Turkey is the new pin-up for emerging markets: The Turkish economy grew at a faster rate than all its G20 peers except China in the final quarter of 2020, thanks to a pick-up in consumer spending, according to Bloomberg. The country recorded a growth rate of 5.9%, propelled by lower borrowing rates. The growth comes despite the lira tumbling 20% and inflation remaining in the double digits through 2020.

A shortage of shipping containers is leaving Chinese goods in the lurch: Covid-19 related supply chain disruptions that have caused rising freight rates and increased shipping times are threatening to derail China’s double digit export growth, the Financial Times reports. Lockdown restrictions in Europe and the US as well as staffing issues in destination ports have delayed shipping schedules by weeks at a time, leaving containers stranded en route back to Asia, driving up prices of goods, and threatening the existence of smaller businesses. Though new containers are being produced to fill the demand, their prohibitive price (about USD 6.2k per container) means we’re likely to see some Chinese businesses turn to land routes through Vietnam and Russia to deliver their products.

The SPAC craze reached new heights in February, with a record high of USD 109 bn-worth of transactions signed by 50 blank-check companies, the Financial Times reports, citing Refinitiv data. The flurry of transactions included the USD 24 bn SPAC-enabled IPO of Lucid, an EV manufacturer backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. While it’s still unclear whether the SPAC-oriented trading frenzy means we’re looking at a bubble, “the asset class has proven to be a solution to private companies looking to go public,” head of SPAC equity capital markets at Bank of America Warren Fixmer said.

The EGX30 was flat yesterday on turnover of EGP 1.34 bn (7.9% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net buyers. The index is up 6.23% YTD.

In the green: Pioneers Holding (+3.7%), Sodic (+3.3%) and Madinet Nasr Housing (+2.9%).

In the red: Orascom Development Egypt (-3.5%), Heliopolis Housing (-3.1%) and Fawry (-2.2%).

It’s a sea of red for Asian markets in early trading this morning and futures suggest that markets in the US will also open in the red.