Happy hump day, wonderful people. It’s a pleasantly brisk news day here at home as we get over the midweek slump — just enough to keep us on our toes, but not necessarily enough to warrant being branded as a heavy Tuesday.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Qatar is eyeing a USD 1 bn green hydrogen and ammonia project: The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is conducting studies to establish a renewables project in the Suez Canal Economic Zone with investments exceeding USD 1 bn, Al Borsa reports, citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s very much a mixed bag in the international business press. Although no single story is dominating the front pages, a bumper 3Q 2022 earnings season for oil and gas is getting some play this afternoon, with Saudi Aramco reporting USD 42 bn in net income — its second-highest quarterly earnings — while BP also reported strong earnings during the quarter on the back of higher natural gas prices (Financial Times | Reuters | Bloomberg).

HAPPENING NOW-

The two-day Arab League summit kicked off today: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is in Algiers to attend the regional summit taking place amid a diplomatic spat between Algeria and Morocco. Morocco’s King Mohamed VI declined the invitation to attend and arguments broke out among diplomats in a pre-summit meeting. Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who is reportedly not attending for medical reasons, and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, Kuwait's Emir Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah and Jordan’s King Abdullah II are also notably absent.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• IMF gives us kudos for deval: The IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia boss has praised the Central Bank of Egypt’s policy moves last week, saying that the shift to a flexible exchange rate will protect the economy against external shocks and calling the decision to raise interest rates a “step in the right direction.”
• Has the EGP bottomed out? The EGP moved fractionally lower against the greenback yesterday, edging down a very slight 0.2% to 24.1875.
• Egypt is getting a USD 2 bn loan from the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development and unnamed “partner organizations” to support small scale rural-farmers.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

November has come: Here are the key news triggers coming up this week and the next.

• PMI: We’ll know how Egypt’s private sector fared in October tomorrow when S&P Global releases the purchasing managers’ index. A 22-month contraction in private sector activity didn’t show signs of abating in September as high inflation continued to weigh on demand and output.
• Foreign reserves figures for October will be released next week.
• Inflation: Capmas and the central bank will release October’s inflation figures on Thursday, 10 November.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Temperatures in Cairo will hit 26°C tomorrow during the day before falling to 17°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us — although it didn’t predict this afternoon’s showers.