Arabian Post Staff While the new low oil prices will test Saudi fiscal balances, they have the lowest cost barrels and with low debt can pull on sovereign reserves and take the pain, according to Chris Midgley, head of global analytics, S&P Global Platts. Crude fell sharply on Friday to test $45/bbl on the back of the failed talks and we now expect if to fall sharply as […]
Arabian Post Staff The International Air Transport Association (IATA) sees 2020 global revenue losses for the passenger business of between $63 billion (in a scenario where COVID-19 is contained in current markets with over 100 cases as of 2 March) and $113 billion (in a scenario with a broader spreading of COVID-19). No estimates are yet available for the impact on cargo operations. IATA’s previous analysis (issued […]
Airlines in Asia-Pacific and Europe suffered sharp declines in year-on-year growth in total air cargo volumes in January 2020, while North American and Middle East carriers experienced a more moderate decline. Latin America and Africa were the only regions to record growth in air freight demand compared to January 2019. Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for air cargo contract by 5.9% in January 2020, compared to the year-earlier period. This […]
By Matein Khalid The US dollar is the traditional safe haven currency during times of geopolitical or financial stress even when the cause of a risk aversion spasm is ultimately American, such as the failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Obama’s epic budget battles with the Republicans in 2011 and the Trump White House’s drone hit on Iran’s most revered Revolutionary Guard commander on 3 January 2020. […]
By Matein Khalid Thankfully, I was not in the global markets during the Black Death, the Great Plague and the Spanish flu pandemic but coronavirus cases have now crossed 40,000 infections and this is way beyond a local Wuhan outbreak. Despite the blowout 225,000 US January non-farm payrolls growth data, I am alarmed by the global recession SOS in the capital markets metrics I track. One, the […]
By James M. Dorsey A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. Saudi Arabia may have been getting more than it bargained for when authorities in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second largest city, ordered that the city’s largest and most popular mosque be converted into a cinema. The order followed the closure of some 2,000 mosques in the country in the last three years and the arrest last month […]
By Matein Khalid My tactical idea last week to recommend buying sterling against the US dollar (cable) at 1.30 for a 1.34 target is 200 pips in the money now that the Bank of England kept the policy rate unchanged at 0.75% despite Governor Carney’s smoke signals. Sterling closed at 1.32 on Friday evening and will be well bid next week – hopefully. I expect Governor Bailey […]
By Arabian Post Staff Already struggling to grapple with a crisis of unprecedented proportions, the coronavirus outbreak is the last thing that Dubai and the UAE would have liked to see happen. Moody’s noted in one of its latest reports that the timing of the outbreak is particularly bad for the hospitality industry because it is has unfolded as the Lunar New Year gets underway. The holiday […]
By Matein Khalid I had recommended buying the Tadawul ETF iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia (symbol KSA on NYSE) on November 30 to benefit from the post-IPO surge in the price of the Saudi Aramco IPO shares on the Tadawul. This tactical trade was a beauty even before Saudi Aramco shares soared 20% on its Thursday December 12 to peak at 38.7 Saudi riyals (SAR). As I expected, […]
By Arabian Post Staff A surge in arrivals over the summer months accelerated Dubai’s tourism momentum, as the city welcomed 12.08 million international overnight visitors in the first nine months of 2019, according to the latest visitation figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). The strong 4.3 per cent increase in volume growth compared to the same period last year was supported […]
By Arabian Post Staff The changing landscape of the US$360 trillion (Dh1,321 trillion) global wealth is now more than four times the global GDP of US$88 trillion. The wealth per adult reached a new record high of US$70,850, or 1.2% above the level of mid-2018 with Switzerland topping the biggest gains in wealth per adult this year, according to a latest report by Credit Suisse. Aggregate global […]
Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei recently met with a contingent of media from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to share his thoughts on the region’s bold digital transformation efforts—and Huawei ‘s plans for supporting local partners to scale digital services to more people, homes, and organizations than ever before. The global executive acknowledged the Arab world’s long and profound history, particularly its […]
By Arabian Post Staff Abu Dhabi announced the establishment of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the first graduate level, research-based AI university in the world. MBZUAI will enable graduate students, businesses, and governments to advance artificial intelligence. MBZUAI will introduce a new model of academia and research to the field of AI, providing students and faculty access to some of the world’s most […]
By Arabian Post Staff Bahrain’s Al Waha Fund of Funds has announced a substantial investment in Beijing-based MSA Capital – its first investment in a Chinese fund. MSA Capital, the most active Chinese fund in the Gulf, plans to use Bahrain as its “hub for regional expansion”. It will work closely with regulators, entrepreneurs and strategic corporate partners to connect growing companies in the region with capital and […]
Whilst the forex market is renowned for its liquidity and volatility, it’s fair to say that some currencies offer a far greater degree of stability than others. Take the U.S. Dollar (USD), for example, which features as part of 84% of all currency trades and accounts for an estimated 38% of the world’s debt. The USD has also performed well of late, having strengthened to a 12-year […]
By Arabian Post Staff DP World has announced a partnership with Zhejiang China Commodity City Group Company LTD (CCC) to develop the ‘Traders Market’ in Jebel Ali Freezone (JAFZA). DP World will hold a majority share in the 70/30 joint venture. The Traders Market project will span approximately 800,000 square metres, with Phase 1 development covering about 220,000 square metres. Phase 1 Capex is estimated at $150 […]
By Matein Khalid So Boris Johnson was elected the leader of the Conservative Party by 66% of the Tory membership and thus he, not Jeremy Hunt, will go to Buck House to present his credentials to Her Majesty the Queen. This increases the risk of both no deal Brexit and a potential Tory vote of no confidence in parliament, led by Mrs. May’s Chancellor of the Exchequer […]
By Matein Khalid The S&P 500 index trades at 2990 as I write. The risk-reward calculus on the broad index no longer flashes a buy signal to me. The economic data around the world has deteriorated at an accelerating pace, as the decline in global PMI’s, 9% fall in German factory orders and $13 trillion in in government debt trading at negative interest rates attest. Commodities prices […]
Arabian Post Staff A UAE bid to become a globally recognized internet security watchdog, empowered to certify the safety of websites for Firefox users, has failed with the browser maker Mozilla rejecting the country’s bid. Websites seeking designation as safe by internet browsers have to be certified by an outside organization, which will confirm their identity and vouch for their security. Mozilla said it made the decision […]
By Matein Khalid Goldman Sachs shares traded at 190 when I wrote this article, way below its 52 week high at 245 making it a Cinderella in global investment banking at only 8.5 times forward earnings. It is obvious that Goldman’s involvement in the $7 billion 1MDB sovereign wealth heist in Malaysia has led to global outrage, demands for a $6 billion in punitive fine by Prime […]
By Matein Khalid Thanks to the orchestrated bullishness of a dozen Wall Street sell side analysts and the mother of all short covering rallies, Uber has managed to claw back its losses from 38 to its IPO offer price of $45 though the latest management disaster and sacking of Dara’s handpicked COO and marketing lady wunderkind will slam the shares tonight. Uber has also benefited from a […]
By Arabian Post Staff ENOC Group has secured a five-year US$690 million term loan from a Chinese consortium of banks as China’s biggest financial institutions endorse the Group’s operational and financial health. The term loan will finance general corporate purposes as ENOC continues to fuel the local economy through its business divisions in exploration & production, supply & operations, terminals, fuel retail, aviation fuel and petroleum products […]
By James M. Dorsey A public apology by a prominent Salafi scholar sheds a light on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s version of ‘moderate Islam,’ his effort to shape the Middle East and North Africa in his mould, and the replacement of religion with hyper-nationalism as the source of his legitimacy. Claiming to speak in the name of the Sahwa or Awakening movement, Aidh al-Qarni, one of the […]
By Matein Khalid Citigroup, the third largest US money center bank, owns subsidiaries in Latin America whose pedigrees go back almost a century. For instance, Banamex, Citi’s subsidiary in Mexico, is the second largest corporate/retail bank south of the Rio Grande. So it was no coincidence that Citi shares got sandbagged to a recent 61 as President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico’s $350 billion exports […]
