It’s an unusually quiet morning in the MENA corner of Planet Finance as execs across the region eye the calendar and calculate how many hours are left until they can start their end-of-year holidays.

WATCH THIS SPACE- KSA’s Foodics is looking to IPO on the Tadawul — and is hoping to hit a USD 1 bn “unicorn” valuation in 2024. The company hasn’t set at timeline for its IPO. The fintech company aims to become one of the first Saudi players in the industry to make its public markets debut, GM Kamal Marghlani said in an interview yesterday.

What’s Foodics? The company is a platform that helps restaurants run everything from payments to orders, reservations, and kitchen inventory.

SPEAKING OF KSA: S&P expects the country’s economy to return to growth next year, it said in its latest report (pdf) on emerging markets. While the Kingdom’s red-hot non-oil economy continued to grow, GDP as a whole contracted slightly this year on the back of oil production cuts. Oil accounts for c. 45% of Saudi’s economy.

On the other side of the ocean: Growing optimism about the US economy (fuelled by expectations of a Fed rate cut in 2024) continues to drive up stocks and bonds, with the Dow hitting its fifth record high in as many days. The S&P and Nasdaq also closed in the green yesterday.

PREOCCUPYING TRADERS this morning:

  • Sneering at the ESG crowd over Tennessee’s lawsuit against USD 9.1 tn asset manager BlackRock, where the state alleges its focus on ESG was “misleading” and not in the interest of consumers;
  • Envying the bonuses of Goldman traders, who are taking home bigger cheques even as revenues fell;
  • Thinking through how to trade on shipping disruptions in our corner of the world (see this morning’s news well, above).

LOOKING AHEAD- Asian markets are in the green in early trading this morning. Europe and the Nasdaq look set to follow suit, while the S&P and Dow could open down slightly from yesterday’s high.

EGX30

25,076

-1.0% (YTD: +71.8%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.82

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

19.25% deposit

20.25% lending

Tadawul

11,713

+0.3% (YTD: +11.8%)

ADX

9,494

+0.2% (YTD: -7.0%)

DFM

3,998

+0.2% (YTD: +19.8%)

S&P 500

4,768

+0.6% (YTD: +24.2%)

FTSE 100

7,638

+0.3% (YTD: -2.5%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,535

+0.3% (YTD: +19.6%)

Brent crude

USD 79.23

+1.6%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.57

+3.0%

Gold

USD 2,053

0.0%

BTC

USD 42,339

-1.0% (YTD: +156.0%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 1% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 5 bn (55.7% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 71.8% YTD.

In the green: Talaat Moustafa Group (+6.3%), Ezz Steel (+3.5%) and Telecom Egypt (+0.8%).

In the red: Juhayna for Food Manufacturing (-5.9%), Orascom Development (-4.3%) and e-finance (-3.5%).

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