What we’re tracking on 28 August 2017
We’re deep in the arms of the pre-Eid news slowdown, the effect of which is magnified by it taking place during the last week of the last “real” month of summer. You’ll want to pay close attention to the news on Thursday morning, though — what better time for corporations and regional governments alike to take bad news to the street than on the morning when journalists’ thoughts are elsewhere with the start of a five-day weekend?
Markets are rather sleepy, too: Turnover on the EGX yesterday was an anemic EGP 373 mn, or about 58% below the trailing 90-day average. That’s just about the lowest turnover in the past year.
Also appropriate to the time of year: A divorced couple take their son to college in this essay by former rocker-turned-writer and middle-aged mom Laurie Lindeen for the New York Times. Though the resident 10-year-old has already chosen the university she wishes to attend, we’re rather grateful to have a few years left before that’s us in the car dropping the kid off.
You know The Donald is losing business not when CEOs resign from his councils, but when they’re pulling their money off the table. An analysis by the Financial Times found that “Executives and board members at the top six US banks have been consistent sellers of their own banks’ shares this year,” in a piece “Wall St’s top bankers sell own groups’ shares as Trump rally reverses.” The piece says the share sales “suggest former optimism about the economy and policy is fading.”
Döner kebab is not just Germany’s unofficial national dish — one of us grew up on the stuff in North America, consuming a variety that was called “donair” and (rather universally) slathered with a sauce sweeter than it was garlicky or fiery. (That flavor has even been immortalized in a potato chip.) Imagine, then, our joy at finding the beautifully photographed Biting into Berlin’s Most Popular Dish (Not Schnitzel), a five-restaurant tour of that nation’s capital, one döner at a time.