{"id":574745,"date":"2020-09-21T04:02:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T04:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/09\/21\/what-were-tracking-on-21-september-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-09-21T04:02:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T04:02:46","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-21-september-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/09\/21\/what-were-tracking-on-21-september-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 21 September 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, friends, and welcome to another busy September morning. <\/strong>Let\u2019s jump right in:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interest rate week:<\/strong> The Central Bank of Egypt\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee meets to review interest rates this Thursday. All 11 analysts and economists we surveyed<\/a> expect rates to be left unchanged for a fifth consecutive meeting.<\/p>\n

The Madbouly Cabinet\u2019s decision to relax some restrictions on mass gatherings comes <\/strong>into effect today<\/strong>.<\/strong> Public wedding celebrations, funeral prayers, expos, and some sports and educational activities will resume \u2014 subject to restrictions \u2014 for the first time since March after the government last week agreed to ease curbs on gatherings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EFG Hermes\u2019 virtual investor conference kicks off today <\/strong>and wraps next Thursday, 1 October. You can visit the conference website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The building that will house the newly-constituted Senate <\/strong>will be ready to hold <\/strong>sessions by the end of the <\/strong>week<\/strong>, state news agency MENA<\/a> quotes the body\u2019s acting secretary-general as saying. Sessions will be held<\/a> in the old Shura Council building before the Senate moves to the new administrative capital as early as next year.<\/p>\n

The date of the first session is still TBD:<\/strong> President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is expected to appoint the remaining 100 senators to the 300-seat chamber \u201cduring the next few days,\u201d after which the first official session will be held. Nationwide elections held in August<\/a> and September<\/a> saw 200 representatives elected to the Senate.<\/p>\n

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GOOD COVID (related) NEWS- <\/strong>It\u2019s time you started thinking big once again<\/a><\/strong>, says the Wall Street Journal, noting that CEOs are rediscovering they had big ambitions<\/strong> as the pandemic grinds on. Company leaders are shifting \u201cfrom survival mode to strategic moves with takeovers, leadership changes and restored financial targets\u201d all on the agenda. A must-read.<\/p>\n

GOOD-BAD COVID NEWS- The coronavirus may be mutating to become less lethal<\/strong>, according to a study in the Lancet<\/a>. But it might be worth rethinking that \u201cflight to nowhere\u201d<\/a>: The virus really appears to like attacking folks on airplanes<\/strong>, per a CDC paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CREEPY NEWS- WhatsApp knows when you\u2019re sleeping, it knows when you\u2019re <\/strong>awake\u2026 <\/strong>It\u2019s time to break out your tinfoil hats, ladies and gentlemen. Tracking apps allow creeps to use your WhatsApp activity to \u201cfigure out when you're sleeping and who you're talking to on the app,\u201d CNBC reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Health Ministry <\/strong>reported<\/a><\/strong> 115 new covid-19 infections yesterday<\/strong>, down from 128 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 102,015 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 20 new deaths, bringing the country\u2019s total death toll to 5,770. We now have a total of 89,532 confirmed cases that have fully recovered.<\/p>\n

The first post-covid flight operated by Swiss carrier Chair Airlines landed in Hurghada <\/strong>yesterday<\/strong>, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Private carrier Nile Air saw revenues plunge 90% during FY2019-2020<\/strong> as it struggled amid competition from budget airlines and the suspension of flights during the pandemic, Vice President and Managing Director Yossrey Abdel Wahab told Al Mal<\/a>. The company shelved in May its plans to IPO<\/a> on the EGX this year and scaled back ambitions to upgrade the size of its fleet.<\/p>\n

Russia inks agreements to sell covid-19 vaccine globally: <\/strong>Russia has reached early agreements to ship its Sputnik V vaccine to more than 10 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and South America, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> quotes officials as saying. Russian authorities are in talks with some 10 others, and have received inquiries and requests for nearly 1.2 bn vaccine shots. Egypt, the UAE, and Belarus were among the countries Russia recently announced it partnered with on vaccine clinical trials.<\/p>\n

\"enterprise\"<\/a>Take a moment to breathe in and watch the beauty around. It\u2019s time for your mind to wander to beautiful places at Somabay and let nature work its magic.<\/p>\n

Emerging market bond funds are enjoying their longest rally since 4Q2017<\/strong>, when the asset class saw 12 straight weeks of gains, according to EPFR Global data. Driven by the collapse in yields in the US and Europe, EM bonds have now seen 10 consecutive weeks of net inflows<\/strong>, with most of the money coming during a three-week period in late August and early September when flows hit USD 8 bn. Despite falling considerably from March as EM central banks slashed policy rates, yields continue to remain attractive: sub-investment grade EM bonds are currently paying a 7.6% yield, more than 300 bps higher than their counterparts in the US, according to JPMorgan and Bloomberg Barclays index data. The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and Bloomberg<\/a> have the story.<\/p>\n

Global trade is rebounding faster from the covid slump than it did from the 2008 <\/strong>financial crisis<\/strong>, despite suffering the sharpest y-o-y drop since the Great Depression, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports. This comes as consumers up their spending on imported goods and shipping activity begins to normalize following months of turmoil caused by the Great Lockdown.<\/p>\n

The big banking scandal of 2020:<\/strong> Thousands of leaked documents have revealed the extent of complicity between some of the world\u2019s largest banks and organized criminal networks. The documents, handed to Buzzfeed<\/a> and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/a>, show that banks such as JPMorgan, HSBC and Deutsche Bank facilitated the movement of dirty money across borders, assisted ponzi schemes and enabled money laundering.<\/p>\n

Also worth knowing about this morning:<\/p>\n