SOUTH AFRICA: Ramaphosa To Meet With Trump On May 21 In Bid To Reset Relations
- South African Presidency confirmed in a statement that Cyril Ramaphosa will head for a working visit to the US from May 19-22 and meet US President Donald Trump in the White House on May 21 'to discuss bilateral, regioal and global issues of interest.' The statement added that 'the President's visit to the US provides a platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries.' Bilateral relations hit new lows since Trump took office amid tensions over issues ranging from South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), its alleged persecution of white Afrikaner farmers, and trade issues.
- Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa admitted that 'the reason why we are here today' and Eskom had to implement Stage 2 loadshedding 'is that the promise to bring maintenance down to below 5,000MW has not been fulfilled.' The official described current blackouts as 'outage slips', which were a byproduct of a 'management problem', arguing that the times of 'structural loadshedding' were over.
- Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni will hold a media briefing on the outcomes of yesterday's cabinet meeting at 09:30BST/10:30SAST.
- South Africa will release mining data for March at 10:30BST/11:30SAST.
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BRENT TECHS: (M5) Trend Remains Bearish
- RES 4: $77.75 - High Jan 20
- RES 3: $76.26 - High Feb 20
- RES 2: $70.59/75.47 - 50-day EMA / High Apr 2 and a bull trigger
- RES 1: $67.95 - Low Mar 5
- PRICE: $65.04 @ 07:11 BST Apr 15
- SUP 1: $58.40 - Low Apr 9
- SUP 2: $58.85 - 2.000 proj of the Feb 20 - Mar 5 - Apr 2 price swing
- SUP 3: $56.89 - 2.236 proj of the Feb 20 - Mar 5 - Apr 2 price swing
- SUP 4: $55.00 - Round number support
Brent futures continue to trade above last week’s high. For now, the latest bounce is considered corrective and this is allowing a recent oversold condition to unwind. The primary trend direction remains down and a resumption of weakness would open $56.89, a Fibonacci projection. On the upside, initial firm resistance to watch is seen at $67.95, the Mar 5 low. Resistance at the 50-day EMA, is at $70.83.
BTP TECHS: (M5) Resumes Its Uptrend
- RES 4: 120.65 1.382 proj of the MAr 14 - Apr 4 - 9 price swing
- RES 3: 120.39 High Feb 28
- RES 2: 120.12 High High Mar 4
- RES 1: 119.43 Intraday high
- PRICE: 119.41 @ 07:03 BST Apr 15
- SUP 1: 117.91 20-day EMA
- SUP 2: 117.28 Low Apr 10
- SUP 3: 116.06 Low Apr 9
- SUP 4: 115.75 Low Apr 14 and a bear trigger
BTP futures rallied sharply higher Monday. The rally resulted in a break of resistance at 119.07, the Apr 4 high. The breach confirms the end of recent Apr 4 - 9 correction and cancels what appeared last week to be a developing bearish threat. Sights are on 119.29, 76.4% of the Feb 28 - Mar 14 bear leg (pierced). A clear break of this level would open 120.12, the Mar 4 high. Initial support to watch lies at 117.91, the 20-day EMA.
UK DATA: Hard to get a great reading from the labour market data at first glance
- AWE Earnings a tenth weaker than expected for both total economy and private regular.
- The LFS employment change was a bit higher than expected (but unemployment rate was still in line with consensus).
- It looks as though there is a big downward surprise to the flash HMRC payrolls print.
- No huge movement and hard to really get a great reading from the data at first glance. Will look into the details now and follow up.
