{"id":559755,"date":"2021-02-03T04:14:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T04:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/02\/03\/what-were-tracking-on-3-february-2021\/"},"modified":"2021-02-03T04:14:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T04:14:50","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-3-february-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/02\/03\/what-were-tracking-on-3-february-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 3 February 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, friends, and welcome to a very busy newsday <\/strong>as we spin into the home-stretch of the week.<\/p>\n

<\/a> THE BIG STORY AT HOME- Travelers from Egypt and 19 other destinations will be barred <\/strong>from entering Saudi<\/strong> Arabia as of today <\/strong>as the kingdom tries to curb the spread of covid-19, according to the Saudi Press Agency<\/a>. The ban does not apply to diplomats, Saudi citizens, or doctors and their families.<\/p>\n

How long the ban is in effect will depend on how the situation with covid unfolds<\/strong>, Saudi ambassador to Egypt Osama Al Naqli told Kelma Akhira\u2019s Lamees El Hadidi last night (watch, runtime: 5:25<\/a>).<\/p>\n

EgyptAir\u2019s <\/strong>last flight<\/strong> to Saudi Arabia takes off at <\/strong>3 <\/strong>pm today, but might be able to squeeze in another flight in the evening<\/strong> (watch, runtime: 0:48<\/a>). If you have a previously-booked flight to the kingdom with the national flag carrier, you can get a refund or postpone the trip to after the entry ban is lifted, EgyptAir Holding Company Roshdi Zakaria told Masaa DMC\u2019s Ramy Radwan (watch, runtime: 4:48<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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THE BIG STORY INTERNATIONALLY- Jeff Bezos <\/strong>is stepping down<\/a><\/strong> as Amazon<\/strong> CEO<\/strong>, tapping the company\u2019s cloud computing head Andy Jassy \u2014 who created cloud platform Amazon Web Services \u2014 to take the reins as CEO. Bezos will become Amazon\u2019s executive chairman in the third quarter of the year. The changing of the guard at the e-commerce behemoth comes as Amazon reported a record USD 125.6 bn in 4Q2020 sales and net income jumped to USD 7.2 bn in the final quarter of last year.<\/p>\n

The story is front-page news pretty much everywhere this morning:<\/strong> Reuters<\/a> | The<\/a> Financial Times<\/a> | The New York Times<\/a> | Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Wall Street Journal owns the story: <\/strong>Start with How Jeff Bezos has run Amazon,<\/a><\/strong> from meetings to managing<\/a><\/strong> and take a deep dive into who Jassy really is<\/a>. Then read Bezos\u2019 email to employees (pdf)<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also making international headlines: GameStop shares <\/strong>dropped 60%<\/a><\/strong> yesterday <\/strong>as the bubble caused by a horde of day Reddit and Redbull-fuelled day traders popped. AMC shares slumped nearly 40%. US Treasury boss Janet Yellen is calling a meeting of industry regulators<\/a> to talk about volatility in the market driven by the horde. Meanwhile, Agent Orange\u2019s defense at his impeachment trial <\/strong>is in the news<\/a>. In a nutshell: \u201cI really won the election, I didn\u2019t incite nuthin\u2019 \u2014 and the Senate doesn\u2019t have the constitutional authority to try me.\u201d The New York Times<\/a> has the full rundown.<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING TODAY-<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s PMI day:<\/strong> Figures measuring business activity in Egypt\u2019s non-oil private sector in January will land here at 6:15 CLT<\/a>. The recovery stalled in December<\/a> following two months of promising growth, as mounting covid-19 cases hit consumer demand and business sentiment. Gauges for the UAE and Saudi are also due<\/strong> out this morning.<\/p>\n

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad El Hariri is due in Cairo today<\/strong> for a meeting with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, according to the Lebanese press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s interest rate week:<\/strong> The Central Bank of Egypt will meet on Thursday to review interest rates. Eleven of the 12 analysts and economists polled by Enterprise<\/a> expect rates to be left unchanged. Meanwhile, 10 of the 14 people surveyed by Reuters<\/a> said the CBE will leave rates on hold, while a few suggested that the National Investment Bank\u2019smove to slash rates on its investment certificates<\/a> earlier this week could signal a rate cut, a notion with which EFG Hermes\u2019 Mohamed Abu Basha took exception<\/a> in a note earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Also coming up this month:<\/strong><\/p>\n