The Federal Reserve looks set to slow the tempo of its interest rate hikes for a second time at its next meeting after December data confirmed a slowdown in inflation, the Wall Street Journal reports. In recent statements, Fed officials have said they favor a 25-bps increase for the 31 Jan -1 Feb meeting — a more moderate rise that would allow them to gauge market responses as they determine when to bring the hikes to a halt. Officials agreed to slow the pace of rate hikes moving forward at their last monetary policy meeting in December, hiking interest rates by 50 bps to a target range of 4.25-4.5% after four consecutive 75-bps hikes aimed at curbing soaring inflation.

AND- The Qatar Investment Authority has doubled its stake in Credit Suisse to just under 7%, making it the struggling lender’s largest shareholder after Saudi National Bank, the Financial Times reports.

	EGX30	16,183	+0.4% (YTD: +10.9%)
	USD (CBE)	Buy 29.83	Sell 29.90
	USD at CIB	Buy 29.82	Sell 29.92
	Interest rates CBE	16.25% deposit	17.25% lending
	Tadawul	10,766	+0.4% (YTD: +2.7%)
	ADX	10,159	-0.3% (YTD: -0.5%)
	DFM	3,350	-0.1% (YTD: +0.4%)
	S&P 500	4,020	+1.2% (YTD: +4.7%)
	FTSE 100	7,785	+0.2% (YTD: +4.5%)
	Euro Stoxx 50	4,151	+0.8% (YTD: +9.4%)
	Brent crude	USD 88.19	+0.6%
	Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.44	-0.1%
	Gold	USD 1,949.10	+0.2%
	BTC	USD 22,909	+0.9% (YTD: +38.6%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.4% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.4 bn (40.6% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 10.9% YTD.

In the green: Cleopatra Hospitals (+4.8%), Heliopolis Housing and Development (+2.7%) and CIB (+2.4%).

In the red: Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (-5.2%), Juhayna (-3.3%) and TMG Holding (-1.8%).

Asian markets are in the green across the board in early trading this morning and futures suggest the fates will smile similarly on European and then US benchmarks when they open later on today, as investors continue to ride a wave of optimism over macroeconomic conditions.