{"id":598166,"date":"2019-05-16T03:28:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T03:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/05\/16\/what-were-tracking-on-16-may-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-05-16T03:28:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T03:28:17","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-16-may-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/05\/16\/what-were-tracking-on-16-may-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 16 May 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well folks, we have a new contender for the slowest news day of the month. <\/b>You know it is slow when the biggest news is the last gasp of earnings season, with companies filing a decidedly mixed set of results yesterday.<\/p>\n

The EGX30 was down 1.5% yesterday in light trading<\/b>, but global markets took a breather as US shares reversed early losses in Wednesday\u2019s trading session in the wake of the Trump administration\u2019s decision to delay car tariffs, avoiding a clash with the European Union and Japan. It was a \u201ccrazy session\u201d that hints at the market\u2019s \u201cnew normal,\u201d CNBC screamer Jim Cramer<\/a> suggested.<\/p>\n

Asian markets fell into the red this morning after a mixed open <\/b>as the Trump administration issued an order that effectively bans US companies from using telecom equipment from Huawei and (likely) ZTE, as Reuters suggested earlier this week would happen. The news is front page in the global business press (Financial Times<\/a> | Reuters<\/a> | Bloomberg<\/a> | New York Times<\/a> | Wall Street Journal<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Leading indices were lower <\/b>in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and India, with only Australia and New Zealand bucking the trend.<\/p>\n

What are the chances of multiple rate-cuts by the Fed this year?<\/b> Federal-funds futures would have us believe that the US Federal Reserve will take a hard U-turn and make multiple cuts to interest rates this year, despite positive US economic data. Expectations of a downturn in the coming years, combined with the intensifying US-China trade war, have increased investor confidence that the Fed will begin easing before long. Fed Chairman Jay Powell has poured cold water on predictions of any rate changes in the near term, and according to analysts, the probability of a cut is overpriced. The Wall Street Journal has more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In miscellany worth knowing <\/b>this morning:<\/p>\n

<\/a> Random note: <\/b>We\u2019re a few days late to this party, but think it worth noting that Reza Baqir, the IMF\u2019s senior resident representative to Egypt, has left the country to become the new governor of Pakistan\u2019s central bank. More on Bloomberg<\/a>, the Financial Times<\/a> or Nikkei Asian Review<\/a>, as you prefer.<\/p>\n

Less-random fact: \u201c<\/b>Around 1 mn cubic meters of concrete as well as 1,400 km of steel wire for 160 suspension cables\u201d were used in the construction of the Rod El Farag suspension bridge<\/a>, which President Abdel Fattah El Sisi officially opened yesterday. It is the widest suspension bridge in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.<\/p>\n

Egypt was <\/b>one of only three countries<\/b><\/a> in which Vodafone recorded revenue growth<\/b> in the year to March, alongside Greece and Portugal. As we noted yesterday, total revenues in Egypt rose to EUR 1.1 bn with a healthy EBITDA of EUR 514 mn. Vodafone\u2019s earnings release is here (pdf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Egypt has blocked illegal movie upload site EgyBest <\/b>as part of a wider clampdown on piracy after complaints from content providers and creators, according to Egypt Independent<\/a>, which picked up the news from Al Masry Al Youm, its parent organization. The news comes as the Egyptian Media Company promotes its WatchIt app<\/a> as the sole legal place to stream Ramadan mosalsalat. EMC also pulled leading soaps from YouTube.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin is back. But why?<\/b> Bitcoin has more than doubled in value<\/a> since the start of 2019 to exceed the USD 8k mark on Tuesday. The sudden appreciation could come down to it being taken more seriously as an asset class by institutions, academics and finance professionals, Bloomberg<\/a>suggests. Data provider Indexica<\/a> discovered a higher quality discourse taking place around the cryptocurrency, with three factors driving positivity: more complex conversations about Bitcoin, fewer concerns about fraud, and a shift to talking about it in the future tense rather than the past (which tends to denote optimism).<\/p>\n

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What We\u2019re Tracking Today, the Ramadan edition:<\/b><\/p>\n

A pre-iftar reading list to kill time<\/b> between your post-workout shower and the breaking of the fast:<\/p>\n