Pound’s World-Topping Rally Wobbles as Market Braces for Swings

Pound’s World-Topping Rally Wobbles as Market Braces for Swings

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The pound swung between gains and losses as British voters headed to the polls to decide between Conservatives hoping to deliver Brexit in January and a Labour Party promising a second referendum. Bets on overnight volatility in sterling surged to the highest in nearly three years and traders hedged the risk of a surprise outcome in options markets. The currency has been the world’s best performer in recent months, on speculation…

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Journey to Hell Led Ethiopian Nobel Winner to Eritrea Peace Deal

Journey to Hell Led Ethiopian Nobel Winner to Eritrea Peace Deal

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for forging an end to almost two decades of conflict with neighboring Eritrea, described how his personal exposure to the horrors it wrought drove him to seek a rapprochement. “War is the epitome of hell for all involved,” Abiy, who served as a radio operator in the Ethiopian army and was the only survivor of an artillery…

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The $11 Trillion Emerging-Markets Rally Has Big Backing for 2020

The $11 Trillion Emerging-Markets Rally Has Big Backing for 2020

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Emerging markets are about to embark on another year of wealth creation after adding $11 trillion to investor portfolios in the past decade. Developing-nation assets will outperform their developed peers, with Asia having the best prospects, according to Bloomberg’s survey of 57 global investors, strategists and traders on their outlook for next year. Total wealth in emerging-market stocks and bonds now exceeds $25 trillion, bigger than the economies of the U.S. and Germany combined….

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South African Power Crisis Eases as Eskom Rushes to Fix Plants

South African Power Crisis Eases as Eskom Rushes to Fix Plants

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s energy crisis eased as state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. scrambled to repair broken plants and supplemented supply using gas turbines and pumped-storage facilities. Power cuts, known locally as load shedding, should be limited to 2,000 megawatts on Wednesday — down from a peak of 6,000 megawatts on Monday — and are expected to end next week, Eskom said in an emailed statement. The outages temporarily…

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INFLATION: South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia

INFLATION: South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s inflation rate rose to the highest level in four months in November as the cedi continued to weaken. Annual inflation quickened to 8.2% in from 7.7% in October, Government Statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday. The median estimate of three economists in a Bloomberg survey was 7.6%. Prices rose 0.7% in the month. Key Insights This is the first time since the…

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Egypt Inflation Edges Up But Leaves Breathing Room for Rates

Egypt Inflation Edges Up But Leaves Breathing Room for Rates

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s inflation rate accelerated for the first time in five months, rising 3.6% in November as the effect of last year’s surge in prices faded but offering the central bank little reason to reverse a monetary easing cycle. The annual rate for urban inflation rose from 3.1% the month before, the state-run statistics bureau said Tuesday. Consumer prices fell 0.3% month-on-month from a 1% rise in October — its…

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Ken Griffin Has Another Money Machine to Rival His Hedge Fund

Ken Griffin Has Another Money Machine to Rival His Hedge Fund

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citadel Securities is sometimes dismissively referred to as “Citadel’s trading arm” — seen as a forgotten backwater of Ken Griffin’s hedge fund empire, where quants toil on complex algorithms to arbitrage tiny differences in stock prices or calculate bid-ask spreads for Treasuries. It’s much more than that. The market-making firm, which is actually separate from Griffin’s hedge fund, generated $3.5 billion of revenue last year — more than the…

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