Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the limbo issue, as all eyes are eagerly awaiting the results of the US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting to decide on interest rates.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

Egypt was the second largest recipient of FDI flows in Africa last year — after South Africa, according to the UN’s world investment report (pdf). That said, FDI in Egypt saw a 12% y-o-y decline to USD 5.12 bn. Despite the decline, Egypt could be bucking the trend with a USD 22 bn boost from our friends in the Gulf, the report says. Announced greenfield investments more than tripled to USD 5.6 bn last year, according to the report, making way for more potential inflows.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

US equity futures saw a slightly stronger open this morning: S&P 500 futures added 0.3% after the index tumbled 3.9% on Monday, before ceding gains later in the day. Meanwhile, Nasdaq futures climbed 0.3%, and Dow Jones futures inched up 0.1%.

And while US treasuries slipped to around 3.3% today, yields on 10-year bonds soared to levels not seen since 2011, Reuters reports. Two-year yields eased to 3.26%, slightly lower than its 3.43% peak — its highest since 2007.

MSCI’s index of global shares remained flat after Monday’s 3.7% fall, as did Europe’s Stoxx 60 index. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal both have the story.

Calm before the Fed storm: Markets are not quite out of the woods yet, with the Fed’s crucial meeting setting the stage for more potential sell-offs. Yesterday’s sell-offs came as expectations of a massive Fed rate hike tipping the US into a recession caused one of the worst days in financial markets since the covid crash in March 2020. The crucial meeting is set to kick off as we dispatch this issue.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Gov’t gets the ball rolling on its privatization plans: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly launched the start of consultations with experts over its ambitious state ownership policy document as the state pushes with privatization efforts.
• No electricity price hikes coming this July, after all: The Madbouly government will freeze electricity prices to ease financial pressure on the public, which is already coping with high inflation, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said yesterday.
• Beltone halts WM due diligence after Chimera enters the chat: Beltone Financial has suspended the WM Consultancy-led consortium from doing due diligence after receiving a rival offer from Chimera Investments on Sunday.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

The African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) annual meetings will take place at the new capital’s St. Regis Almasa Hotel. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Central Bank of Egypt Governor Tarek Amer, and Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah will give keynote speeches at the event, which will focus primarily on implementing the Africa freetrade agreement that came into force in 2021.

Internet Explorer is dying tomorrow… and no one is mourning: When Microsoft announced that it was retiring Internet Explorer last year, what came to our minds was: Isn’t it already dead? Starting tomorrow, if you attempt to use Internet Explorer using Windows 10, you’ll be redirected to Edge. However, it will still be available for use on older versions of Windows and Edge will have an Internet Explorer mode that users can switch to. Launched in 1995, Internet Explorer was the dominant browser for over a decade, but lost its relevance after Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge rose to popularity.

Its greatest legacy, perhaps, was the breakup of the Microsoft stranglehold on the PC market. Internet Explorer became a key component of the US Justice Department’s antitrust case against the software giant, who used its dominant position in the operating systems market to push Internet Explorer on PCs, which led to the death of Netscape Navigator (the very first browser). Some of us are old enough to remember the ugly side of Bill Gates that was on full display during the depositions (watch, runtime: 39:27). Internet Explorer ultimately represents how monopolies can push a far inferior product that stifles the competition, so, good riddance.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

There’s a handful of conferences coming up:

• The EU-Egypt Sustainable Food Value Chain conference, which will take place at Grand Nile Tower Hotel this Thursday.
• The Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development will take place in Cairo later this month on 21-22 June (Tuesday-Wednesday).
• The Big 5 Construct Egypt (pdf) construction industry exhibition runs from 25-27 June at the Egypt International Exhibition Center (EIEC) in Cairo.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Tomorrow will see the mercury rise to 37°C during the day before falling to 22°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.