The Markets

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Crawling or stalling? That’s the question hanging over the U.S. economy amid fresh evidence the once-hot labor market is losing steam. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 136,000 in September, according to a Labor Department report Friday that missed the median estimate of economists. That brought the average gain this year to 161,000, compared with 223,000 throughout 2018. On top of that, average hourly earnings rose 2.9% from a year earlier, the weakest…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Platinum miners have finally hit pay dirt with soaring prices and a weak South African rand. But the mood in the industry has been scarred by years of deep losses. Even though analysts say companies like Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Sibanye Gold Ltd. will reap their best profits in years, executives are cautious about restarting dividends. Labor disputes, currency volatility and the need to reduce debt levels are some of the reasons…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – There’s still a month to go until Moody’s Investors Service reviews South Africa’s sovereign rating, but foreign investors aren’t taking chances. Overseas ownership of South African government debt fell to 37% of the total at the end of August, from as high as 43% in March 2018, according to National Treasury data. That’s the lowest level since February 2017, suggesting some investors aren’t waiting for Moody’s to downgrade the…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The frontier between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland remains the essential conundrum of Brexit. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is determined to leave the European Union by Oct. 31, with or without a negotiated transition deal. But any departure must take into account the historically fraught Irish border, which is set to become the only land crossing between the EU and the U.K. after Brexit. A controversial…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s hardly controversial to short the pound, but Crispin Odey and his ilk also have their eyes on a low-tax, low-regulation, no-deal Brexit paradise. Philip Hammond is officially “outside the tent,” to use Lyndon Johnson’s phrase. After losing his job as U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer and then his badge as a Conservative MP by rebelling against Boris Johnson’s hardball Brexit strategy, Hammond has kicked up an almighty stink by accusing Johnson…

LAGOS(Capital Markets in Africa) – Commodity investors get to draw a line this week under what’s been an eventful quarter while assessing fresh signals about how energy, crop, and metals markets will fare into the year-end. In the U.S.-China standoff, traders will be on alert for a set-piece address from President Xi Jinping on Tuesday for hints on whether there’s much chance of a resolution. In energy, the fallout from the strikes against Saudi facilities is in…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Public Investment Corp. is poised to take a stake in Liquid Telecom if Africa’s biggest fiber company goes ahead with a planned initial public offering, according to people familiar with the situation. The PIC, which manages the pension funds of South African government workers, agreed to set aside funds to guarantee a $375 million loan to Liquid parent Econet Global Ltd. from Deutsche Bank AG, the three people said. The money manager would…