The Fed looks to chill market speculation about imminent rate cuts: Federal Reserve officials have been quick to urge caution to bullish markets that have priced in interest rate cuts as early as March, insisting that more encouraging inflation data is needed before the central bank can consider reversing its tightening cycle, according to the Financial Times. The Fed kept rates unchanged at 5.25-5.5% in the wake of cooling inflation during its latest meeting on Wednesday. Officials also penciled in no further rate hikes in their projection, with expectations to lower rates by 75 bps next year.

What they said: The Fed’s Atlanta President Raphael Bostic slated rate cuts for “sometime in the third quarter” of 2024 if inflation falls as expected, telling Reuters that he did not feel that rate cuts were “imminent.” It is “premature to be even thinking” about cuts starting in March, the Fed’s New York President John Williams told CNBC.

There are signs that “the inflation fight is not won,” one analyst told the New York Times. Consumer spending is still going strong, evidenced by robust retail sales data from last week. This, along with growth in the economy and labor markets, could once again trigger inflation.

It is more or less the same story on the other side of the Atlantic: The European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates unchanged for the second consecutive month when it met on Thursday as eurozone inflation dips, it announced. ECB president Christine Lagarde pushed back against predictions of imminent rate cuts, saying that “there is still work to be done,” Reuters wrote.

EGX30

24,723

-0.2% (YTD: +69.4%)

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

11,543

+1.2% (YTD: +10.2%)

ADX

9,498

+0.2% (YTD: -7.0%)

DFM

4,001

+0.5% (YTD: +20.0%)

S&P 500

4,719

0.0% (YTD: +22.9%)

FTSE 100

7,576

+1.0% (YTD: +1.7%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,549

+0.2% (YTD: +19.9%)

Brent crude

USD 76.55

-0.1%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.49

+4.1%

Gold

USD 2,036

-0.5%

BTC

USD 42,254

+0.1% (YTD: +156.1%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.2% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 3.84 bn (21.2% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 69.4% YTD.

In the green: Edita (+5.3%), Beltone Financial Holding (+4.6%) and Credit Agricole (+3.6%).

In the red: Egypt Kuwait Holding (-4.0%), CIRA Education (-2.7%) and TMG Holding (-2.3%).

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