Good afternoon, ladies and gents. It’s a relatively lighter day in Om El Donia as tensions begin to ease following the overnight announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran — we’ve got the latest below.

While our city’s usual late-night hum has been silenced by the new 9pm commercial curfew, the real noise is happening behind the scenes. We’re digging into the fallout for the city’s F&B and retail operators, some of whom are watching 90% of their revenue vanish as the lights go out.

And if you’ve noticed your vocabulary starting to feel a little… old, we’re reviewing a book on how social media brain rot is low-key mogging our offline speech.

First up, the news...

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

📍 The EGX30 and the EGP rallied today following the announcement of a two-week truce between the US and Iran, with the benchmark index closing up 4.1% and the USD trading at EGP 53.27 (for buy) and 53.37 (for sell) at the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr, and 53.33-53.43 at CIB.

High hopes? Market optimism sparked a “strong return of foreign investment into debt instruments on the secondary market […] with inflows reaching approximately USD 800 mn today alone,” a banking source tells EnterpriseAM. Momentum is expected to carry into the primary market during tomorrow’s session, as investors look to capitalize on the de-escalation peace dividend, the source added.

The recovery coincides with the CBE’s move to renew a USD 2 bn Kuwaiti deposit due this month — with a preliminary agreement in place — as regional volatility has stalled plans to convert roughly USD 4 bn in Kuwaiti placements into direct equity, a senior banking source tells EnterpriseAM.

^^ We’ll have more details in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

🌐 Market reactions following the two-week US-Iran overnight ceasefire announcement — subject to a “complete, immediate, and safe” re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz — are dominating headlines. Most notably, oil prices plunged, with Brent falling more than 18.0% to near USD 91.2 per barrel and WTI losing more than 20.0% to roughly USD 92.5 per barrel at the time of publication. Gold advanced, climbing as much as 3.0% to USD 4.8k per ounce. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index jumped 4.0% this afternoon.

^^Read more on: Bloomberg, CNBC, and Reuters.

…But it seems the ceasefire was a little short-lived. Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline — a vital line carrying crude from the Gulf to the Red Sea — was hit in an Iranian attack this afternoon. The pipeline is the only outlet for Saudi crude exports bar the Strait of Hormuz.

^^Read more on: Reuters and Financial Times.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

  • The Egyptian Customs Authority rolled out its fully automated export system at Ain Sokhna port, with plans to gradually expand across all ports;
  • The Transport Ministry is offering around 1.9k feddans of land for logistics zones across Sinai in Al Hasana, Baghdad, and Rafah along the strategic Arish-Taba corridor;
  • Egypt is a “triple deficit” economy, “combining fiscal, current account, and energy deficits,” which leaves it highly exposed to the fallout from the war in the region, according to the latest Allianz Economic Outlook 2026-27.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re in for another cool and sunny day in Cairo tomorrow, with a high of 25°C and a low of 15°C, according to our favorite weather app.

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