OPEC meets in Vienna today, and KSA is insisting that it’s not essential to curb output. A pact on production cuts is “dead on arrival” an op-ed carried by predicts CNBC, which writes elsewhere that pre-meeting talks in Vienna are going “surprisingly poorly,” a development that “could make oil prices crater.” Saudi Arabia stands on one side of the chasm, Reuters reports, while Iran and Iraq are on the other.

The Industrial Development Authority is scheduled to announced today the winners of its cement production license auction, Al Borsa reports. Six companies have presented just eight bids for 14 licenses. The auction was most recently postponed from October; bidding companies reportedly include El Sewedy Cement, China’s Jushi, the South Valley Cement Company, Misr Beni Suef Cement, and Royal El Menia for Cement.

Shoukry in DC for econ, regional security talks. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry left yesterday for Washington, DC, where he will speak with senior US officials and members of Congress on “Egyptian-American relations … and Egypt’s view on regional issues,” Ahram Online reports. Shoukry will also discuss the Ismail government’s economic reform program with US Secretary of State John Kerry, the Foreign Ministry said.

Trump appoints key econ roles in cabinet: Across the pond, US president-elect Donald Trump looks set to appoint former Goldman Sachs exec Steven Mnuchin as his treasury secretary and Wilbur Ross — an investor “known for cutting jobs and legacy costs to put mills back on their feet” — as secretary of commerce. CNBC has more on the appointments here and here.

Commander Cobra (aka Salafist Yasser Borhami) doesn’t want you to celebrate the Prophet’s Birthday. While some in the banking community have suggested to us that it may not be a national holiday after all, we can’t think of a better reason to take a day off with family and friends. “Celebrating the Prophet’s (PBUH) birthday is an abominable innovation prohibited in the Holy Quran,” Gulf News writes in a story on the micro-flap. (Why Commander Cobra, you ask? Compare the zabeeba here to the hood emblem here.)