The EU is ready to face China head-on over cheap imports: President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen called on China to work towards a more balanced trade relationship with the European Union during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Paris yesterday. Von der Leyen warned that “Europe will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its economy and security,” while China is restricting the bloc’s access to its markets and flooding Europe with heavily-subsidized Chinese products, according to a European Commission statement.

But China argues that a clampdown on its imports would harm the global green transition : China’s cheaper green technologies are necessary to further the energy transition, Xi Jinping's Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin told Bloomberg on Thursday. Backlash from the US and EU would result in a “delay in the substitution of fossil fuels by renewables globally,” Liu said, adding that energy transition costs would increase by up to USD 6 tn — equating to a 20% jump — without cheaper Chinese products and technology.

Remember: Tensions over green technology have been brewing for a while between China and the West over the oversupply of cheap solar panels and EVs from China, which has crowded US and European markets and threatened domestic production. The European Commission launched an investigation in September to consider imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese EV imports as a protection measure for local producers.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are in the green this morning as traders in Korea and Japan returned from a long weekend. The sole exception is the Hang Seng. US stock futures were largely unchanged in overnight trading, while European futures are doing a bit better, pointing to a comfortable start to the trading day.

EGX30

26,114

+3.3% (YTD: +4.9%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 47.89

Sell 48.02

USD (CIB)

Buy 47.90

Sell 48.00

Interest rates CBE

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

12,373

0.0% (YTD: +3.4%)

ADX

9,035

0.0% (YTD: -5.7%)

DFM

4,156

+0.3% (YTD: +2.4%)

S&P 500

5,181

+1.0% (YTD: +8.6%)

FTSE 100

8,213

+0.5% (YTD: +6.2%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,957

+0.7% (YTD: +9.6%)

Brent crude

USD 83.33

+0.5%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.19

+2.5%

Gold

USD 2,331.20

+1.0%

BTC

USD 63,476.20

-0.6% (YTD: +50.1%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 3.3% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.6 bn (47.1% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net buyers. The index is up 4.9% YTD.

In the green: E-finance (+10.3%), Eastern Company (+9.1%), and Telecom Egypt (+9.1%).

In the red: Beltone Holding (-0.7%) and Egypt Kuwait Holding -EGP (-0.4%).

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