US regulator wants more oversight of unicorns + tech stocks seesaw + BTC crash
US unicorns could be forced into more transparency: The country’s securities regulator is planning to make big private companies disclose closely-guarded information including earnings, business outlooks, risks, and manager pay, the Wall Street Journal reports. As companies secure increasingly massive funding rounds from private capital markets, some regulators are worried about a “lack of oversight” compared to firms that go the IPO route. The strategy is likely to meet stiff opposition in Silicon Valley among other sectors, where industry insiders argue that it will saddle firms with costly paperwork on a par with going public without any of the benefits. Lots (but not all) of the downside of going public, with no benefits? Sign us up.
US tech stocks staged a dramatic late-session recovery yesterday, closing marginally in the black after paring losses that at one stage saw the Nasdaq 2.7% in the red. The sell-off, which also saw the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones close slightly in the red, came as yields on US treasuries resumed their rise, as traders position ahead of a possible rate hike in March.
BTC is having its worst ever start to a year: The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has had a “shocking” start to 2022, falling 10% so far this month, Bloomberg reports. BTC fell below USD 40k for the first time since September earlier yesterday and was down almost 40% from its November peak as of midnight. “We know that BTC is volatile but even for BTC, we’re seeing some really big moves,” one analyst said.
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EGX30 |
12,023 |
+0.4% (YTD: +0.6%) |
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USD (CBE) |
Buy 15.66 |
Sell 15.76 |
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USD at CIB |
Buy 15.66 |
Sell 15.76 |
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Interest rates CBE |
8.25% deposit |
9.25% lending |
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Tadawul |
11,665 |
+0.9% (YTD: +3.4%) |
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ADX |
8,354 |
-0.3% (YTD: -1.6%) |
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DFM |
3,230 |
+0.3% (YTD: +1.1%) |
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S&P 500 |
4,670 |
-0.1% (YTD: -2.0%) |
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FTSE 100 |
7,445 |
-0.5% (YTD: +0.8%) |
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Brent crude |
USD 80.87 |
-1.1% |
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Natural gas (Nymex) |
USD 4.12 |
+1.1% |
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Gold |
USD 1,800 |
+0.1% |
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BTC |
USD 41,766 |
-0.5% (as of midnight) |
THE CLOSING BELL-
The EGX30 rose 0.4% yesterday on turnover of EGP 959 mn (22% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 0.6% YTD.
In the green: Raya Holding (+4.4%), EFG Hermes (+2.9%) and AMOC (+1.8%).
In the red: Egyptian Resorts Company (-2.9%), Heliopolis Housing (-2.2%) and Credit Agricole Egypt (-2.0%).
THE MARKETS TODAY- Hopes that the late rally in US stocks yesterday would give a lift to Asian markets seem to have been dashed, with most indexes across the region in the red in early trading this morning. Ahead of dispatch, the Nikkei was down 0.9%, the Kospi had lost 0.2% and the ASX was 0.7% in the red. Futures are currently pointing towards early gains in the US and Europe.