Adnoc is spending big: The UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) will invest USD 150 bn under a five-year business plan that will see it up hydrocarbon production and sell a minority stake in its gas and LNG operations, as well as work toward net-zero emissions by 2050, the company said in a statement. The plan will see Adnoc combine its LNG and gas-processing arms into a single entity, Adnoc Gas, that it plans to list in an IPO on the ADX next year. Adnoc is looking to expand its gas, LNG, chemicals, and clean energy business, and will bring forward by three years an earlier target to up its crude oil production capacity to 5 mn barrels a day by 2030.

Is it now or never for driverless cars? Investors are growing impatient with the seemingly endless wait for self-driving technology, which appears to be gaining a reputation as a bottomless pit for their investments, the Wall Street Journal reports. TCI Fund Management has recently called into question Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo, writing in a letter to execs that the unit has “not justified its excessive investments.” Waymo has been working on driverless cars for over a decade now.

Some have already given up: Last month, Ford and Volkswagen decided to call it quits on their joint autonomous-driving venture, Argo, as it reportedly struggled to bring in fresh investment.

ALSO-

• Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF) is considering setting up one of the world’s largest airports and a new airline as part of the kingdom’s USD 1 tn plan to create a tourism industry beyond the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. (Bloomberg)
• Facebook parent Meta has been slammed with an EUR 265 mn fine by Irish authorities over the mishandling of users’ personal data. (Statement)
• Crypto lender BlockFi filed for bankruptcy yesterday, becoming the latest in the crypto world to go belly up in the wake of FTX’s collapse. (Statement)

	EGX30	12,917	-0.7% (YTD: +8.1%)
	USD (CBE)	Buy 24.54	Sell 24.62
	USD at CIB	Buy 24.54	Sell 24.60
	Interest rates CBE	13.25% deposit	14.25% lending
	Tadawul	10,747	-0.5% (YTD: -4.7%)
	ADX	10,406	-1.2% (YTD: +22.6%)
	DFM	3,287	-0.5% (YTD: +2.9%)
	S&P 500	3,964	-1.5% (YTD: -16.8%)
	FTSE 100	7,474	-0.2% (YTD: +1.2%)
	Euro Stoxx 50	3,936	-0.7% (YTD: -8.4%)
	Brent crude	USD 83.19	-0.5%
	Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 6.79	-3.4%
	Gold	USD 1,755.50	0.0%
	BTC	USD 16,196	-1.5% (YTD: -64.9%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.7% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 1.94 bn (36% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 8.1% YTD.

In the green: Qalaa Holdings (+2.2%), Abu Qir Fertilizers (+1.3%) and Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (+1.3%).

In the red: Talaat Moustafa Group (-3.4%), Heliopolis Housing (-2.6%) and Juhayna (-2.3%).

There’s plenty of volatility in global markets this morning as Asian shares whipsawed out of the red despite ongoing unrest in China. The main Shanghai and Hong Kong indexes were both very comfortably in the green this morning at dispatch time, clawing back losses yesterday. Futures suggest a mixed open later today for European and North American markets.