*** Tell us what you expect in 2019: Each year, we ask readers to weigh in on what they expect of the year ahead — whether they’re investing or hiring. What they expect the exchange rate to be. Whether interest rates are winds at their backs — or headwinds. You name it. We then share the results with everyone in a subsequent edition of Enterprise to help all of you plan for the new year. It won’t take more than a couple of minutes, but the insights help the entire community.
Take our 2019 poll in English. Or, if you prefer, take it in Arabic.
May the road rise to meet you: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and other cabinet officials will meet today with a delegation from the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to discuss financing for infrastructure projects here. The delegation will be in town until Friday, 23 November.
A delegation of French healthcare companies is in town today for the French-Egyptian Healthcare Forum.
The central bank will auction USD 1.675 bn-worth of one-year USD-denominated treasury bills today. The offering will be settled on Tuesday.
The Egyptian Competition Authority will inaugurate today a regional center for competition policy. The Smart Village-based HQ will act as a Middle East and North Africa hub for consumer protection law, regulations and policies.

Casting a critical eye over Dubai has become a thing in the international business press of late. It’s not a revival of the 2008-era “cars of indebted foreigners left at the airport” meme, but a more subtle one. To take but two recent examples: A ‘white-collar recession’ is rippling through Dubai’s economy, the Wall Street Journal suggests, writing that “the Middle East’s most cosmopolitan city is losing some of the high-paying jobs that powered its rise as a global financial hub from a desert outpost.” Nicholas Parasie’s piece is balanced and thoughtful, but would have benefitted by carefully separating the woes of players with domestic problems (Emirates Airlines, local real estate players, domestic banks) from those who are being buffeted by alleged malfeasance (Abraaj) or global / secular challenges (Deutsche Bank, OSN, PR firm Edelman). In the same vein, Bloomberg writes that the “haven for Middle East money” is “losing its shine.”
Apple is in “bear market” territory, and even non-iSheep think that’s bad news for US stocks, the WSJ suggests, writing that some investors “question whether the U.S. stock rally can regain its footing without the leadership of the world’s most valuable public company. Investors have flocked for years toward Apple and a handful of other companies in the technology sector because of their ability to consistently increase sales regardless of global economic growth. But recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China and signs of slowing tech-sector revenue growth have dimmed their prospects.”
And George Kennan wept: The New York Times has launched a multi-part series headlined “China Rules” on how Beijing “squared the demands of authoritarian rule with the needs of free markets … for longer, at greater scale and with more convincing results than any other. The question now is whether it can sustain this model with the United States as an adversary rather than a partner.” The first installment of the package is brilliantly written and accompanied by gorgeous imagery that bring the nation to life. The second installment is due in about a week. A must read.
From the Department of the Obvious (at least to us): Why America struggles to sell LNG to Europe. Just like in real estate, it is about location, location, location, writes the Economist.

In miscellany this morning:
Killing carbs can help you take off (and keep off) the weight, but you have to stick with it for the long term, writes this brilliant Anahad O’Connor for the New York Times in a piece that makes clear that not all calories were created equal. Low-carb diets make you “less hungry” and help you burn more energy each day over the long haul than do carb-heavy ways of eating.
Meet the brothers who built a USD 8 bn software startup. In Utah. In a decidedly unsexy niche. Without raising venture capital funding until the very end. And who then sold to SAP at a 75% premium to their expected valuation in a planned IPO. We love us an entrepreneurial success story to start the morning. (Bloomberg)
No, you don’t need to adjust your scale. For the science nerds among us: There are new global definitions of the kilogram and of a mole (as in Avogadro’s number mole). The New York Times has the story.
Wondering what’s heading to cinemas as we slide into year’s end? The Wall Street Journal has your back with a great rundown.
More into books than movies? Start with the Washington Post’s best books of 2018 (including its 10 best mysteries and thrillers sub-list). Before long, the NYT and others will add their recommendations to the list.
If you’re of a certain age and planning your new year’s travel plans, you may want to book a trip to Los Angeles to be there for the 16 January 2019 tribute to Chris Cornell, the late Soundgarden frontman. Performers will include the surviving members of Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog as well as Metallica and the Foo Fighters, among others. Variety has more.
PSA #1- Tomorrow is a national holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday. The stock exchange and banks will be closed. Enterprise is off — you can expect us back in your inboxes on Wednesday.




