PM — Record high CDs

Good afternoon, friends, and welcome to what has shaped up to be a brisk news day, suggesting the new year lull is good and well behind us.

PSA- Private sector + EGX will be off on Sunday: The private sector will be off next Sunday, 8 January in observance of Coptic Christmas, the Manpower Ministry said in a statement today. The EGX will also be closed, the bourse said in a separate statement, after the Central Bank of Egypt announced yesterday that the nation’s bank will be taking the day off. Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly had announced the day would be a national holiday earlier this week.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- State-owned Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) rolled out one-year 25% savings certificates, according to statements from the two banks (here and here (pdf). The two banks previously introduced one-year, 18% certificates of deposit (CDs) last year on the back of the first EGP devaluation in March, which were suspended months later on the back of high costs incurred by the banks.

EGP WATCH- The EGP fell today to breach the 26 / USD 1 mark at some banks. The currency has now fallen by over 30% against the greenback since late October when the central bank moved to a durably flexible exchange rate, and by over 66% since last March’s devaluation.

#2- Private sector wraps up the year with softer contraction: Business activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector continued to contract for the 25th consecutive month in December, albeit at a softer pace than previous months, according to S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index (pdf). The PMI index rose to 47.2 in December from 45.4 a month earlier, but remained below the 50.0 mark that separates growth from contraction. The continued contraction came on the back of a surging inflation, a weaker EGP and import restrictions.

#3- Everyone wants a piece of Pachin: Compass Capital has become the latest in a long list of companies to express interest in acquiring a majority stake in Paint and Chemical Industries (Pachin) according to a disclosure to the EGX (pdf) from the Financial Regulatory Authority today. Compass has submitted a non-binding offer to purchase between 51-90% of Pachin at EGP 30 a share, becoming the fifth company to express interest in acquiring the regional paint distributor since mid-2022.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Picking up where we left off this morning, the US House Speaker elections are broadly leading the conversation in the international press this afternoon. The story continues to be on the front pages of the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.

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

• Qatar has its eye on the Ramses Hilton: Qatar’s Al Kuwari Group has submitted an offer to acquire the Ramses Hilton hotel for USD 320 mn.
• Gov’t is ready to pull the trigger on listings of shares in four firms: The Madbouly government is ready to offer shares in four state-owned firms on the EGX and has eight more listings in the pipeline as it looks to reboot its privatization program.
• GlobalCorp closed an EGP 1.1 bn issuance of securitized bonds on 29 December as part of a larger EGP 5 bn program.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The key news triggers as we start a new month:

• Inflation figures for December will be released on Tuesday, 10 January.
• The national dialogue will kick off on Saturday, 14 January.
• The government’s fuel pricing committee will meet this month to decide quarterly fuel prices.
• Global movers and shakers will descend on Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meetings on 16-20 January.
• The IMF will publish an updated World Economic Outlook towards the end of the month.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a sunny day tomorrow with a daytime high of 19°C tomorrow and a nighttime low of 10°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Meet the longevity startups trying to prolong not just lifespans but also healthspans — the number of healthy years we live: After a promising UK trial, Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, intends to conduct a trial to determine whether the affordable generic diabetes med metformin can prolong life and health spans, the Financial Times reports. His trial can take anywhere between 4-6 years and cost between USD 50-75 mn. Barzilai has raised USD 22 mn so far and is still seeking further funding, which has been difficult since healthcare investors want short-term returns and governments place a high priority on disease research.

Tech b’naires have chipped in to fill this gap in funding, but that brings with a host of ethical concerns: B’naires including Jeff Bezos, Israeli entrepreneur Yuri Milner, and Google co-founders Larry Page, and Sergey Brin, through Alphabet are supporting approaches that fuse business and academia, without being constrained by the need for quick returns. Their financial support has helped startups such as Altos Labs, which was founded at the beginning of 2022 and is now one of the most widely known well-funded longevity startups. Calico Life Sciences, a 2013 startup owned by Alphabet, was one of the first of these startups established and now has three products in early clinical trials. Ethicists say that, as wealth and political influence see compound growth over time, creating longer life and health spans could potentially further widen the wealth gap between the rich and the poor over the long term.

Turbulent times for the broadcast and streaming industry: Analysts are expecting 2023 to be a year of sluggish growth for the media industry amid the global economic downturn and dwindling numbers of advertisements, Financial Times reports. Streaming platforms are expected to trim their spending on original content this year, with analysts expecting to see spending growth on this budget item growing just 2% y-o-y in 2023, down four percentage points from last year, marking the slowest rate of growth in 10 years. Streaming services are struggling to attract new subscribers, which is being made more difficult with the cutbacks on original content, the salmon-colored paper notes. This comes after the global media industry was one of the hardest-hit sectors last year, with a combined USD 500 bn wiped off the market value of the biggest companies.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street is out today on Netflix. The four-part docuseries centers on the rise and fall of the perpetrator of the largest Ponzi scheme in Wall Street history. The series highlights Madoff’s career trajectory, his crimes, the co-conspirators that enabled him to orchestrate the USD 64 bn Ponzi scheme, and the lives he upended in the process. The story is told through interviews with whistleblowers, employees, investigators, and victims, re-enactments and never-before-seen footage from Madoff’s video depositions, given during victim lawsuits in 2016-2017.

⚽ We’ve got quite a lineup of matches for you tonight in the English Premier League: Southampton face Nottingham Forest at 9:45pm, while Leeds United play West Ham at the same time and later Crystal Palace face Tottenham at 10pm, while Aston Villa play Wolverhampton.

Don’t forget to join the Premier League Fantasy Enterprise League to compete for a chance to win a prize after the end of the season, by clicking on this link or entering this code: 8o4sut.

And in the Egyptian Premier League: Pharco faces Al Gaish at 5pm.

Serie A is back: The Italian league made its post World Cup/holiday comeback with the Salernitana v Milan (the defending champion) match which wrapped up just as we hit dispatch, with the final score at 1-2.

Today’s other Serie A matches:

Roma v Bologna (5:30pm)

Cremonese v Juventus (7:30pm)

Inter v Napoli (9:45pm)

Copa del Rey: Intercity plays Barcelona at 10pm.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
(all times CLT)

Don’t miss an evening of poetry and music at the Cairo Opera House tonight at 6:30pm with poetry by Issam Khalifa and musical accompaniment courtesy of oud duo Dina Abdel Hamid and Ghassan Al-Youssef and their band.

Head to The Egyptian Center for Culture & Arts – Makan tonight at 8pm to watch the Mazaher ensemble, some of the last Zar practitioners in Egypt.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

The Commanders chronicles the intertwined lives of three of World War II’s most prominent and influential generals: George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel. Even the most influential wars produce just a handful of A-list generals that make it into the history books, while the majority never leave lasting imprints. Military historian Lloyd Clark looks at three military leaders, all born in the two decades before World War I, came to assume leadership positions, commanding thousands of troops, and how they became celebrated as heroes in the UK, US, and Germany. Drawing on diary excerpts, letters and reports Clark narrates defining battles from D-Day to V-E Day, as they played out at headquarters and on the battlefield.

The EGX30 rose 3.25% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 3.51 bn (125.7% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 6.6% YTD.

In the green: Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling (+10.4%), Abu Qir Fertilizers (+9.6%) and Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (+8.0%).

In the red: Juhayna (-3.3%), Ibnsina Pharma (-2.7%) and Madinet Nasr Housing (-1.1%).

The internet has managed to breed yet another insecurity in people: Their buccal fat. You’re probably wondering how people can be insecure about something that you’ve never even heard of — and you’re not alone. “How are they still inventing new flaws for us?” one Twitter user inquired. Buccal fat (pronounced buckle) is the fat pad located in the cheeks that can make some faces appear rounder. Some people have naturally defined cheekbones and more sculpted faces, “while some others have more cherubic faces” sometimes referred to as “chipmunk cheeks,” New York facial plastic surgeon Andrew Jacono explains, according to the New York Times. Buccal fat removal procedures involve removing part of patients’ buccal fat to give them the same appearance achieved by sucking through a straw — the same look people strive to create when contouring below the cheeks with makeup.

Why is buccal fat even a topic of conversation? It became a hot topic on the internet in recent weeks after social media users began speculating that certain celebrities may have removed some of their buccal fat for more defined cheekbones. This selfie actress Lea Michele posted on her Instagram, showcasing her exceptionally chiseled face, spurred a lot of speculation. Former supermodel Chrissy Teigen has been more vocal about the beauty trend, saying in a video posted to her Instagram page, “I did that buccal fat removal thing here,” and tagged her Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Jason Diamond.

It’s not just celebrities that are getting in on this elective procedure: “I’m doing three times as many buccal fat reductions this year than I was five years ago,” said Jacono, who charges USD 40k for the procedure. The procedure usually costs somewhere in the USD7k-16k range, according to other plastic surgeons. For London plastic surgeon Yannis Alexandrides, buccal fat removal was the third most popular procedure in 2022, after rhinoplasty and liposuction, The Independent reports.

Other plastic surgeons have refused to perform the procedure because cheeks naturally hollow as we age. Those who have undergone the procedure risk looking extremely malnourished or sunken as they age and their cheeks lose fat and collagen. The procedure is also difficult to reverse and attempting to do so requires several additional procedures. Beauty standards seldom last long, and trends are fickle by definition: The bushy brow look that actress Cara Delevinge is widely credited with instigating has already been traded for a thinner brow look. And celebrities who once boasted their curvy figures have now lost dramatic amounts of weight as the trend swings towards being skinny. Those who undergo the relatively permanent buccal fat removal procedure risk being left behind when the trend shifts again.

It’s also not without its health risks: Bleeding is the main risk associated with the surgery, an official from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons told the New York Times. Nerve injury, incision infection, facial numbness, and ending up with an asymmetrical face are all also potential risks, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

So if it all seems so negative, where did this trend come from? Social media is often blamed for encouraging people to seek out plastic surgery but Tunc Tiryaki, a consultant plastic surgeon at London’s Cadogan Clinic, has identified one feature in specific: Filters. He believes Instagram and Snapchat filters — which are often designed to make faces look more chiseled and V-shaped — have contributed to the rise in buccal fat removals, the Independent reports. “When you come back to reality, of course, this doesn’t correspond with our real anatomy,” he explains. Celebrities who appear to have gotten the surgery are also blamed for giving rise to the trend.

Damned if they do and damned if they don’t: It’s easy to point the finger at celebrities for fueling cosmetic surgery trends, as they have a bad rep of promoting unattainable beauty standards. While the stigma around plastic surgery has, in many ways, decreased in recent years, many celebrities still shy away from admitting they’ve gotten work done. However, celebrities that have been open about the cosmetic procedures they’ve undergone are accused of promoting plastic surgery to some of their more impressionable fans, many of whom are young women and teenage girls. On the flipside those that refute claims of having procedures done or simply remain tight lipped about it are slammed for holding up unrealistic standards.

So who can we blame for coming up with these difficult to achieve, fleeting beauty standards? Beauty reporter Jessica Defino has identified four suspects: “Patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism, Refinery29 reports. You can blame them for trends from the fox eye lift to brazilian butt lifts peaking and then going out of style. The trends dying out has triggered a conversation about what it means when body types and facial features associated with different ethnic groups are no longer trending? “As a Black woman, seeing these predominantly white creators discuss the body type that I grew up seeing on my family and idolized within Jamaican communities cited as a trend feels like a form of erasure,” a woman told Refinery29.