Powell’s Jackson Hole speech spurs uncertainty: US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the Fed could be forced to continue its aggressive monetary tightening cycle, citing persistent inflation as the US economy continues to register strong growth. “We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate, and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective,” Powell said in a much-anticipated speech on Friday at the central bank’s annual get-together in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (watch, runtime: 15:40). “Although inflation has moved down from its peak — a welcome development — it remains too high,” he added.

Many investors were expecting the Fed to go a different direction after July inflation came in slightly below analyst expectations, inching higher to 3.2% y-o-y from 3.0% a month earlier and suggesting the Fed would have room to press pause on rate hikes at its next meeting in September. “When it comes to another rate hike, the chair still very much has his finger on the trigger, even if it’s a bit less itchy than it was last year,” one economist told the Associated Press.

Can Instacart’s IPO revive US listings? Grocery delivery company Instacart has filed the paperwork to IPO on the Nasdaq, it said in a statement. If successful, the listing could help jumpstart a stagnant US IPO market that hasn’t seen any major VC-backed tech debuts since December 2021, CNBC writes. Instacart is yet to determine how many shares it will offer and at what price. Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are acting as lead bookrunners.

ALSO WORTH NOTING-

  • Softbank’s Son on a spending spree: Arm Holdings’ anticipated Nasdaq IPO could almost double Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son’s cash pile, handing him a warchest of up to USD 65 bn for fresh acquisitions. (Financial Times)
  • Turkish central bank goes big: Turkey’s central bank opted for an unexpectedly large interest rate hike on Thursday, lifting its benchmark rates by 750 bps to 25%. The move sparked a rare TRY rally. (Reuters)
  • UN looking into Aramco operations: The UN is investigating Saudi Aramco for possible human rights violations linked to fossil-fuel induced climate change. The probe follows a request by environmental NGO ClientEarth to investigate the oil giant because it’s the largest corporate CO2 emitter in the world. (Bloomberg)

EGX30

18,208

+0.4% (YTD: +24.7%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.83

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

19.25% deposit

20.25% lending

Tadawul

11,405

+0.3% (YTD: +8.9%)

ADX

9,765

-0.1% (YTD: -4.4%)

DFM

4,099

-0.2% (YTD: +22.9%)

S&P 500

4,406

+0.7% (YTD: +14.8%)

FTSE 100

7,338

+0.1% (YTD: -1.5%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,236

+0.1% (YTD: +11.7%)

Brent crude

USD 84.48

+1.3%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.54

+0.8%

Gold

USD 1,939.90

-0.4%

BTC

USD 26,019

-0.1% (YTD: +57.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.4% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.1 bn (2.6% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is up 24.7% YTD.

In the green: Ezz Steel (+7.4%), Elsewedy Electric (+4.9%) and Abu Qir fertilizers (+2.6%).

In the red: Beltone Financial Holding (-2.4%), Eastern Company (-2.2%) and Heliopolis Housing (-1.8%).

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