World food prices hit an all-time high in 2022: Supply chain havoc that began during the pandemic and went into overdrive following the outbreak of war in Ukraine helped stoke food prices to an all-time high last year. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) food price index averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3% from 2021 — its highest reading since records began in 1990.

But we should be past the worst of food inflation: The food price index declined for the ninth consecutive month in December, inching down 1.9% m-o-m to 132.4 points on the back of a steep drop in the price of vegetable oils and moderate declines in the prices of cereal and meat. “Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years,” Reuters quotes FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero as saying.

Goldman Sachs sets up the chopping block: The Wall Street major is set to cut some 3.2k jobs this week as it continues to implement cutbacks that began last fall, Bloomberg reports. More than a third of the job cuts will take place in Goldman’s core trading and banking units, the business newswire reports, after business was hit by last year’s dealmaking drought and increased market volatility ahead of a predicted global recession. The firm’s headcount increased by a third in the last four years to number some 49k.

Signs point to the eurozone escaping a deep recession: The EUR rose nearly 1% against the USD yesterday after November data showed record-low eurozone unemployment and robust manufacturing output in Germany, leading investors to wager on a shallower recession in the bloc, the Financial Times reports.

	EGX30	16,097	+0.6% (YTD: +10.3%)
	USD (CBE)	Buy 27.55	Sell 27.63
	USD at CIB	Buy 27.45	Sell 27.55
	Interest rates CBE	16.25% deposit	17.25% lending
	Tadawul	10,647	+1.1% (YTD: +1.6%)
	ADX	10,170	-0.3% (YTD: -0.4%)
	DFM	3,322	+0.6% (YTD: -0.4%)
	S&P 500	3,892	-0.1% (YTD: +0.4%)
	FTSE 100	7,725	+0.3% (YTD: +3.7%)
	Euro Stoxx 50	4,069	+1.3% (YTD: +7.3%)
	Brent crude	USD 79.80	+1.6%
	Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.91	-0.1%
	Gold	USD 1,874.90	-0.2%
	BTC	USD 17,167	+0.7% (YTD: +4.2%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.6% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.77 bn (73.3% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 10.3% YTD.

In the green: Qalaa Holdings (+6.3%), Credit Agricole Egypt (+3.7%) and CIB (+2.2%).

In the red: Juhayna (-3.2%), GB Auto (-3.0%) and CIRA Education (-2.2%).

It’s a mixed picture for Asian markets in early trading this morning, while futures suggest major European and US indices will open to a wall of red later on today.