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 […]
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 […]
|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, […]
Top executives at the world’s largest oil-trading houses said the worst of the market’s woes are probably over, with some predicting prices will climb to $50 a barrel by next year. “The down market is behind us,” Torbjorn Tornqvist, chief executive officer of Gunvor Group Ltd., said on Tuesday at the FT Global Commodities Summit in Lausanne. “It is the beginning of the end of that for […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The cut in housing allowances implemented by companies in Abu Dhabi is creating further strain on the higher end of the emirate’s residential market, according to Cluttons Abu Dhabi Spring 2016 Property Market Outlook. This underscores the need to address the capital’s lack of affordable housing options, Cluttons said. Cluttons’ Abu Dhabi Spring 2016 Property Market Outlook report shows that the shrinking pool of […]
|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 […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The way gold is bought and sold in London, the world’s largest gold-trading hub, may finally give way to newer methods to ensure that the city retains its status as a major gold hub. Currently, more gold is sold and bought in New York and Shanghai than London. Reports suggest that the London Bullion Market Association and the World Gold Council are pursuing […]
India’s most reliable source of foreign funding is under threat. Remittances fell to $15.8 billion last quarter, the lowest since April-June 2011 and a 9.4 percent drop from a year earlier, as the global slowdown and slumping oil prices reduce demand for foreign workers. Indians working abroad — from construction laborers in Dubai to Silicon Valley engineers — send home the most money in the world, helping to pay for […]
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will chair a meeting of ministers on Thursday morning as he weighs how to avoid the closure of an iconic steel plant in South Wales without making costly financial promises. Cameron called the meeting and Business Secretary Sajid Javid cut short a trip to Australia to address the crisis sparked by Tata Steel Ltd.’s decision late Tuesday to sell its plant in […]
A globe-trotting American investment banker who’s built a career on deals with Russia and its state-run gas company, Carter Page says his business has suffered directly from the U.S. economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s escalating involvement in the Ukraine. When Donald Trump named him last week as one of his foreign-policy advisers, Page says his e-mail inbox filled up with positive notes from Russian contacts. “So many people who I know and […]
|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 […]
|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 […]
|By Lawrie Williams| As we come up to the Easter holiday and trading gets thin, the opportunities for traders to manipulate precious metals prices up or down become easier and for the moment, those who would like to see prices lower are in the ascendant. Whether gold goes into freefall and loses all its gains achieved so far this year is the big question on gold investors’ lips. […]
|By Matein Khalid| I was surprised by the dovishness of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC policy statement last week given the white hot US labour market and metrics of wage inflation. Hence the $29 rally in gold, the plunge in the Volatility Index to 15, the fall in the US dollar and the surge in oil/mining shares. The Yellen Fed is still worried about deflation risk in China, Europe […]
|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 […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The much-expected boom for trade hubs like Dubai from the opening up of Iran market has not materialised yet, as traders still face several impediments to doing business with that country. While it is true that global majors have announced a series of major deals with Teheran, investors are showing continued reluctance to enter Iran due to the impact of the US sanctions […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|DP World’s gross debt rose to $7.6 billion, with the net debt climbing to $6.2 billion, the company announced in its financial results for the calendar year 2015. The balance sheet shows a leverage of 3.2 times. The increase in debt is mainly due to the addition of the $650 million JAFZA Sukuk following the EZW acquisition and the additional $500 million borrowings from […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| While market speculation about a possible de-pegging or devaluation of the dollar by GCC countries is going forward, a number of disincentives to such a move are continuing to force a status quo, at least in the short to medium term. Analysts note that a more flexible foreign exchange regime could allow the GCC to adjust to real shocks better, the gains in […]
|By Lawrence Williams| The most recent call by Goldman Sachs to once again sell gold short has not, so far been a good move by the investment bank, and it comments in its latest research that it is down 5% on the call – with a stop loss indicated at 7%. But, it also reiterates that it remains confident in its bearish viewpoint and that it still stands […]
The increase in Iran’s oil exports after the lifting of sanctions has been “more modest” than the country intended, according to the International Energy Agency. Iran increased oil output by 300,000 barrels a day this year to a four-year high of 3.2 million a day in February, the Paris-based agency said. That’s less than the 400,000 barrel-a-day increase Iran itself has reported. Even after sanctions were eased […]
|By Rani Molla & Andrea Felsted| You’d have thought negative interest rates would fuel a boom in diamonds, antiques and fine wine, as people look for an alternative to stuffing cash under the mattress. But you’d be wrong: prices for all three are falling. While some “collectibles” such as vintage watches, luxury handbags and old cars are holding up pretty well, others are struggling. The phenomenon of safe havens […]
|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 […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai won a huge moral victory when DP World, one of its prestigious companies, yesterday secured a favourable verdict in an English court in an ongoing legal battle with the Djibouti government over the concession to run a container terminal in the African country. The government of the East African country had launched arbitration proceedings in a London court as it alleged that […]
|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 […]
