Some good news with which to start the morning: Tarek Amer will remain in office as central bank governor for a second four-year term. After months of quiet speculation, state media reported overnight that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will give Amer a second term. Ittihadiya has yet to make an announcement on the subject, but eyewitness videos now making the rounds (watch, runtime: 0:50 and watch, runtime: 1:38) show a very happy Amer confirming the news and being loudly celebrated by happy central bank staff.

The move will be widely welcomed by both international investors and the domestic business community. Amer won plaudits for floating the EGP early in his first term and for building reserves while deftly managing monetary policy in the period since the float to ensure Egyptian debt remained ‘appropriately’ attractive to the carry trade.

What does this mean? In a word: continuity. For starters, it suggests interest rates will keep coming down (if not in December, then during the course of 2020) in line with market expectations. Amer’s reappointment also signals that his amended Central Bank and Banking Act is set to move through the House of Representatives largely in its current form. More interestingly, it means we can expect a burst of activity out of the CBE on other policy fronts from the man who considers himself the chief economic advisor to the president and who now has four years of runway ahead of him.

This will be Amer’s final term: The central bank governor may serve no more two four-year terms under the Banking and Central Bank Act, meaning Amer will leave office in November 2023.

House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal has called for an “extraordinary session” on Thursday to discuss Amer’s reappointment, sparking speculation that Thursday could also see MPs discussing a cabinet shuffle.

Speaking of which: Any news of the cabinet shuffle? Nothing new yesterday or overnight, folks. The House is widely expected to vote on the cabinet change in an urgent assembly as early as tomorrow. State-owned Akhbar Al Youm Chairman Yasser Rizk, who presents himself as being close to El Sisi, was the first to publicly suggest last week that a change-up in cabinet is on its way. Since then, the rumor mill has been in overdrive with speculation on which ministers are exiting stage right.

We know for certain at this point that the Social Solidarity Ministry will get a new minister, as current minister Ghada Waly is leaving for a new post as the executive director of the UNODC. Deputy Minister Nevine El Kabbag and SME Authority head Nevine Gamea are reportedly both in the running to succeed Waly, according to Al Shorouk. Other cabinet seats that could see new chiefs include trade and industry, health, environment, supply, and agriculture ministries.

In related news: Tax Authority boss Abdel Azim Hussein will be sticking around for another year, after Finance Minister Mohamed Maait issued a decree extending his appointment. Abdel Azim’s new term will begin on 13 December. He was tapped for the role on the same day last year.

Yesterday was a big day for M&A, with more than USD 70 bn in agreements signed heading into what will be a quiet end-of-week for markets as America marks Thanksgiving.

Charles Schwab’s USD 26 bn blockbuster buyout of rival TD Ameritrade hogged the headlines: US brokerage firm Charles Schwab yesterday announced plans for a USD 26 bn all-stock acquisition of rival TD Ameritrade, creating a giant brokerage with USD 5 tn in assets under management and 24 mn client accounts. Schwab would acquire USD 1.3 tn in client assets across 12 mn accounts, and around USD 5 bn in annual revenue. The acquisition is slated to close in 2H2020. (CNBC│Associated Press)

The merger is likely to attract the attention of antitrust regulators. Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger moved to quell analysts’ concerns, pointing out that the new company would control around 11% of AUM in the US retail wealth management industry and account for just 6% of its revenues, the Financial Times reports.

This comes amid troubled times for brokerage firms, which have seen their profits squeezed by a new generation of companies offering zero-fee trading. Charles Schwab bowed to pressure earlier this year and scrapped commissions on all online stock, ETF and options trades, triggering a new phase in an intensifying price war.

Lots and lots of other M&A:

• LVMH sets record for biggest ever acquisition in the luxury sector: The world’s biggest luxury goods company agreed to buy jeweler Tiffany & Company for USD 16.2 bn. (New York Times)
• Novartis buys innovative cholesterol drug company Medicines Co.: Swiss pharma giant Novartis finalized a USD 9.7 bn agreement to acquire Medicines Co, an experimental biopharma company whose marquee offering is a new technology to combat cholesterol. (Wall Street Journal)
• Viagogo bags ticketing rival StubHub: Ebay yesterday agreed to sell ticketing marketplace StubHub to Viagogo for USD 4.05 bn. (TechCrunch)
• Mitsubishi acquires Dutch energy company Eneco: A consortium led by Mitsubishi will pay EUR 4.1 bn for the state-owned gas and electricity supplier, beating out Royal Dutch Shell and investment firm KKR. (Financial Times)

Global trade falls in September after two months of growth: Monthly global trade volumes fell 1.3% in September, raising fresh doubts about whether the world economy will stage a recovery next year, the Financial Times says. CPB World Trade Monitor data shows a reversal in fortunes for global trade, which until yesterday was fuelling hopes for a 2020 recovery following two consecutive months of growth in July and August. Unsurprisingly, the US and China were the biggest contributors to the declining volumes, with Chinese imports falling 6.9% in September and US imports down 2.1%.

On that note: Global stocks rallied yesterday amid optimism that there is a light at the end of the US-China trade war tunnel in the form of the long-awaited “phase one” trade agreement, according to the Financial Times. The rally comes after China began implementing changes to its policies against intellectual property theft, which has been one of the many sticking points with the US in resolving the trade war.

Concerns about the US fiscal position are giving gold an extra gleam, writes Rana Faroohar in the Financial Times. The cumulative costs of unfunded US pension and healthcare entitlements, defense spending, and interest on federal debt will soon necessitate financially engineered growth from the Fed, eroding confidence in the USD, she argues.

Other business news of note:

• South Korean pharma manufacturer SK Biopharma is expected to raise more than USD 850 mn from its upcoming IPO, which is planned to go to market in January, according to the Financial Times.
• Uber is down and out in London (again): Uber has been stripped of its London license for the second time after the city’s transport regulator found that 14k rides had been taken with drivers using fake identities, CNBC reports.
• And Bitcoin got hammered yesterday amid an ongoing Chinese crypto crackdown: The cryptocurrency shed more than 10% of its value yesterday, hitting its lowest value in six months, a few days after the Chinese central bank warned that it would step up actions against exchanges, Bloomberg reports.

Arab League slams US on Israeli settlements: Arab foreign ministers yesterday said that a recent US decision to recognize illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine showed “unprecedented disdain for the international system, Reuters reported citing MENA. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that expanding the settlements would result in violence and threatens the two state solution.

In other global miscellany:

• Hong Kongers swap molotovs for ballot papers: Pro-democracy candidates swept Hong Kong’s local election on Sunday, winning 90% of the city’s 452 seats. Embattled leader Carrie Lam promised to “seriously reflect” on the result. (The Associated Press)
• Netanyahu to remain interim PM during corruption trial: Israel’s attorney general said yesterday that interim PM Benjamin Netanyahu will not be forced to resign from his position while he fights corruption charges. (The Associated Press)
• Leaked documents lift veil on Chinese internment camps: Classified documents have revealed that the Chinese government is using AI-based surveillance to preemptively detain ethnic Uighurs and forcibly re-educate them. (The Associated Press)
• The troubled relationship between the US and Turkey is likely to come under further strain as Erdogan tests his brand new Russian S-400 air defense system. (Bloomberg)

PSA- We’re looking at warmer temps and maybe some rain or dust: The Egyptian Meteorological Authority has forecasted a rise in temperature for the next three days, possibly accompanied by rain, dust, and wind.