Don’t underestimate inflation — or how far the Fed will go to rein it in: That’s the message to markets from major asset managers including BlackRock Inc, Fidelity Investments and Carmignac, Bloomberg reports. Investors expecting inflation and rates to peak in 2023 may well be disappointed in the same way they were in 2022, when both debt and equities markets were blindsided by relentless price hikes, the analysts say. “Inflation is here to stay,” said Carmignac’s Frederic Leroux. “At some point the market will have to understand that more rate hikes are coming.”

The Fed is not about to hit reverse: “Central banks are unlikely to come to the rescue with rapid rate cuts in recessions they engineered to bring down inflation to policy targets,” BlackRock analysts said. US Federal Reserve officials have indicated that they won’t hesitate to continue upping rates in a bid to bring inflation back to their 2% target, though they could go for relatively smaller hikes of 25 basis points to mitigate the pain.

ALSO WORTH NOTING-

• The UAE’s Adnoc Distribution is among Bloomberg’s 50 picks for 2023. Bloomberg intelligence analysts said rising numbers of visitors to the UAE, as well as the service station operator’s expansion into Saudi Arabia and Egypt, is boosting profitability and growth.

• Bahrain-based Investcorp plans to invest USD 1 bn in Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector over the next five years in anticipation of a property boom. (Bloomberg)
• Saudi Arabia raised USD 10 bn in its first Eurobond issuance of the year, amid a wave of January optimism in the debt markets. (Bloomberg)

	EGX30	15,463	-3.9% (YTD: +5.9%)
	USD (CBE)	Buy 27.63	Sell 27.70
	USD at CIB	Buy 27.56	Sell 27.66
	Interest rates CBE	16.25% deposit	17.25% lending
	Tadawul	10,634	-0.1% (YTD: +1.5%)
	ADX	10,210	+0.4% (YTD: -0.0%)
	DFM	3,314	-0.3% (YTD: -0.7%)
	S&P 500	3,919	+0.7% (YTD: +2.1%)
	FTSE 100	7,694	-0.4% (YTD: +3.3%)
	Euro Stoxx 50	4,057	-0.3% (YTD: +7.0%)
	Brent crude	USD 80.10	+0.6%
	Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.58	-1.5%
	Gold	USD 1,880.90	+0.2%
	BTC	USD 17,434	+1.4% (YTD: +5.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 3.9% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.4 bn (48.7% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 5.9% YTD.

In the green: Heliopolis Housing (+2.4%), Housing and Development Bank (+0.5%).

In the red: Palm Hills Development (-6.6%), EFG Hermes (-6.4%) and CIB (-6.2%).