What we’re tracking on 4 October 2017
The EGX ended yesterday a six-day bull run that saw it hit an all-time high of 14,100 points on Monday. The EGX30 slipped 0.5% to close at 13,931 yesterday, according to Reuters.
The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded yesterday to Rainer Weiss jointly with Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne for their “decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.” Gravitational waves were observed for the very first time in September 2015, but their existence was predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago. The award’s press release says “gravitational waves are direct testimony to disruptions in spacetime itself. This is something completely new and different, opening up unseen worlds. A wealth of discoveries awaits those who succeed in capturing the waves and interpreting their message.” The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced today. Literature will follow tomorrow, the peace prize on Friday, and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel on Monday.
PSA- You need to change your Yahoo password — now. The company confirmed yesterday that all 3 bn user accounts were compromised in a 2013 cyberattack. Yahoo admitted to the attack last year, but said “only” 1 bn accounts had been hit. So if you’re still relying on Yahoo for email, you know what to do. We’d also suggest you go invest in a subscription to a password saver and use unique, hard-to-crack passwords for every website you visit. We like 1Password and LastPass — we’ve used the former in our personal lives and liked it, but were won over to LastPass because it works well to share passwords as a team. Both have apps for iOS and Android and each has awesome little browser extensions that mean, effectively, you’ll only ever again have to remember a single password to access the service.
ENJOY YOUR LONG WEEKEND- If you work in banking, finance or the government, tomorrow is a holiday in Egypt in observance of Armed Forces Day. We’ve received reports that some schools are businesses will still open their doors. The central bank and the cabinet confirmed holidays for the financial sector and government earlier this week. Armed Forces Day traditionally falls on 6 October, which this year is a Friday.
Our inner geek demands we read a white paper from ING this weekend, the gist of which is that 3D printing is going to wipe out nearly one quarter of global trade by 2060. Among the companies hardest hit will be those making consumer products, car parts and industrial machinery. 3D printing will be great for politicos in mature countries that want to “bring manufacturing jobs back home,” but what does it mean for emerging manufacturers like Egypt? Give the paper a read (pdf) — and let us know what you think on editorial@enterprise.press