ESG investing is great — if you don’t mind tax avoidance and tech monopolies: ESG investment’s goal is to tackle issues such climate change and board diversity, but some red flags suggest otherwise with taxation being a “blind spot” for the industry, the Financial Times says. The giant tech companies that dominate ESG funds are adept at avoiding taxes yet bad at creating jobs, leading Vincent Deluard, global macro strategist at New York brokerage StoneX, to call for more scrutiny on how ESG ratings are applied. “ESG funds are unconsciously worsening the social and political crisis associated with automation, inequality and monopolistic concentration,” he told the paper.

Assets managed by ESG ETFs have more than trebled in the space of a year: AUM stood at USD 174 bn at the end of 2020, up from USD 59 bn a year earlier, according to ETF data provider TrackInsight.

Musk’s musings catch up with Bitcoin surge: Bitcoin prices dropped 9% yesterday after Elon Musk tweeted earlier this week that the currency may be overvalued, Bloomberg reports. Bitcoin was up by 60% in February alone, prompting observers to warn of the formation of a Bitcoin bubble propped up by excess liquidity. Yesterday’s drop underscored the currency’s volatility, of which sceptics say we can expect more going forward.

Beijing is gradually reining in its monetary support, leading investors to dump Chinese equities and drive the stocks to register their biggest decline in six months yesterday, the Financial Times reports. China’s CSI 300 Index dropped more than 3% from all-time highs last week.

The EGX30 rose 1.1% yesterday on turnover of EGP 1.63 bn (11.3% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 6.5% YTD.

In the green: Eastern Company (+3.0%), Fawry (+2.5%) and Cleopatra Hospital (+2.2%).

In the red: Orascom Investment Holding (-2.7%), Sodic (-1.4%) and Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (-1.2%).