{"id":599575,"date":"2019-01-03T04:45:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T04:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/01\/03\/what-were-tracking-on-03-january-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-01-03T04:45:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T04:45:57","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-03-january-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/01\/03\/what-were-tracking-on-03-january-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 03 January 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

News is slow this morning<\/b> as more than a handful of members of the community are either \u201cbridging\u201d until after Coptic Christmas or simply taking it a bit easy. That makes Apple\u2019s rare warning that it will fall short of its sales forecast the story of the day. And as we suggested yesterday, what news there is dominated by the government.<\/p>\n

Apple shocked Wall Street late yesterday <\/b>with an extremely rare revenue warning<\/a>, saying revenue in this first quarter of its fiscal year would fall as much as 10% short of guidance. Why? The company blamed weakness in the Chinese economy and a slower-than-expected pace of iPhone upgrades in advanced economies. The news has rattled Asia-Pacific forex markets<\/a> and the speculation now is whether this means the \u201ciPhone is losing its lustre,\u201d the Financial Times<\/a> says. The news leads the FT<\/a>, Wall Street Journal<\/a>, CNBC<\/a>, Bloomberg<\/a> and Reuters<\/a> this morning.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s looking a bit ugly as we wait for the opening bell this morning: <\/b>Apple shares are down 7%<\/a> in after-hours trading and Dow futures are off more than 300 points as tech shares take it on the chin, CNBC warns<\/a>. Expect that Apple\u2019s sales warning will stoke the \u201cslowdown fears\u201d that are \u201cstalking global markets<\/a>,\u201d with Reuters flat-out saying that the warning is a \u201cbad omen for Wall Street bulls<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

EM shares didn\u2019t exactly start the new year on the best note<\/b>, with the closely watched MSCI EM index falling around 1.8% yesterday, according to the Financial Times<\/a>. The slump was driven mostly by weak trading in \u201ca closely watched gauge of Chinese manufacturing,\u201d indicating that the US-China trade war is taking a toll on the latter\u2019s economy. Most EM currencies also weakened against the USD, save for the Brazilian real, which has been bolstered by \u201coptimism over newly sworn in president Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s reform plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the pond, the Dow Jones Industrial Average made up just 19 points yesterday of its 400-point loss last month<\/b>, says the Wall Street Journal<\/a>. The index is still reeling from significant volatility in the market, which investors expect to persist for a while longer. US President Donald Trump seems unfazed, calling the US stock market\u2019s performance last month \u2014 its worst December since the Great Depression \u2014 a \u201clittle glitch\u201d that will be glossed over once trade agreements with China and other countries are sealed, according to Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The EGX30 rose 1.3% yesterday,<\/b> supported by a 1.9% jump<\/a> in the shares of index heavyweight CIB.<\/p>\n

Oil fared better on the first day of trading in 2019<\/b>, with Brent crude closing up 2.1%, Bloomberg reports<\/a>. The price recovery comes after \u201cskepticism about OPEC\u2019s ability to prevent a surplus this year had helped drive prices to an almost 40 percent decline to end 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lower oil prices have been a godsend for Egypt, but they spell disaster for Iraq\u2019s postwar recovery<\/b>, particularly as the country relies on oil exports for around 95% of its revenues, the Associated Press notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So what should you expect of oil prices in 2019? <\/b>Bloomberg put the question<\/a> to the CEO of ConoccoPhillips, a portfolio manager at Pimco, strategist at JPMorgan and the head of oil markets at the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

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