Good morning, friends, and welcome to another busy news morning as this first week of August starts drawing to a close. We hope those of you stuck with us here in the capital are managing to stay cool. And for those of you enjoying the much cooler weather in Sahel? We will not give you the evil eye. We will not give you the evil eye. We will not—

Anyway… It’s interest rate day today: The Central Bank of Egypt meets today to review interest rates. Analysts we talked to last week see the CBE playing it safe and leaving rates unchanged.

The reasoning: The potential for a pick-up in inflation in the coming months and a need to maintain Egypt’s world-beating real rates, analysts told us.

Where rates currently stand: The overnight deposit rate is at 8.25%, the lending rate at 9.25% and the main operation and discount rates are at 8.75%.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD? Two are actually two stories vying for your attention:

Is someone trying to take Robinhood “to the moon”? No-fee brokerage app Robinhood extended its rally to a second day, with retail investors “flocking” to the shares of the app that they used earlier this year to spark a “furious rally” in meme stocks including GameStop and AMC. After a disappointing IPO, Robinhood’s shares are now up more than 100% for the week. The story is front page everywhere from the Financial Times to Bloomberg and CNBC.

A close second: US corporates are split on whether to demand their employees get vaccinated — but Washginton is pretty sure it wants you to be jabbed before you step on ‘Murican soil. Tyson and Walmart are the latest major American corporations to say they will require all of their staff to take a covid-19 vaccine, joining Microsoft, Google and Facebook. General Electric, Caterpillar and three big US auto makers are not requiring their staff be jabbed, the Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, Reuters has an exclusive claiming the Biden administration is developing a plan that will “require nearly all foreign visitors to the United States to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of eventually lifting travel restrictions that bar much of the world from entering the United States.”

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Fund manager Vanguard will offer its employees USD 1k to get vaccinated. Employees who are vaccinated by October are eligible for the incentive, the investment giant said in a statement to CNBC.

** CATCH UP QUICK with the top stories from yesterday’s edition of EnterprisePM:

• Vodafone Egypts wraps up DD on Bee and Masary: The UK-based telecoms company is reportedly waiting for the approval of the FRA + CBE before it can move forward with its acquisition of 20% stakes in the e-payment platforms.
• NATCO could sell bonds worth EGP 1 bn to finance its entrance into the EV market: Mercedes’ local partner wants to establish charging stations, manufacture parts and distribute vehicles, and hopes a nine-figure bond issuance will make it happen.
• HB Fuller to set up a new facility in Cairo: The US adhesive manufacturer wants to make Egypt its regional hub by setting up a new factory in Sixth of October’s CPC industrial park by 4Q2022.

UPDATE- HB Fuller will invest some USD 20 mn in the regional production hub we reported on yesterday (link above) and is expected to double the company’s production capacity, a company representative told us yesterday. The company plans to begin operations at the plant, located in the CPC Industrial Park in Sixth of October City’s industrial zone, by the end of 2022.

TODAY AT THE OLYMPICS-

10:00am: Egypt’s handball team will play against France in the semifinal, in the biggest game of the day and maybe the Olympics altogether (for Egypt, at least).

A ton of karate events are also taking place today, with the Egyptian athletes having good chances of gaining medals. The times of the matches are still TBD:

Ali El Sawy has four matches tomorrow in the men’s kumite 67kg against Japan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan in a Pool A elimination round.

Meanwhile, Radwa Sayed is up in the women’s kumite 55kg, playing against Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Japan, and Austria in Pool B.

TOKYO 2020 AS IT STANDS-

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Inflation: Inflation data for July will be out on Tuesday, 10 August.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.