There was less drama in the markets yesterday, following a volatile Tuesday that saw equities plummet while energy prices and bond yields soared. A pause in the financial doom-mongering and onslaught of Bad News (see: Evergrande crisis / China slowdown / rising inflation / a winter of hypothermia and starvation) saw dip-buyers start to rally the markets before fizzling out by close, with the S&P 500 ending up 0.2% and the Dow Jones rising 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which has been most negatively impacted by rising US treasury yields, saw a third straight day of losses to close 0.1% down, while the MSCI World Index fell 0.3%. The USD continued its rally to rise to its highest level since November last year, while yields on US treasuries remained high at 1.53%.

More turbulence ahead: “Jitters surrounding elevated levels of inflation and slowing growth are likely to remain for some time,” one analyst told Bloomberg.

The next dark cloud on the horizon? A potential US government shutdown at the end of this week and the threat of a default next month if Congress can’t agree to raise the debt ceiling.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.5% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 986 mn (37.8% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 4.2% YTD.

In the green: AMOC (+7.7%), Ezz Steel (+3.3%) and Fawry (+2.5%).

In the red: Eastern Company (-3.3%), Pioneers Holding (-2.7%) and Credit Agricole Egypt (-2.7%).

Asian shares are mixed this morning, with Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng both in the red while the Kospi and Shanghai are both clinging to the green. Futures suggest Wall Street and most major European benchmarks will open in the green later today.