EDGING CLOSER to the brink: The Central Bank of Egypt announced that its foreign reserves climbed to USD 19.59 bn at the end of September — their highest level since June 2015 — from USD 16.56 bn a month earlier. Looking at CBE data, the increase is almost entirely attributable to an increase in deposits at the central bank, possibly signalling that Saudi Arabia’s deposit had already arrived before last weekend. Sources speaking to Al Mal break the increase down as such: USD 1 bn first tranche payment from the World Bank; a USD 2 bn deposit from the UAE; and USD 300 mn from the Saudi Fund for Development. Reuters also has the story.

The EGP continued to weaken against the USD yesterday, with greenbacks trading at a record high of EGP 13.80-13.85 per USD 1, according to the average range cited by traders speaking to Al Mal. The EGP’s slide against the USD is mainly attributable to expectations of devaluation ahead of today’s auction or in an exceptional auction.

Egyptian stocks hit a two-month high yesterday on the same expectations, Bloomberg reported. The EGX 30 rose 2.9% to 8,110.96, its biggest one-day rise since July 27, with CIB and Talaat Moustafa Group among the day’s top gainers. Pharos Holding’s Mohamed Radwan said devaluation could happen this week, adding that the FX crisis needs to be resolved “once and for all to attract foreign investments.”

They’re baaack… The House of Representatives will reconvene from recess today and will be playing catch-up. Its first session will include the final vote on the Civil Service Act, said Legal Affairs Minister Magdy El Agaty. The final vote on the law was delayed twice after the House failed to achieve quorum. At the top of parliament’s agenda this session: A new clampdown on illegal migration, an issue that shot to the top of the House’s priorities after the capsizing of a migrant boat off Egypt’s northern coast saw at least 204 die. MPs will also be dealing with the fallout from That Thing Called Agina’s latest public statements: The National Council of Women and Cairo University President Gaber Nasser have filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office after the MP called for women to undergo [redacted] tests as a condition for admission to university, according to Al Masry Al Youm. The NCW has also filed a complaint with House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal. The House also seems determined to note 150 years since the November 1866 establishment by Khedive Ismail of the Advisory Council of Representatives with some kind of celebration in Sharm El Sheikh, Ahram Online reports. The precursor to today’s House saw 75 members gather for the first time on 25 November 1866.

Google will unveil its Pixel Phone today in two sizes, according to extensive leaks yesterday. We were fans of the Nexus 4 / 5 / 6P and are looking forward to seeing how the devices are received. The Verge’s Dan Seifert has a great roundup on what to expect of the rest of the event (published prior to yesterday’s Pixel / Pixel XL leaks).

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? That childhood brain-teaser is the only thing that comes to mind as we ponder whether to watch tonight’s debate between the two US vice-presidential contenders, who have never managed to seem so superfluous. They are: Mike Pence (governor of Indiana, Trump’s running mate) and Tim Kaine (senator from Virginia, running with Clinton).

It’s Nobel season: The Nobel Prize in Physics will be announced today. The announcement press conference will be available online at 11:45 am CET. Yesterday saw the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for cellular autophagy, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced yesterday. Ohsumi groundbreaking work studied how cells break down and recycle their own components. The award committee says “Ohsumi’s discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content. His discoveries opened the path to understanding the fundamental importance of autophagy in many physiological processes, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in several conditions including cancer and neurological disease.” The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced on Monday, 10 October.