{"id":597396,"date":"2019-07-25T03:46:40","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T03:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/07\/25\/what-were-tracking-on-25-july-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-07-25T03:46:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-25T03:46:40","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-25-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/07\/25\/what-were-tracking-on-25-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 25 July 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

We did it, ladies and gentlemen \u2014 we survived the full duration of the IMF\u2019s Extended Fund Facility.<\/b> The fund\u2019s Executive Board approved yesterday the disbursal of our final USD 2 bn tranche of the total USD 12 bn financing package, bringing to an end the three-year arrangement. We have more in this morning\u2019s Speed Round and Last Night\u2019s Talk Shows, below.<\/p>\n

Expect the biggest news of the day to come out of the East Med Gas Forum being held here at home<\/b>, with officials from the US, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt all set to attend. The oil and gas news already started flowing yesterday as Delek Drilling disclosed it is looking along with Noble Energy to amend the terms of their natural gas export agreement with Alaa Arafa\u2019s Dolphinus Holding. The full story is also in this morning\u2019s Speed Round, below.<\/p>\n

Across the pond, all eyes were on special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s congressional testimony<\/b> on his two-year investigation into potential Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections. \u201cWith his terse, one-word answers, and a sometimes stilted and halting manner, Mueller made clear his desire to avoid the partisan fray and the deep political divisions roiling Congress and the country,\u201d the Associated Press says<\/a>. Mueller spent the better part of the seven-hour hearing avoiding falling victim to leading questions from Democrats and Republicans alike, but was clear in his denial of completely exonerating The Donald of criminally conspiring with the Russians.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> The first of two major central bank meetings takes place today<\/b> when the European Central Bank meets to review key interest rates. Bank chief Mario Draghi signaled last month<\/a> to expect further stimulus, and with the weak PMI data coming out of Germany yesterday (see below) and the IMF\u2019s downbeat global outlook<\/a>, the stage could be set tomorrow for a move deeper into negative interest rate territory. The FT is out with an article<\/a> looking at what negative rates mean for the real economy and how the ECB can use them as a policy tool to encourage lending.<\/p>\n

The blockbuster event is coming up:<\/b> The US Federal Reserve meeting that everyone and their mother has been talking about for weeks will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.<\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t a great day for Germany<\/b>, whose manufacturing PMI fell to seven-year lows in July, raising fears that the eurozone\u2019s largest economy could be heading for recession. The sector dropped deeper into contraction territory, registering 43.1 in July compared to 45.0 the month prior. IHS Markit blamed Brexit, trade disputes and falling demand for German products for the slowdown. Reuters has more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Deutsche Bank posted larger-than-expected losses<\/b> of EUR 3.15 bn in 2Q2019, prompting shares to fall 5% at the start of trading yesterday, CNBC reports<\/a>. The bank had predicted a quarterly loss of EUR 2.8 bn and research firm Refinitiv estimated a loss of EUR 1.7 bn. Deutsche blamed the costs of overhauling its investment banking arm for the losses. The bank earlier this month cut 18k jobs, closed much of its overseas equity business and created a \u2018bad bank\u2019 to hold its junk assets.<\/p>\n

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Jared Kushner isn\u2019t done pushing his \u201cPeace to Prosperity\u201d plan:<\/b> Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law will be back in Egypt in the coming weeks to persuade the government to back his Israel-Palestine peace plan, the Jerusalem Post reports<\/a>. Egypt would receive USD 9 bn under the economic plan released by the White House last month<\/a>, but if \u2014 as many people suspect \u2014 Kushner\u2019s plan involves trying to persuade us to give up a chunk of the Sinai<\/a>, we can\u2019t see it being anything other than a non-starter. Kushner will also visit Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to drum up regional support for the plan.<\/p>\n

In miscellany this morning:<\/p>\n