{"id":602104,"date":"2019-03-19T03:55:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T03:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/03\/19\/what-were-tracking-on-19-march-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-03-19T03:55:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T03:55:33","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-19-march-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/03\/19\/what-were-tracking-on-19-march-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 19 March 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are, to quote corporate Egypt, \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d that the weeklong news drought is slowly coming to an end.<\/b> Top execs at listed companies have largely wrapped FY2018 earnings season and still have a few weeks before finance starts peppering them with flash notes on 1Q performance \u2014 and we have all suddenly awoken to the notion that we have less than two months before Ramadan in which to get meaningful work done.<\/p>\n

Look for the House to launch its hearings on constitutional amendments as early tomorrow.<\/b> The hearings were to have begun yesterday, but were pushed back to allow MPs time to get back to the capital from Aswan, where they were attending President Abdel Fattah El Sisi\u2019s Arab African Youth Summit.<\/p>\n

<\/a> Good news for Qalaa\u2019s ERC? <\/b>Oil refineries in Europe, the US and Asia are preparing to turn the volume up to 11 ahead of an expected surge in demand before the introduction of new fuel regulations in January 2020. The IMO 2020 rules will place a 0.5% cap on sulfur content in fuel used by the shipping industry<\/b> in an effort to reduce emissions. The International Energy Agency predicts that the switch to low-sulfur fuel will dramatically raise its price \u2014 and refiners are keen to capitalize. Bloomberg has more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In news relevant to our regional energy hub dream: <\/b>Delek Drilling could potentially spin off its operations in natural gas fields Leviathan (Israel) and Aphrodite (Cyprus) \u2014 and list the shares of the new company on the London Stock Exchange, according to Bloomberg<\/a>. Delek is looking to combine output from both fields and on-sell it to Alaa Arafa\u2019s Dolphinus Holdings to be liquefied in Egypt as part of the USD 15 bn agreement<\/a> signed last year. The Israeli energy company had previously tried to go to the LSE in 2014, but failed to draw interest.<\/p>\n

The US Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day meeting today <\/b>at the end of which it\u2019s expected to leave interest rates on hold. The Financial Times<\/a> has a rundown on views.<\/p>\n

You can expect chatter today about infrastructure in the Suez Canal region and on tech exports to Russia. <\/b>The Suez Canal Authority is talking today about infrastructure and sustainable growth<\/a>, while ITIDA, the tech industry\u2019s guardian angel, is meeting with a Russian delegation today<\/a> on boosting tech exports to that market.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a big day for Saudi Arabia<\/b>, which yesterday saw the Tadawul upgraded join the FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones emerging markets indices in a major step forward for its inclusion in global equity benchmarks, the FT reports<\/a>. Saudi will join the MSCI Emerging Markets index at the beginning of June. The announcement prompted substantial passive inflows into Saudi equities, lifting the Tadawul to near four-year highs, according to Reuters<\/a>, which notes that the Tadawul \u201cwill have a weighting of 2.9% in the FTSE Emerging All Cap Index \u2026 The market is positioned for passive fund inflows of around USD 20 bn\u201d when all is said and done with the various upgrades.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Brexit drama took another unexpected turn last night<\/b> after House Speaker John Bercow ruled out a third parliamentary vote on PM Theresa May\u2019s Brexit agreement, the BBC reports<\/a>. Apparently the country is now in a \u201cmajor constitutional crisis,\u201d according to the UK\u2019s solicitor-general. Stay tuned for the Brexit season one finale on 29 March.<\/p>\n

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Other things to keep an eye on this week:<\/b><\/p>\n