{"id":575745,"date":"2020-10-26T04:13:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T04:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/10\/26\/what-were-tracking-on-26-october-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-10-26T04:13:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T04:13:44","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-26-october-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/10\/26\/what-were-tracking-on-26-october-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 26 October 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a very tense early morning yesterday, the business community let out a sigh of <\/strong>relief in <\/strong>the afternoon <\/strong>as first the EGX and then banking hours came to an end without incident.<\/p>\n

The community was primed for drama<\/strong> after WhatsApp and social media were set on fire Thursday and over the weekend amid news that Hisham Ezz Al Arab was stepping down under pressure from the Central Bank of Egypt after a 21-year run as chairman and managing director of private-sector heavyweight CIB.<\/p>\n

What we got instead was a show that underscored how satisfyingly boring a well-run, <\/strong>well-governed institution really is. <\/strong>Major research houses reaffirmed their ratings on CIB. Institutional shareholders, who for more than 15 years have had extensive access to the bank\u2019s CEO and award-winning investor relations team, held the line as retail investors sold. It was business as usual in CIB\u2019s branches as clients (us included, to be honest) submitted payroll transfers ahead of the long weekend and otherwise went about our business. CIB CEO Hussein Abaza started the morning with an email to staff and ended it with an afternoon all-staff call after the bank closed its doors. In both, his message was simple: It\u2019s business as usual, because Ezz Al Arab had helped build an institution that was bigger than any one individual. Non-Executive Chairman Sherif Samy fielded a handful of interviews.<\/p>\n

We have chapter and verse on the rather anticlimactic denouement at CIB<\/strong> in this morning\u2019s Speed Round, below.<\/p>\n

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But don\u2019t worry, drama-lovers: We have a fraught week ahead of us between covid-19 <\/strong>and the US presidential election. <\/strong>In our neck of the woods, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Tadawul closed down 4.1% amid what analysts say are concerns the world may be bracing for a second spell of lockdowns. Shares in chemicals group Sabic and its parent company, oil giant Aramco, contributed most to the decline. Also down yesterday: Qatar (-1.5%), Kuwait (-1.2%), and Dubai\u2019s indices (-0.4%). Bloomberg<\/a> has a market recap.<\/p>\n

Expect an uptick in volatility in the European markets today<\/strong> after Spain yesterday declared a state of emergency<\/a> to impose a nationwide nighttime curfew and Italy reimposed<\/a> the harshest pandemic restrictions since May. Asian shares were mixed at dispatch time this morning, while futures point to a lower open on Wall Street<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The US has seen the biggest weekly rise in new cases since the spike in the <\/strong>summer<\/strong>, with 441,541 new infections reported over the past week, the Financial Times<\/a> reports, citing the Atlantic\u2019s Covid Tracking Project.<\/p>\n

The European Central Bank could increase its monetary stimulus program by <\/strong>another EUR 500 bn by December<\/strong> as countries revert to lockdowns in response to surging covid-19 cases, according to predictions by economists surveyed by Bloomberg<\/a>. Less than half of the EUR 1.35 tn currently allocated to bond purchases has been spent but pressure will likely grow on the bank to up this as the risk of a double dip recession in the eurozone grows, they said.<\/p>\n

US ELECTION WATCH- Across the pond, Facebook is preparing measures to help stem <\/strong>potential unrest after next week\u2019s US presidential election<\/strong>, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports in an exclusive. The tools, which \u201cinclude slowing the spread of certain posts and tweaking users\u2019 news feeds,\u201d were previously used amid unrest in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, the newspaper reports.<\/p>\n

Election day in the US is next Tuesday, 3 November<\/strong>, but a high proportion of mail-in ballots has observers expecting it could be days or even weeks before the outcome of the poll is known.<\/p>\n

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PSA- You can now order your electronic vehicle sticker online through the <\/strong>traffic<\/a><\/strong>authority\u2019s website<\/a><\/strong>,<\/strong> the Interior Ministry said in a statement<\/a> on Saturday. The ministry has set 21 November<\/strong> as the deadline to obtain the RFID-chip sticker now required for all vehicles.<\/p>\n

PSA- We are heading into a three-day weekend <\/strong>as the nation observes the Prophet\u2019s Birthday on Thursday.<\/p>\n

<\/a> KUDOS- Orascom Construction announced three recipients of educational scholarships to pursue<\/strong> undergraduate and postgraduate degrees<\/strong> at Harvard University and the University of Chicago under its Onsi Sawiris Scholarship Program, according to a statement (pdf)<\/a>. The scholarship program, which has now been going strong for two decades, awards full scholarships to students pursuing degrees in engineering, construction, economics, political science, finance, and management, at top-tier US universities including Harvard, Stanford, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania. Some 88 Egyptian students have now been awarded the scholarship.<\/p>\n

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The Health Ministry <\/strong>reported<\/a><\/strong> 143 new covid-19 infections yesterday<\/strong>, down from 167 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 106,540 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 12 new deaths, bringing the country\u2019s total death toll to 6,199. We now have a total of 98,903 confirmed cases that have fully recovered.<\/p>\n

Egypt and other developing countries that will order doses of China\u2019s covid-19<\/strong> vaccine are in line for grants and other forms of support<\/strong>, Liao Liqiang, China\u2019s ambassador to Cairo, said at a presser yesterday, according to Al Mal<\/a>. Vaccines developed by Chinese companies will be offered at \u201cacceptable and fair\u201d prices worldwide, he said. Egypt is first in line<\/a>among African countries to receive a Chinese vaccine against covid-19, with a vaccine currentlyin phase three<\/a> clinical trials here.<\/p>\n

New Stars Aviation Services will operate three weekly tours from Ukraine to <\/strong>Marsa Alam beginning in November<\/strong>, Al Shorouk<\/a> reports. Ukraine International Airlines currently operates 50 weekly flights to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, which are expected to increase to 90 during the winter season, officials at the agency said.<\/p>\n

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Saudi chemicals giant Sabic has turned a corner after suffering heavy losses in <\/strong>the second quarter<\/strong>, reporting a SAR 1.09 bn net profit in 3Q, according to an earnings release (pdf)<\/a>. The company, which is majority owned by Saudi Aramco, said it had experienced a pick up in demand as economies recovered from lockdowns in the second quarter, but warned that supply will continue to outstrip demand \u201cfor the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The world\u2019s richest aren\u2019t letting a good crisis go to waste.<\/strong> The message from Swiss banks and wealth advisors to their bn\u2019aire clients during the market panic earlier this year: don\u2019t sell. The result: A huge increase in the fortunes of the world\u2019s super-rich and possibly the largest transfer of wealth of our lifetimes. Bankers tell the Financial Times<\/a> that they advised their clients to hedge their positions rather than panic-sell, enabling them to capitalize on the flood of stimulus and surge in asset prices as the global economy saw its worst recession since the Great Depression. \u201cIt\u2019s been hard emotionally, but the key to performance this year was to remain invested,\u201d one advisor said.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s richest man is taking shots at the Western-led financial system ahead of<\/strong> Ant Group IPO:<\/strong> Alibaba founder Jack Ma has described the Basel Accords \u2014 which require banks keep collateral sufficient to absorb potential losses \u2014 as \u201can old people\u2019s club\u201d and called for the revamping of global financial regulations, days before the expected USD 30 bn record-breaking IPO of Alibaba\u2019s financial services arm Ant Group, the Financial Times<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

Other international headlines worth knowing:<\/strong><\/p>\n