Optimism for the year ahead reigns supreme on Wall Street, as the world’s biggest banks and investment firms predict broad economic growth this year. Bloomberg has collected forecasts from 40 investment banks and asset managers on everything from covid and inflation to regulation and the greenback, and buoyancy is underpinning everything as we start the new year.

File this under ‘Obvious’: The positive sentiment is being driven by the belief that central banks will leave the stimulus taps on for the long-term, according to a Bloomberg quarterly policy review. The piece finds that no major western central bank will raise rates, with the key assumption being that policymakers will need to evaluate the strength of the economy before tightening policy.

Saudi Arabia threw oil traders a curveball yesterday after it announced unexpectedly that it would unilaterally cut production in February and March to support the oil market, Bloomberg reports. The kingdom will reduce output by an additional 1 mn barrels per day as of next month, lifting pressure on smaller producers to do likewise. Finding a way through the demand slump caused by the pandemic has been problematic for the loose ‘OPEC+’ alliance of exporters, many of whom have been unhappy about cutting their production quotas.

The EGX30 rose 0.2% yesterday on turnover of EGP 1.4 bn (5.1% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is down 0.1% YTD.

In the green: Ezz Steel (+5.1%), Qalaa Holdings (+4.8%) and Sidi Kerir Petrochemical (+3.3%).

In the red: Egypt Kuwait Holding (-3.7%), CIRA (-3.0%) and Edita (-2.0%).

Asian markets were mixed early this morning as traders awaited results from the US Senate run-off election. Futures have US markets falling in early trading.