{"id":632907,"date":"2018-02-22T04:17:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T04:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/02\/22\/what-were-tracking-on-22-february-2018\/"},"modified":"2018-02-22T04:17:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T04:17:07","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-22-february-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/02\/22\/what-were-tracking-on-22-february-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 22 February 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Federal Reserve sees the American economy gaining momentum.<\/strong> Minutes from Janet Yellen\u2019s final meeting as Fed chair shows the US central bank have \u201cmarked up their growth forecasts since the previous month, encouraged by firm global growth, supportive financial markets and the potential for US tax cuts to boost the economy more than expected,\u201d the Financial Times<\/a> reports. That triggered a modest selloff in US markets yesterday, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> notes, as it \u201cbecame clearer the Fed might move more aggressively than anticipated later this year\u201d to cut interest rates.\u201d CNBC<\/a> also has the story, including a blow-by-blow report on what it says was a \u201cconfusing\u201d day<\/a>: traders initially welcomed the Fed news before launching into the selloff.<\/p>\n

<\/a> A Swedish fund says to look at Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam if you want to understand why frontier markets are starting to outshine emerging markets.<\/strong> Egyptian, Vietnamese and Pakistani equities make up almost 60% of the holdings of Tundra Sustainable Frontier Fund, which oversees USD 400 mn in assets and has had returns of 6.8% this year, beating 97% of its peers, according to Bloomberg<\/a>. \u201cThese more exotic markets tend to hold up better than developing-nation stocks during market meltdowns as they\u2019re still dominated by local investors,\u201d the firm\u2019s CEO Jon Scheiber said. Egypt was being held back policy-wise, but the country has political stability now and is back in an IMF program, Vice-CIO Shamoon Tariq said on why Egypt is one of the firm\u2019s top picks.<\/p>\n

The fund\u2019s strategy is anchored in a shifting trend:<\/strong> The MSCI Frontier Market Index didn\u2019t fall as much as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as global equities plunged his month. The frontier gauge declined 6%, while the EMs gauge fell 10%. EMs had traditionally been beating out frontiers over the past decade.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the frontier: Kenya has followed Egypt\u2019s lead to EM bond markets<\/strong>, raising USD 2 bn in long-dated bonds just hours after the IMF froze access to a USD 1.5 bn standby credit facility because the East African nation had failed to meet certain conditions. Kenya priced a 10-year, USD 1 bn at 7.25%, while its USD 1 bn 30-year tranche was priced at 8.25%. Reuters<\/a> and the Financial Times<\/a> have the story<\/p>\n

Egyptian squash champions continue to make us proud:<\/strong> Wesleyan University senior Laila Samy was awarded on Sunday the College Squash Association\u2019s prestigious2018 Betty Richey Award<\/a>, marking the first time for the honor to be given to a player not enrolled in an Ivy League school or Trinity College. \u201cThe award is given to the women\u2019s college squash player who best exemplifies the ideals of squash in her love and devotion to the game, her strong sense of fairness, and her excellence of play and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most-clicked stories in Enterprise this week <\/strong>included:<\/p>\n