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Thursday, 4 April 2019

What we’re tracking on 04 April 2019

First, may we observe that it is Thursday?

The International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction begins today at the AUC New Cairo campus. The three-day event will explore how innovative construction techniques and new uses of building materials can make our buildings more efficient and sustainable. World-famous architect Lord Norman Foster will deliver a keynote address.

Also coming up next week:

  • President El Sisi flies to Washington, DC, on Tuesday, 9 April, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump.
  • The Markit / Emirates NBD purchasing managers’ index for March is due out at 6:15am CLT on Sunday. The indicator, which measures non-oil business activity in Egypt, hit its lowest level in 17 months in the February survey.
  • Renaissance Capital’s annual Egypt Investors Conference in Cape Town on 9-10 April. EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid will deliver the keynote address on expanding the role of capital markets in Egypt’s economy. Tap or click here to view the preliminary agenda for the event (pdf).
  • Egypt’s monthly inflation figures, from both the central bank and CAPMAS, are expected on 10 April. Annual headline inflation accelerated to 14.4% in February, up from 12.7% the previous month.
  • The IMF and World Bank are holding their spring meetings on 12-14 April in Washington, DC.

Also coming up: First quarter earnings season, and you want to pay attention to US and European numbers as much as you do results from our corner of the world. EFG Hermes is predicting a 0.7% year-on-year decline in first quarter earnings across the MENA region, with the strongest earnings growth coming from Kuwait (+13.1%), Egypt (+6.4%) and the UAE (+5.9%). We’re looking at contractions in Saudi and Qatar. Financials will lead growth, the firm writes, while materials will lead the decline (down a third) and telecoms will be flat.

The FT, meanwhile, is keeping a close eye on US results, noting that the ongoing rally in markets suggests investors are “looking well beyond forecasts of negative earnings growth for the first quarter for US and Europan companies.” The salmon-colored paper writes that the S&P 500 is expected to turn in a 3.9% drop in earnings this quarter and then no growth in 2Q. The full-year forecast is for about 3.7% growth, down from 7.4% at the beginning of the year. The warning: Mega-asset-manager BlackRock argues that the “‘combination of weaker earnings revisions, higher prices and low volatility’ is unlikely to remain the status quo.”


Around the region:

So much for Libyan reconciliation? Libya’s Western-sponsored Tripoli government declared a military alert yesterday as Egypt-backed Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s eastern forces advanced south of the capital, Reuters reports. The clashes between the rival forces throw plans for nationwide elections and a potential reconciliation agreement into doubt. UN chief Antonio Guterres is donning his kevlar and heading to the capital in an attempt to keep the peace, the Associated Press reports.

The morning after: Protestors are unlikely to be satisfied with Algerian President Bouteflika’s resignation, the NYT says.

Saudi Arabia has nearly finished completion of its first nuclear reactor, according to satellite images published by Bloomberg a week after a Reuters investigation revealed that US Energy Secretary Rick Perry secretly authorized companies to supply nuclear tech to Riyadh.


SIGN OF THE TIMES #1: Accenture has bought iconic ad agency Droga5, part of the ongoing trend of consulting companies getting into the marketing and advertising game. See more in the New York Times, Fast Company and Adage.

SIGN OF THE TIMES #2: Patagonia will no longer make branded vests for financial services companies, threatening a crisis of identity in the hedge fund and fintech worlds. BuzzFeed has more.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

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