US stocks hit fresh record highs yesterday putting them on track for one their best first halves ever, while treasury yields dropped as investor concerns about an end to monetary stimulus eased. Tech companies led the Nasdaq to close almost 1% in the green, while the S&P 500 closed slightly higher after Facebook had two antitrust lawsuits dismissed. Bloomberg and the Financial Times have more.

US policymakers are underestimating the threat of inflation and risk pushing the US economy into a recession, Mohamed El Erian told CNBC yesterday. The Federal Reserve is maintaining the recent spike in domestic and global inflation will be temporary and is being caused by post-lockdown supply bottlenecks, but El Erian believes that policymakers may be mistaken. “I have concerns about the inflation story,” he told Squawkbox. “Every day I see evidence of inflation not being transitory, and I have concern that the Fed is falling behind and that it may have to play catch-up, and history makes you very uncomfortable if you end up in a world in which the Fed has to play catch-up,” he said, suggesting that the economy could be pushed into a recession if the Fed needs to “slam the brakes.”

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.3% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.41 bn (11.4% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is down 5.3% YTD.

In the green: GB Auto (+3.5%), Credit Agricole Egypt (+3.1%) and Abou Kir Fertilizers (+2.5%).

In the red: Ezz Steel (-6.0%), Orascom Investment Holding (-5.4%) and Orascom Financial Holding (-3.2%).

Asian markets are almost universally in the red this morning on fears that outbreaks of the delta variant of covid-19 in the region could jeopardize the economic recovery, Reuters says. European and US shares look set to follow them lower later today, according to the futures markets.