China’s loosening of covid-19 restrictions is forecasted to boost oil demand to a record high this year of 101.7 mn barrels per day, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday. Expect to see a tighter market as “Russian supply slows under the full impact of sanctions [while] China will drive… global demand growth even as the shape and speed of its reopening remains uncertain,” the energy watchdog said. The IEA sees China taking India’s place as the world’s leader in oil demand growth, with the country set to account for half of the 1.9 mn barrel-per-day growth in demand next year. Oil supply growth, on the other hand, is expected to slow to 1.0 mn barrels per day, largely due to declines in Russian output on the back of the West’s price cap on Russian crude.

And that’s coming off a record-breaking year for the oil and gas industry: Western oil and gas giants are set to report combined record earnings of USD 200 bn in 2022 on the back of volatility in the energy markets triggered by the war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.

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A bleak outlook for US stocks: Fund managers are abandoning Wall Street in favor of higher returns in Europe and emerging markets, with allocations to US stocks falling to a record 17-year low in January, the Financial Times reports citing a Bank of America survey. Some 39% of asset allocators were holding an underweight position in US stocks in January, up from 12% in December, the survey showed. US equities are struggling to keep pace with a rally in European stocks since the new year amid an “elevated and volatile inflationary environment which is likely to play havoc with profitability” for listed firms, the FT quotes one equity strategist at Morgan Stanley as saying.

All the more for EMs: More than a quarter of global fund managers are now overweight on emerging-market equities, the BoA survey showed.

	EGX30	15,987	+0.03% (YTD: +9.5%)
	USD (CBE)	Buy 29.58	Sell 29.70
	USD at CIB	Buy 29.60	Sell 29.70
	Interest rates CBE	16.25% deposit	17.25% lending
	Tadawul	10,664	-0.2% (YTD: +1.8%)
	ADX	10,241	-0.3% (YTD: +0.3%)
	DFM	3,349	-0.2% (YTD: +0.4%)
	S&P 500	3,929	-1.6% (YTD: +2.3%)
	FTSE 100	7,831	-0.3% (YTD: +5.1%)
	Euro Stoxx 50	4,174	+0.0% (YTD: +10.0%)
	Brent crude	USD 84.98	-1,1%
	Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.33	+0.6%
	Gold	USD 1,908.70	+0.1%
	BTC	USD 20,721	-1.9% (YTD: +25.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 closed flat yesterday on turnover of EGP 946 mn (44.6% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 9.5% YTD.

In the green: Oriental Weavers (+3.3%), CIB (+3.2%) and QNB Al Ahli (+3.0%).

In the red: AMOC (-6.2%), Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (-4.2%) and GB Auto (-4.2%).