Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We have plenty of news for you this morning, but it’s a light read as we plunge into the final days of earnings season, where blue chips are again turning in strong results despite macro headwinds.

A QUICK PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCEMENT- We’re fine-tuning our publication schedule. Starting today, we’re going to be dispatching Enterprise Climate and Enterprise Logistics, our two MENA-focused verticals, a few hours later. Climate will hit your inboxes at 9:00am CLT, and Logistics at 9:15am CLT. (Add one hour for our readers in Saudi and two for our readers in the UAE.)

Why the change? In our ideal world, folks wake up and start their days with EnterpriseAM — and then read an industry vertical if it is meaningful to their work lives or simply interests them. Our new dispatch times for Climate and Logistics are meant to put them in the inboxes of readers who are arriving at their desks.

Not a reader of Enterprise Logistics or Enterprise Climate? You can subscribe here and here.

Want to stop getting Enterprise Logistics or Enterprise Climate? All you need to do is hit the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email. You can also stop subscribing to EnterpriseAM if you like, but we would cry.

PSA #1- Are you a car nerd? You’ll want to check out this weekend’s unveiling of Mercedes-Benz’s EV lineup by our friends at Abou Ghaly Motors. The firm is introducing a full range of sedans and SUVs, including the EQA, EQB, EQE and EQS lines, at prices ranging from EUR 65.9k through EUR 166.1k. The Friday event, from 2-7pm CLT, is at Abou Ghaly’s Mercedes dealership on the Ismailia Desert Road. Enterprise readers are welcome to attend.

PSA #2-Your guilty pleasure just got more expensive: Cigarette distributors JTI-Nakhla Tobacco and Al Mansour International Distribution Company hiked the price of smokes by up to 23%. A pack of Davidoff has jumped 15% to EGP 74 from EGP 64, while the Evolve brand will now set you back EGP 59, increasing 23% from EGP 48. Budget-friendly packs of Manchester and Time increased only EGP 3 to EGP 38-37 and packs of Target and Select can be picked up for EGP 29, up EGP 5.

They’re not the only ones: Eastern Company and Philip Morris also increased their prices in the last two weeks after a new cigarette tax hike was signed into law that also gave companies more leeway to raise prices.

KUDOS on this Wednesday morning to our friends at CIRA, who are now an MIT case study. MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship launched the education company as a case study this week during a visit by a group of global Legatum student fellows. CIRA chief Mohamed El Kalla (LinkedIn) presented the case, part of an MIT drive to highlight cases of successful entrepreneurs in Africa and Southeast Asia.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- INR-denominated bond issuance on the horizon? Egypt is looking to raise capital from India’s capital markets to diversify its sources of funding, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said during a meeting with the Indian ambassador to Cairo.

Remember: Higher global interest rates and a prolonged currency crisis have all but shut Egypt out of Western capital markets, prompting Egypt to turn to more new sources of finance such as the bond issuances in China and Japan.

Local currency trade with India may also be in the works: Maait also discussed local currency-denominated bilateral trade with the Indian ambassador, the Finance Ministry said.

#2- An e-platform for golden license applications will go live “within days”: A digital platform for those looking for a fast-track golden investor license will be available within the next few days, GAFI chairman Hossam Heiba said yesterday. The government has expanded the use of the single-approval licenses in recent months in a bid to attract fresh investment.

** Check out our explainer on golden licenses if you want to go deeper.

#3- Export optimism: Egyptian exports to African countries are projected to climb 10% to USD 5.5 bn in 2023, Federation of Egyptian Industries official Sherif El Gabaly said yesterday. Trade between Egypt and African countries hit USD 5.82 bn in 8M 2023, inching up 1.2% from the same period the year before.

HAPPENING TODAY-

UK Foreign Office minister is in Egypt to discuss aid for Gaza: The UK’s Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, flew in to Cairo last night to discuss the coordination of humanitarian air in Gaza, the Independent reported. The UK government is considering “air and maritime options” through its bases in Cyprus, the minister said.

Attention Dice shareholders: Today is the deadline to sell your shares in the ongoing mandatory tender offer launched by the company’s founders last month. If you’re not already tempted, the price was upped last week to EGP 0.80 a share, up 23% from the EGP 0.65 offered previously.’

It’s the final day of the Intra-African Trade Fairat the Egypt International Exhibition Center complex today. The Egypt VC Summit also concludes today.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The big business story of the day is over in San Francisco, where Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are going to try to patch things up — or at least de-escalate tensions when the two meet later this morning. It’s Xi’s first visit to the US in six years. The two will meet first thing today before heading to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

One thing Biden won’t be doing: Announcing a big trade agreement as part of a bid to counter China’s economic influence in Asia. He’s reportedly shelving the initiative on the back of objections from congressional Democrats, the Financial Times reports.

MARKET WATCH-

Higher interest rates are likely off the table as US inflation cools: US inflation declined for the first time since August to 3.2%, reassuring investors that the Fed’s aggressive tightening cycle — which has seen it hike interest rates to their highest levels in 22 years — is at an end, the Financial Times reported. “The Federal Reserve has got to be pretty happy with this and unsurprisingly it has reinforced market expectations that the policy rate has peaked,” chief int’l economist at ING Economics James Knightley told the salmon-colored paper.

Stocks spiked in response: The Nasdaq was up 2.4% at the closing bell, while the S&P 500 benchmark index rose 1.9% as a result of encouraging inflation figures earlier in the day.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: The lowdown on our infrastructure preparations ahead of this year’s rainy season.

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