We’re not going to claim to speak on the entire business community’s behalf, but we could have used another day of weekend.

The hand-wringing over weakness in emerging market currencies continues in the global business press, with Bloomberg’s Paul Wallace being the latest in a string of writers to point out that equity markets in countries including Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana have also been slipping in response. “Egypt’s stocks, which had risen steadily since the EGP was devalued in November 2016, have fallen more than 9% since late April,” he says. The USD’s strength in recent weeks has left emerging markets in distress as they grappled with a major sell-off triggered by higher US interest rates, as well as geopolitical tension.

So how’s the EGP faring? Year to date, it looks like this:
Is the oil production tap about to be turned on? With oil still in the USD 80 neighborhood, Saudi Arabia and Russia are signaling that they may dial-up oil output this year. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih said that it is likely production will ramp up in 2H2018, according to Bloomberg. Whether the size of the supply increase is ultimately “a mn, more, or less, we’ll have to wait until June,” when OPEC and its partners will meet, Al Falih said. “We’re not interested in an endless rise in the price of energy and oil,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters. Oil prices at USD 60/bbl fully suit Russia and the country doesn’t want them to spiral higher, he added. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the output boost would start in the third quarter.
The comments had an immediate impact on Friday, sending Brent crude down USD 3 to below USD 67 and vindicating investors who have reduced their oil positions.
Is the US exerting behind the scenes pressure to curb prices? Analysts are suggesting a tweet by Donald Trump from last month lambasting OPEC for raising prices may have helped nudge the Saudis to switch gears on oil. The US wasn’t the only one, with India also pressuring the Saudis to start ramping up production, Bloomberg says.
A drop in oil prices would be good news for the 2018-19 state budget here at home. Every USD 1 increase in the price of a barrel of oil raises government energy spending in the coming budget by EGP 3-4 bn, we’re told. The government had budgeted EGP 110 bn for energy subsidy spending at an average oil price of USD 55/bbl
Qatar doesn’t plan on mending ties with the Arab Quartet: Qatar’s banned yesterday the sale of of food and other goods from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, Bloomberg reports. The move comes a little more than a week before the one-year anniversary of the Arab Quartet simultaneously severing diplomatic ties with the statelet.
“It’s starting to feel like 2007” for “the Wall Street bankers who feast during recessions,” Business Insider says, pointing to a string of commentary of late that suggests more and more bankers are staffing up (or otherwise positioning themselves to benefit from) a downturn in the US economy.
Door still open for cancelled US-North Korea summit? US State Department officials will be in Singapore today to “prepare for a possible summit there” between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump. The news comes just days after Trump called off the summit — and after the leaders of North and South Korea held a “surprise meeting” on Saturday to discuss the “high-stakes” meeting set to take place next month — “the strongest sign yet that the two Korean leaders are trying to keep the on-again off-again summit on track,” says Reuters.
Your Ramadan rundown for today:
Bank hours run 09:30 am to 01:30 pm for customers and from 09:00 am to 02:00 pm for employees, CBE announced.
The EGX is running shorter trading hours. The trading session kicks off at 10:00 am, but closes at 1:30 pm. Tap or click here for the full schedule.
We’re looking at reasonably good weather in the week ahead, with the mercury set to hover between 32°C and 34°C all the way through Friday. A spell of warmer weather is on the horizon starting Saturday, according to the long-range forecast on our favourite weather app.
So, when do we eat? For those of us observing, Maghrib is at 6:49 pm CLT today. You’ll have until 3:13 am tomorrow to finish your sohour.
Recommended Ramadan reading:
Fortnite, the game your (pre-)teen is obsessed with, has become a sufficiently potent cultural force that it has made the global business press, with mentions this weekend in the Financial Times and CNBC. As the FT puts it, you can think of it as “a cartoony mix of Minecraft and Call of Duty.” The Epic Games title includes a version available to play without charge. Fortnite is available for iOS, macOS, Windows, PS 4 and Xbox. An Android version is in the works.
Also worth setting aside for the long, quiet hour or two before iftar:
- The Financial Times has run a special series on everything you need to know about sleep.
- Jeff Bezos thinks we have no choice but to go back to the moon, “and this time to stay,” the Wall Street Journal writes, quoting from a “personal, wide-ranging talk” at a space convention on Friday. Bezos “vowed to use his rocket startup to develop robotic rovers and perhaps human habitats on the moon’s surface, even if such projects fail to win financial support from the U.S. government.”
- Stranger Things’ Bob Newby and Mews the Cat are back, “rewatching in peace” their respective demises in season two of the hit Netflix show (watch, runtime: 1:22).




