{"id":605065,"date":"2018-12-20T07:51:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T07:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/12\/20\/what-were-tracking-on-19-december-2018\/"},"modified":"2018-12-20T07:51:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T07:51:20","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-19-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/12\/20\/what-were-tracking-on-19-december-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 19 December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some notes as we get underway this morning:<\/b><\/p>\n

We\u2019re deep in the arms of the year-end news slowdown.<\/b> Expect a pickup late next week ahead of the CBE\u2019s interest rate decision. But otherwise, it may actually be safe for you to contemplate leaving on Christmas \/ New Year\u2019s \/ Festivus vacation.<\/p>\n

Our popular weekly My Morning Routine column is on hiatus <\/b>until Thursday, 3 January. Want to nominate someone? Drop us a line at editorial@enterprise.press and tell us why your friend \/ acquaintance \/ idol is someone the rest of the community should get to know better.<\/p>\n

Speaking of our community: The business world welcomed to its ranks yesterday Mr. <\/b>Adam A.<\/b>, age eight, who joined his dad for an interview with one of us at Enterprise World Headquarters in Maadi. That marked Adam\u2019s \u201cfirst business meeting\u201d as he peppered us with insightful questions before we could turn our lens on his dad. Adam \u201cdreams of being a footballer,\u201d his father has since told us, \u201cor now maybe a journalist.\u201d Welcome, Adam \u2014 have fun, make the world a better place, and pay your taxes, sir. (Oh, and follow in your Dad\u2019s footsteps, not ours.)<\/p>\n

To business:<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> The US Federal Reserve raised yesterday its benchmark overnight lending rate to <\/b>a range of 2.25-2.5%<\/b>, up from 2.00-2.25%, according to a statement released yesterday (pdf)<\/a>. The rate hike \u2014 the fourth this year \u2014 came despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to keep short-term interest rates where they were, the Wall Street Journal notes<\/a>. Critically, Fed officials \u201cindicated they think they won\u2019t need to raise rates as much next year as they had anticipated<\/b> three months ago\u201d as a result of the slowdown of foreign economies and an uptick in volatility in financial markets that will act as a headwind to growth.<\/p>\n

Fed Chair Jerome Powell\u2019s press conference on the decision triggered a sell-off in US <\/b>markets<\/b>, with the Dow Industrials, Nasdaq Composite, and S&P 500 all ending the trading day in the red. \u201cWednesday\u2019s declines pulled the major averages further into correction territory, or a drop of at least 10% from their most recent highs. All three indexes have shed at least 8.5% this month alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian shares opened lower this morning<\/b>, following Wall Street down.<\/p>\n

The rate hike tops global business news this morning. <\/b>The FT\u2019s Instant Insight column notes that Powell put his finger on the \u201c\u2018mood of angst\u2019 and made it worse\u201d<\/a>, the Journal has a great recap<\/a>, and Reuters has wall-to-wall coverage of the hike<\/a> and sell-off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The central bank here at home will next review interest rates <\/b>a week from today \u2014 on Thursday, 27 December.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After being clobbered by the EM Zombie Apocalypse in 2018, emerging markets have <\/b>reason to be optimistic that next year could bring better things<\/b>, says the FT.<\/a> EM assets have \u201ctaken a beating this year\u201d but have come out the other end with greater resilience and investor confidence, after tumbling currencies proved the pressure on them was localized and did not spark an EM-wide contagion. \u201cThe asset class is much better placed to weather negative shocks to risk appetite than it was earlier this year,\u201d said analysts at Citigroup. \u201cExternal financing gaps have closed, interest rates have risen, currencies are cheaper and EM is broadly speaking an \u2018under-owned\u2019 asset class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egypt and Ethiopia made Bloomberg\u2019s list of <\/b>political flashpoints to watch in 2019<\/b><\/a>, which warns that the two countries could come to loggerheads if Addis Ababa fills the reservoir behind the dam too quickly, threatening as much as 20% of Egypt\u2019s fresh water. That said, the moment of maximum danger has probably been punted back a couple of years: Ethiopia probably won\u2019t be able to complete the dam before 2022<\/b>, an AP report we noted earlier this week<\/a> suggests.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is in Brussels <\/b>today to attend the 8th Egypt-EU Association Council, according to a ministry statement<\/a><\/p>\n

US President Trump declared victory in the war against the Daeshbags and has ordered <\/b>the withdrawal of US troops <\/b>from Syria within the next 30 days, the Financial Times<\/a> and the New York Times<\/a> reported. Top Pentagon officials and members of Trump\u2019s own party have expressed concern that the move would curb US diplomatic leverage in the region and leaves its Kurdish allies vulnerable.<\/p>\n

The most-clicked stories in Enterprise <\/b>in the past week include:<\/p>\n