell more than 1% to lead losses among Group-of-10 currencies, as traders brace for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to threaten to walk away from talks with the European Union rather than accept demands from Brussels to sign up to the bloc’s single market regulations. The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier is also…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa)- Donald Trump has spent the past four years lobbying unsolicited advice at British prime ministers on the best path forward for an exit from the European Union and holding out promises of a grand new trans-Atlantic trade alliance. Now that Brexit is official, though, Trump gets to really double down on a role he relishes: that of the geopolitical disruptor. Just as Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to use talks with the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The African Development Bank has downplayed the risks associated with rising debt levels on the continent, saying policy makers should find a balance between fiscal management and funding development. While the median ratio of government debt-to-gross domestic product rose to more than 50% in 2018 from 25% in 2008, bringing the continent’s total external debt burden to almost $500 billion, “Africa does not have a systemic debt crisis,” AfDB…