Even stonks that make it to the moon, must return to Earth: That’s the message from Muddy Waters’ Carson Block, who writes in the Financial Times that GameStop’s recent boom and bust should alert us to the fragility of the “stonk bubble” that lies before us. The dominance of passive investing and crazed speculation fueled by low interest rates has given us share prices that bear no relation to fundamentals, Block says, calling on policymakers to focus on deleveraging the market and address the market distortions before a passive fund-driven sell-off causes what he predicts could resemble a 1929-style market collapse.

Exhibit A: Investors poured a record USD 58 bn into global equity funds in the week (37.5% of it into US equities) to Wednesday, 10 February, the Financial Times reports, citing a report by the Bank of America (BofA) and fund-tracker EPFR Global data. Tech stocks snagged USD 5.4 bn during the week, driven by US equities and tech stocks, while bond funds attracted USD 10.6 bn. BofA’s gauge of market sentiment is approaching levels of extreme bullishness on the back of powerful stimulus measures across the world, low bond yields and optimism that global rollouts of covid-19 vaccines can lead to the revival of major economies.

The EGX30 was flat on Thursday on turnover of EGP 1.56 bn (8.5% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 6.46% YTD.

In the green: GB Auto (+3.4%), Palm Hills (+2.9%) and Ibn Sina (+1.0%).

In the red: Ezz Steel (-2.5%), MM Group (-1.4%) and ElSewedy Electric (-1.2%).