Inflation figures for May are due out today: The central bank and state statistics agency CAPMAS are expected to release today inflation figures for May, and the hope is that inflation will continue to cool despite what is typically a bump during Ramadan. Annual headline inflation cooled unexpectedly in April to 13% from 14.2% the month before. Analysts will be keeping as close eye on the May figures, the last ones due out before the next round of energy subsidy cuts come into effect at the end of this month or early next.

It’s also PMI day today: The purchasing managers’ indexes for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are due out this morning at 6:15am CLT. April’s reading of Egypt’s PMI saw non-oil business activity expand for the first time in eight months. Output entered positive territory for the first time in 18 months, but was largely driven by domestic orders. You can catch the PMI here when it’s released.

It’s budget day in the House: The House of Representatives’ Planning and Budgeting Committee will meet today to review a near-final draft of the state’s fiscal year 2019-2020 budget, according to Youm7. Hearings could continue well into the weekend as MPs look to send a near-final draft of the budget to the House secretariat by Sunday, potentially clearing the way for a vote by the House general assembly before the end of the month.

Budget planners in the House and at the Finance Ministry should keep their eyes on Friday. That’s when the International Energy Agency will publish its first forecast for oil prices in 2020. The good news for the managers of Egypt’s budget, who need to ramp up spending every time a barrel of oil gets more expensive: “A first look at forecasts from consultants and traders for supply and demand balances show persistent surpluses, not the deficit that was expected to underpin rising prices.” Bloomberg has more.

Another one for the diary: Pharos is holding its annual investor conference in Hurghada this month, the company said in a statement (pdf). The two-day event will bring together investors, IPO prospects and more than 40 listed companies under one roof for meetings with institutional investors. The gathering is set to run 19-20 June.

Kicking the robots in the teeth: Just days after Cboe Global Markets became the latest US stock exchange operator to embrace “speed bumps” designed to undermine high-frequency traders comes news that human stock-pickers have outperformed machine-driven ‘quant’ funds in recent weeks. “Over half of all US mutual funds that invest in big American companies managed to beat the broader stock market in May for the second month in a row,” Robin Wigglesworth writes for the Financial Times, “nurturing hopes that rockier markets may help human investors launch a comeback.”

In miscellany this morning:

For photo nerds: We rediscovered our favourite black and white film in this excellent (not recent) piece — and then stayed around for hours to read through the exceptionally well-written, thought-provoking Leicaphilia blog. Read: The Tri-X Factor. You don’t need to be a Leica geek to enjoy the mix of great imagery and thoughtful pieces on the art and technique of photography and its place in our culture.

For Egyptians living in the diaspora: Read Go Home to Your ‘Dying’ Hometown, and substitute your neighborhood of Cairo / Alexandria / wherever for “small, rural-American town.” We promise you it will make you think.

For the olds: Why mid-life could be the best time to change careers. Ignore the Canada-centric angle at the top and keep reading. The best line is from a ‘mid-life coach’ who started her new business in … mid-life: “Assuming a long, healthy life, mid-life is the only time when we will have experience and possibility in equal measure.” Think of it this way: Mid-life is half-time, not the end-of-time.

Just don’t rush into making “author” your new career, warns the Financial Times: It’s a tough racket as advances dwindle, making “TV adaptations and literary events into potential revenue streams.” Want to dive deeper? There’s no better (or more sarcastic) place than Joe Konrath’s Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. Best-selling mystery / horror / thriller writer Konrath is again publishing the best advice in the business after an extended hiatus from the blog.

Speaking of Canada: The Raptors lead the Golden State Warriors 3-1 heading into tonight’s decisive game five in Toronto. Celebrate by reading in the New York Times about how Canada has become a basketball factory.

iSheep had plenty to graze on at WWDC 2019 last week: The biggest tech company in the game unveiled a raft of new software updates — as well as a headline-making hardware launch — during its annual developers’ conference last week. The key takeaways:

• The new Mac Pro may look like the world’s most data-intensive kitchen utensil, but it packs some serious processing power: a fully upgraded machine contains a 28-core, 3.1 GHz processor and more RAM than you know what to do with. Fully loaded, the machine aimed at Hollywood and others with crazy computing needs will max out somewhere in the USD 35k neighborhood.
• iPads will become an even more viable alternative to laptops for many people with the new iPadOS. MacStories, whose Frederico Vittici is an icon for those who aspire to an iPad-only “lifestyle,” walks you through what to expect of iPadOS and iOS 13.
• 9to5Mac has the full list of announcements during the keynote address.
• Bonus podcast for the uber Apple junkie: Check out this sit-down between Daring Fireball’s John Gruber and Apple’s Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak.