{"id":569451,"date":"2020-02-25T04:42:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T04:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/02\/25\/what-were-tracking-on-25-february-2020-2\/"},"modified":"2020-02-25T04:42:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T04:42:02","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-25-february-2020-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/02\/25\/what-were-tracking-on-25-february-2020-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 25 February 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have a packed issue for you this morning<\/strong> thanks to a busy news day both here at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

But first, a PSA- You\u2019ll want to check the roads and for an email from your kids\u2019 school <\/strong>before setting out on your morning commute. Education Minister Tarek Shawki has canceled classes today for schools and universities as cities including Cairo bail out from the torrential downpour, according to a cabinet statement<\/a>. Some major arteries and many side streets in the capital city remain flooded this morning. Footage circulating on social media yesterday<\/a> also showed cars struggling to make their way through the floods in some areas of the city. If it were up to us, external meetings would be cancelled today, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

enterprise<\/a><\/p>\n

We usually laugh when the meteorologists refer to the weather as \u201cunstable,\u201d <\/strong>but that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to be today: A chance of rain early this morning giving way to cloudy with sunny periods, then sunny skies, then another chance of rain. Look for a high today of 18\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

LOCAL STORY OF THE DAY #1-<\/strong> State-owned Heliopolis Housing announced yesterday it received zero offers in its tender for a private investor to buy a 10% stake with management rights, dragging down the company\u2019s share price and that of several other real estate companies.<\/p>\n

LOCAL STORY OF THE DAY # 2-<\/strong> Your smoking habit is about to get more expensive (yes, again) thanks to newly-approved hikes in sin tax. We have the full breakdown in this morning\u2019s Speed Round. With the self-righteousness that only former smokers who are simultaneously econ nerds can muster, we agree wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n

MPs also passed a number of key business-related laws yesterday<\/strong> into which many of you will want to dig deeper. We have chapter and verse on all of this and more in this morning\u2019s Speed Round.<\/p>\n

Oh, and for once we find ourselves in agreement with Amr Adib<\/strong> after the voluble talkshow host and lesser half of the Lamees-and-Amr duo suggested last night that he couldn\u2019t quite figure out why Egypt is resuming flights to China<\/strong> in the midst of the covid-19 outbreak, which has led most other major airlines suspending flights there (watch, runtime: 2:13<\/a>). We have more on El Corona just below:<\/p>\n

enterprise<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a> GLOBAL STORY OF THE DAY #1- Global stocks had their worst day in two years. <\/strong>The covid-19 outbreak sent markets into a tailspin yesterday as investor concerns the virus will hit global growth escalated. Investors everywhere turned away from equities and oil and toward safe haven gold and bonds as the rising number of covid-19 cases beyond China and the Italy lockdown<\/a> are raising alarms, says the Financial Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asian markets are down again this morning and the S&P 500 closed down 3.4% <\/strong>yesterday,<\/strong> its biggest one-day fall since 2018, and led the FTSE All-World index to lose 3.3%. Europe\u2019s continent-wide Stoxx 600 also plummeted 4,2%, and the UK\u2019s FTSE 100 3.3% at session close. Gold gained 1.7%<\/a> to reach a seven-year high, but erased gains to close in the red.<\/p>\n

Energy stocks were the biggest losers<\/strong> as they suffered from a ripple effect caused by weakening oil prices. Oil slid into bear territory<\/a> ever since the outbreak intensified earlier this month. Tech stocks weren\u2019t much better off, with semiconductor giant AMD\u2019s shares ending 7.8% in the red.<\/p>\n

Egypt has no new cases<\/strong>, but the global total now exceeds 80k, with epidemiologists now worrying that Iran presents a global threat and a \u201c<\/strong>recipe for a massive viral outbreak<\/a><\/strong>.\u201d <\/strong>New cases in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon and Canada have been linked to Iran.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization said yesterday that it is unsure whether the virus\u2019 spread <\/strong>to new countries can be stopped at this point<\/strong>, but still refuses to call it a global pandemic, according to the WSJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One thing to keep in mind: Nobody really knows how bad it could get for the global <\/strong>economy. <\/strong>As the Journal reminds us: \u201cestimates of the epidemic\u2019s impact on the global economy are largely educated guesses<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other covid-19 developments:<\/p>\n