Saudi

Fed’s policy calculus and global financial markets

|By Matein Khalid| The April payrolls data demonstrated that US economic growth has hit a soft patch. The US economy only added 160 jobs in April, less than the expected 203,000 average in the first three months of 2016. One disappointing data point does not imply a macroeconomic trend reversal since the US economy added 2.8 million jobs between March 2015 and March 2016. Statistical and measurement errors […]

May 11

Goldman, HSBC on Aramco IPO short list

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Gulf International Bank BSC, National Commercial Bank, Samba Financial Group and Saudi Fransi Capital are also being considered for the Tadawul Stock Exchange IPO, and a decision could come as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The IPO could raise more than $500 million for a 30 percent stake […]

May 05

Talking Point

Gulf Arabs enter world of cuts and strikes

A cushy government job, cheap fuel, a mortgage-free home and a bit of five-star travel and luxury shopping were never too much to expect in the Gulf. Yet what previously was taken for granted in the oil-rich region is being replaced by something more familiar to the western world: spending cuts, taxation, a scarcity of jobs and even strikes. There’s discontentment among young populations rarely seen before […]

April 27

Middle East

Iran Threatens Lawsuit in Hague Court Over U.S. Ruling on $2 Billion

By RICK GLADSTONE April 25, 2016 Iran said on Monday that it would seek to sue the United States at the International Court of Justice at The Hague to prevent the distribution of nearly $2 billion in impounded assets from Iran’s central bank to compensate American victims of overseas attacks. Distribution of the impounded assets, which the United States Supreme Court validated in a decision last week, has enraged […]

April 26

Middle East

‘Your journey starts with a dream’, says Dubai desert explorer

DUBAI // He may be a desert explorer and 11-time world record holder, but there was one thing about Max Calderan that all the pupils at a primary school wanted to know – was he ever bitten by a snake? The answer was yes, but three days later it was the snake that died. The Italian adventurer recently became the first person to cross the 340-kilometres Tropic […]

April 24

Oil climbs to five-month highs

Oil advanced to a five-month high as declining U.S. crude production provided more evidence that the market is rebalancing. Futures rose 1.3 percent in New York, bringing this week’s gains to 8.3 percent. U.S. crude output dropped a sixth week, while production in Colombia fell last month. Lower prices have curbed investment in new fields. Schlumberger Ltd. cut more jobs in the first quarter as the world’s largest […]

April 23

Advertisements
ADVERTISEMENT

JP Morgan to advise on Aramco IPO

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Michael Klein, the former Citigroup Inc. investment banker who runs his own boutique, have been selected to advise on state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. Klein is providing strategic advice to the government, while JPMorgan is working on preparations for the IPO and may be among the banks that underwrite the listing, the […]

April 20

Dubai Mall gets 80m visitors in one year

|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai Mall recorded 80 million visitor arrivals in 2015. Various Emaar malls together received more than 124 million visitors, registering an increase of 9 per cent compared to 2014. “The shopping malls business will gain further traction with the launch of a dedicated Retail District in Dubai Creek Harbour and the expansion of The Dubai Mall by another 1 million sq ft built-up […]

April 19

Oil tumbles on Doha meet flop

Oil tumbled after output talks Sunday between the world’s biggest producers ended without an agreement, outweighing the supply impact of strikes that cut 60 percent of Kuwait’s output. Futures fell as much as 6.8 percent in New York. The summit in the Qatari capital faltered after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations wouldn’t agree to a deal unless all OPEC members joined including Iran, which didn’t attend the […]

April 18

Coming selloff in global equities

|By Matein Khalid| While the S&P500 fell only 1.2% last week, things will get uglier in April and May. Fed chair Yellen is playing with fire in talking down US interest rates and inflation risk. The Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street’s barometer of greed and fear, does not capture the rising global financial and political risks at only 15. Market breadth, sector divergence, smart money flows, sentiment, leadership, […]

April 13

Talking Point

Burj Khalifa-topper to be Emaar, Dubai Holding JV

|By Arabian Post Staff| The proposed new Dubai landmark that will surpass the Burj Khalifa in height will be implemented by a joint venture between Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding. The new project comes as Dubai developers continue to announce new schemes despite a softening real estate sector, with the Emaar-built Burj Khalifa expected to be usurped by a tower currently under construction in Saudi Arabia. While […]

April 11

North Thunder

|By Alaa Alghamdi| Military force is the most extreme example of use of power. There are many alternatives. Soft uses of power, such as appeals, firmer uses that injure; and between these two there is a large space for diplomacy, media discussions, and more. Regardless of whichever tactic used, credibility comes from the ability to start a real confrontation. Simply the ability to resort to military tactics can be enough to dissuade, to prevent explosive situations and all-out war. Building this kind […]

April 05

Oil output freeze in doubt

Russia’s oil output set a post-Soviet high in March as the success of a proposed crude production freeze between OPEC members and other major producers appeared to be in doubt. Russian production of crude and a light oil called condensate climbed 2.1 percent in March from a year earlier to 10.912 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit. That narrowly beat the previous high […]

April 03

Talking Point

Alabbar gets funding pledge for Americana bid

|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Chairman and leading Dubai businessman Mohammed Alabbar’s investment consortium Adeptio is learnt to have secured commitments worth $1.5 billion to fund its pursuit of regional KFC operator Americana. The banks lending money for the acquisition reportedly include Citigroup, Standard Chartered , Credit Suisse Group AG, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Emirates NBD, First Gulf Bank and Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank. Earlier this year, Adeptio had […]

April 01

Banking & Finance, Featured

Tragedy and destiny of South Africa

|By Matein Khalid| “Stop the murder, stop the lies, out, out, you nest of spies!” So chanted the crowd outside South Africa House on Trafalgar Square in the autumnal mists of London circa 1988. The anti-apartheid struggle was the moral compass of my generation, from the Soweto riots to Steve Biko’s murder to the horrific “necklacings in the townships and killing fields of the Limpopo to Madiba’s release […]

March 29

Riyal peg speculators suffer heavy losses

|By Arabian Post Staff| Hedge funds which bet on Saudi riyal’s dollar peg are reported to have lost heavily as the price rebound in the oil has apparently removed all immediate possibilities of Saudi Arabia abandoning the currency’s peg with the dollar. Several US hedge funds are understood to be among the losers. According to Bloomberg, contracts used to speculate on the kingdom’s exchange rate in the […]

March 28

Oil price crash hits banks badly

|By Arabian Post Staff|The impact of the massive decline in oil prices has finally reached the door steps of the banking industry and some banks have been affected more than the others. According to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the banking industry in the GCC grew at a lower rate in 2015 than it did in 2014 with just a 7.2 percent increase, […]

March 23

9-11 & alliance of Iran, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda

|By Alaa Alghamdi| Judicial rulings have shown that the calamitous and tragic events of September 11 were borne out of a relationship between Iran and Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. Will the coming days reveal a similar relationship with Daesh too? Hezbollah is widely known for its support of terrorism, for inciting sectarian strife in the Arab countries, and for the cooperation of its members with drug dealers in Europe, North and South America, Africa, as a means to finance multiple activities, ease the burden on the Iranian treasury offering them substantial financial support, in […]

March 23

A fair to embrace ideas, hopes

|By Alaa Alghamdi| Last week saw the opening of the Riyadh Book Fair, just a month after the Janadriyah festival. Considered no ordinary exhibition, there were hundreds of visitors pictured queuing to enter the fair, with sales figures expected to far surpass those of previous years. There are 500 local and international publishers displaying at the fair, with all topics covered – from science and technology, literature, history, languages through to politics and religion – […]

March 15

Mekka as most promising hotel investment market

|By Matein Khalid| It is no coincidence that the most profitable hotels on the planet are located in Makkah, the holiest city of Islam as the site of the Grand Mosque and the Kaaba. For fifteen centuries, Muslims have traveled to Makkah from all over the world for the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, making the city the highest source of inbound foreign visitors in Saudi Arabia. Makkah is […]

March 08

Moody’s places Abu Dhabi in downgrade review

|By Arabian Post Staff| Moody’s has placed United Arab Emirates, along with Abu Dhabi emirate, under review for a possible downgrade. The action was also applied to all GCC countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi’s (Aa2 stable) economic growth could come under pressure this year amid government spending cutbacks in response to lower oil prices, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. Moody’s estimates that […]

March 06

Next twist in GCC property, credit cycles

|By Matein Khalid| Six data points last week reinforce my conviction that the GCC’s property/credit market stress will only accelerate in 2016. One, Standard and Poors downgraded Saudi Arabia’s sovereign credit rating to A- while Bahrain and Oman are now both below investment grade. The new sovereign credit downgrade cycle in the GCC comes at a time when sukuk/debt new issuance volumes have plummeted by 50%, the […]

March 01

Aramco IPO part of larger game plan

|By Arabian Post Staff|The announcement by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a possible floatation of state-owned oil firm Aramco is part of a larger game plan, a report by a US private intelligence corporation has concluded. “Whether or not the IPO happens is not important. What is vitally important is that it was publicly discussed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He was […]

February 23

Oman’s resilient property markets

|By Matein Khalid| The sultanate of Oman has enjoyed phenomenal economic development success in the 45 year reign of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Modern Oman is one of the true social, political and economic success stories of the Arab world. However, the Achilles heel of the Omani economy is its huge dependence on oil and gas export earnings, 60% of the sultanate’s GDP. Standard and […]

February 23

Turbulence in oil sector ‘far from over’

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Despite the recent price bounce in oil, turmoil in the sector may be far from over, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report. Defaults are rising across smaller oil and gas producers and risks are rising for larger ones too, it said. Total energy debt in default has now reached $18 billion, suggesting the credit cycle will mark a floor on […]

February 21

Enoc to expand retail business by 40%

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) plans to increase its retail business by 40 per cent between 2016 and 2020 across its network of service stations in the UAE. The growth plans include the construction of 54 more stations in Dubai. The expansion will meet ENOC’s long-term strategic objectives which are aligned with the Dubai Plan 2021 of creating a ‘Smart & Sustainable City’ […]

February 21

S&P sees no change in riyal peg for years

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Standard & Poor’s has re-affirmed its view that Saudi riyal peg to the dollar, a subject currently topping market debate, is unlikely to be changed over the next few years. The rating agency’s rationale is that at a time of already significant change and regional geopolitical instability, politically conservative regimes such as those in the GCC are unlikely to increase uncertainty about their […]

February 19

Global shocks and UAE credit cycle

|By Matein Khalid| The global credit cycle has an immediate impact on the UAE via oil prices, the US dollar peg, cross border bank credit flows, Federal Reserve monetary policy and world trade. The IMF has cut its 2016 growth forecast to 2.6%, the lowest since 2010. A leading developer just booked a 20 fold rise in penalties from walkaway offplan home buyers. Banks hire “loan rangers” […]

February 17