{"id":602511,"date":"2019-03-31T03:49:05","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T03:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/03\/31\/what-were-tracking-on-31-march-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-03-31T03:49:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T03:49:05","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-31-march-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/03\/31\/what-were-tracking-on-31-march-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 31 March 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the last day of the first quarter, ladies and gents<\/b>, and we have just over a month to go before Ramadan.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also shaping up to be a very busy week on the foreign policy front <\/b>before a mad-scramble of business news kicks off \u2014 we find April and May are traditionally two of the busier months newswise, and you can expect a compression of the news cycle with Ramadan due to start on or about 5 May.<\/p>\n

AmCham\u2019s annual doorknock mission kicks off tomorrow in Washington, DC, and runs through Friday. <\/b>Some 35 senior business leaders are set to meet members of Congress, officials in the Trump administration, media, think tanks and US business leaders. On the agenda: talks on investment and commercial issues. You can check out the list of delegates here<\/a>, and we\u2019ll have highlights from the road.<\/p>\n

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is heading DC on 9 April, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump<\/b> to talk military, economic, and counterterrorism cooperation, the White House said in a statement on Friday<\/a>. The two presidents will also discuss regional developments and \u201cEgypt\u2019s longstanding role as a lynchpin of regional stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement came as Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with the House Appropriations Committee <\/b>chair Rep.Nita Lowey as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the US capital, according to a ministry statement<\/a>. Lowey and Shoukry discussed the US\u2019 military aid program for Egypt, which The Donald\u2019s outline for his 2020 budget suggests should remain intact<\/a>. Shoukry also met with<\/a> other members of Congress.<\/p>\n

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Cairo tomorrow <\/b>and is expected to meet with El Sisi as part of a Middle East tour that started in Tunisia on Friday, reports Ahram Online.<\/a> Guterres\u2019 main priority for the meeting is the situation in Libya, but his trip will see him pay a visit to Al-Azhar mosque and meet Grand Imam Ahmed Al Tayeb.<\/p>\n

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SIGN OF THE TIMES #1: H&M is apparently launching an online store in Egypt<\/b> via its local franchisee, according to a brief mention in a longer story<\/a> on the Swedish fast-fashion retailer\u2019s ongoing global turnaround.<\/p>\n

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SIGN OF THE TIMES #2: It wasn\u2019t a bad first quarter at all. <\/b>The first quarter of 2019 has essentially been the antithesis of last year\u2019s Emerging Markets Zombie Apocalypse for global stocks and key commodity markets, Reuters says<\/a>. \u201cIt may seem a little incongruous when bond markets are screaming recession warnings, but it\u2019s all good when the world\u2019s two biggest economies are trying to mend their differences and major central banks are going all soft and cuddly again.\u201d Key indices are soaring, oil prices have jumped 30%, and bonds are also seeing a strong quarter. Currencies \u2014 save for a few EMs \u2014 are on the mend, too, bringing together a \u201cremarkable\u201d set of conditions for the quarter.<\/p>\n

The EGX30 is up 12.5% YTD <\/b>heading into the last session of this quarter.<\/p>\n

SIGN OF THE TIMES #3: It\u2019s been a bad year for global M&A<\/b>, with worldwide dealmaking activity year-to-date down 17% from the same period last year, according to data from Dealogic quoted by the Wall Street Journal<\/a> this weekend. \u201cGlobal political tension and slowing economies abroad\u201d are to blame, the Journal suggests.<\/p>\n

Why we\u2019re not in a dotcom bubble: <\/b>With a horde of US tech IPOs heading to market (provided said market holds up\u2026), we\u2019re not likely to see a repeat of the corporate flops of 1999, the WSJ<\/a> suggests: Companies going public this time around are larger, older and (in many cases) have real business models.<\/p>\n

Lyft went public this past Friday<\/b>, with its shares finishing up<\/a> nearly 9% in its Nasdaq debut. Workplace messaging app Slack, Uber, Postmates and Pinterest are all looking to follow suit<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

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Britain\u2019s exit from the EU and the ongoing US-China trade dispute still pose threats to global trade.<\/b> Bloomberg is out with some handy infographics<\/a> showing which countries are most exposed to the deteriorating trade relationships between the largest economic blocs in the world.<\/p>\n

In other international news worth knowing this morning:<\/p>\n