A week that will test the optimism of even the most positive among us

Longtime readers know we were fanboys for Mark Mobius, the EM pioneer to whom we’re quite convinced most of us working in (or on the edges of) finance in the Middle East owe our careers. Mr. Mobius, who passed away late last week in Singapore, wrote last year on his 88th birthday, “The world belongs to optimists.”

This week looks set to test the resolve of our fellow optimists region-wide. The US-Israel-Iran ceasefire ends on Wednesday. Donald Trump is sending a delegation to Pakistan for talks tomorrow, but it’s unclear who they’ll be chatting with: Tehran has reportedly threatened not to show up as tensions ratchet up in Hormuz. And the ‘ceasefire’ (we used the word loosely) in Lebanon? That runs out this coming Sunday.

That leaves all of us holding our collective breath. Dealmakers and entrepreneurs, execs and journalists — none of us want to see this extend into May, which would slam the IPO window shut until September and leave everyone with precious little time to get 2026 business plans back on track before the end of the first half. The world may belong to optimists, but nobody said it would be easy to keep faith. Rest easy, Mr. Mobius. –Patrick