Dear Subscriber,

Brent oil jumped 6% to $53.31pb after crashing below $50pb on Christmas Eve. The sharp drop was alongside a fall in most other financial market indices. Markets were spooked, when it was believed that Donald Trump was contemplating firing Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman.

Nigeria’s 2019 budget is predicated on a benchmark price of $60pb and is vulnerable to extreme price volatility. This temporary recovery is not enough to allay investor concerns in Nigeria, whose trade surplus fell sharply (67%) to $1.87bn in Q3’2018.

The attached slides summarize the events that took place in the domestic and global commodity markets this week.

Enjoy your read!