It’s PMI day in Egypt, the UAE and KSA, with the gauge for each of the countries due out here sometime around 6:15am CLT. This is the first PMI to be released after the float of the EGP and will come after the November survey found that business confidence had slumped “at the strongest rate since July 2013,” when the survey took place in the run-up to the 30 June Revolution that removed the Islamists from power.

Tourism industry seeks shelter: Representatives of the long-suffering industry are expected to meet today with senior Finance Ministry and Tax Authority figures today to discuss debt rescheduling and the impact of the value-added tax on the sector. It’s just the latest reminder that the Russians aren’t back, even though we’re buying a nuclear reactor from them. (Then again, English tourists aren’t back, either, though we tolerate their embassy’s snideness.)

The euro has hit a 20-month low in Asian trading this morning on the back of the news that Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was resigning after losing a referendum that opens the door to troubles at the third-largest bank in one of our most important trading partners.

We love year-end content, whether it’s lists or gift guides: Mohamed El Erian’s pick for best book of 2016 is a pleasant surprise, even though we suspect it would be something of a dull read. The FT and Bloomberg columnist (and author of The Only Game In Town, which looks at the role of central banks) is not only our favourite Egyptian living abroad, we’ll love him forever because the man stepped down from Pimco in part after he realized his relationship with his 10-year-old daughter had taken a back-seat to his relationship with his job. As he told the story back in 2014: “She went to her room and came back with a piece of paper. It was a list that she had compiled of her important events and activities that I had missed due to work commitments. Talk about a wake-up call. The list contained 22 items, from her first day at school and first soccer match of the season to a parent-teacher meeting and a Halloween parade. And the school year wasn’t yet over.” El Erian’s pick is a book he wishes he “had had the opportunity to read … during my seven years as a chief executive” about gender equity in the workplace. Read more about his pick and others’ in the Financial Times’ epic “The best books of 2016” (paywall).

Be prepared to feel old when you register that it’s been 20 years to the day since then-US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan coined the term “irrational exuberance,” in which he suggested that asset prices might just be getting a bit frothy. He was a few years too early, but still… The Wall Street Journal has the story here, or you can go read the original speech in which he first used the term here.

If you, like us, have chafed at Evernote’s clunky mobile design, but loved its functionality, have heart: The new Evernote Beta for iOS is out, and it is brilliant — a complete redesign and re-think of the app. It’s version 8.0, and it you don’t want to run the risk of testing out the beta program, wait a few weeks and it should be in the App store. Want to try the beta? Sign up here.