Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks » Saudi Arabia

Budget Insanity, FOMC Down-Low, Oil Sands Investing and More!

Contrarian Profits — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:00:10 +0000

pGovernment budget hits all-time insanity… record monthly, year-to-date deficits#8230; “Cash for clunkers” helps GM, but not economy… July retail sales stage surprise fall#8230; Fed plans exit strategy, ends bond buys… why the FOMC is still not helping you#8230; Byron King’s crude reality: How Canada could be the next Saudi Arabia#8230;/p p It’s official: strongOur government ran a record $180.7 billion over budget in July,/strong the Treasury Department said today. That’s just a bit over Wall Street expectations and just under the Congressional Budget Office estimate we reported a href="http://www.agorafinancial.com/5min/the-debt-ceiling-dividend-plays-a-currency-sea-change-and-more/"Monday/a. Thus the government tab so far this fiscal year is a record $1.27 trillion, not the record $1.3 trillion the CBO guessed earlier this week. Phew… what a relief./p pA few more scary details:/p ul liThe budget deficit is still on track to#8230;/li/ul

The Coming Global Blackout

Andrew Gordon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:55:15 +0000

h3 class="post_date"Leave it to the government. It’s proposing a “tax and cap” regime for energy producers which will require fossil-fuel generating plants to pay extra. The idea is to encourage clean fuels and discourage dirty ones. That’s fine in theory. But instead of helping our future energy situation, it’s going to make it a lot worse.The price of oil has already doubled in the past six months to over $60 per barrel. But it’s just the beginning of oil’s next gigantic price surge. If you thought that oil was ridiculously expensive last summer, you haven’t seen anything yet. pIt doesn’t matter whether you believe in “Peak Oil” because this isn’t about Peak Oil coming to fruition. Peak Oil believes that oil discoveries have#8230;/p/h3

Samba Bank bleak on Saudi market for rest of 2009

Jason G. Wulterkens — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:01:51 +0000

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) has posted impressive returns YTD (up over 16%), but last week’s correction, coupled with a recent report issued by Riyadh-based Samba Bank–which warned that the recovery of oil prices to above $60/barrel and a forecasted 24% increase in government spending will not be adequate to offset a sharp slowdown [...]

Saudi banks to help Zain reschedule murabaha loan

Jason G. Wulterkens — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:05:50 +0000

Reports surfaced this past week that Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co. (Zain)–the leading African and Middle Eastern mobile operator–is close to rescheduling a $2.5 billion two-year “murabaha” loan agreement on behalf of its subsidiary, Zain Saudi Arabia, that it signed in 2007 in order to finance the development of its infrastructure and the expansion of its [...]

Saudi CMA looks to help banks by diversifying capital markets

Jason G. Wulterkens — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:27:34 +0000

The commencement in Saudi Arabia earlier this week of both a regulated bond and sukuk (Islamic bond) market is “a very sensible approach” to the problems facing many Saudi banks–namely the fact their loan-to-deposit ratios already exceed the central bank’s imposed ceilings–and will help to create “deeper and wider” financial markets, according to Rajiv Shukla, [...]

Saudi swaps piquing institutional interest

Jason G. Wulterkens — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:49:14 +0000

Financial Times noted today that international institutional demand for swaps in Saudi Arabian stocks–introduced by the country’s Capital Markets Authority last August as a method to furnish overseas investors the economic but not the voting rights of a stock–has rapidly increased of late based on the positive earnings outlook for many Saudi companies, as well [...]

Fitch dour on GCC banks’ retail lending

Jason G. Wulterkens — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:10:57 +0000

A recent report issued by Fitch Ratings concludes that the more challenging operating environment has negatively affected prospects for retail banking in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), although the degree of severity will vary. Fitch views the potential risks from retail lending as high [...]

Middle East may begin to import massive amounts of alfalfa

Jason G. Wulterkens — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:17:28 +0000

Canada may not be a frontier market, but it could quickly grow into an important source of forage not only for Asian markets, which it current supplies, but also for Middle Eastern ones. The Saudi Gazette reported today, for instance, that water scarcity in Middle Eastern countries may open up good export opportunities for Canadian forage [...]

Saudi Telecom expands as Q4 net profit plummets

Jason G. Wulterkens — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:32:21 +0000

Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), the Arab world’s largest telecom company by market value, posted a worse-than-expected 62% fall in fourth-quarter profit this past week, which it blamed on foreign currency fluctuations. The news caused STC shares to drop 10%, bringing this year’s total decline to 6.5%. The company’s fourth-quarter operating profit fell 20% to 2.38 [...]

How low can the oil price go?

Daniel Broby — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:45:00 +0000

The last global recession the world had was in 2001. Nymex crude oil prices, which had gone above $35 a barrel in September and October 2000, fell briefly below $20 a barrel in late 2001 before recovering in April 2002 to above $26 a barrel.

The oil price required for a marginal cost player to return its cost of capital is $65-75 per barrel.

Economic necessity is often cited as important in the price level. The lowest breakeven oil price that would bring the 2008- 2009 budget into balance in Saudi Arabia is $30 per barrel. The level in the UAE is $40 and in Qatar it is $55. The average breakeven for GCC is $50 per barrel.

Where is Your Gas Money Going?

Trader Mark — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:00:00 +0000

We've discussed this many times in the past [Jan 21: A Tour Through the Middle East] and as I wrote in JanuaryWhile we wring our collective hands about how the infrastructure companies are going to lose all their business as crude drops from $100 to $7...

Bin Laden, Oil Prices & Inflation

Sean Brodrick — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Sometimes your worst fears come back to bite you in the rear. Case in point: In the New York Times, on October 14, 2001 the managing director of an oil consulting firm warned: "If Bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap ... he [...]

Merrill Lynch: Emerging Market Infrastructure Spending Will Surge 80% in the Next Three Years

Money Morning — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:02:13 +0000

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER) has raised its annual infrastructure-spending estimate for emerging markets by 80%, as developing countries try to keep pace... Money Morning is here to help investors profit han...

UBS Embarks on Middle East Expansion

Money Morning — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:08:17 +0000

By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor UBS AG (UBS) yesterday (Tuesday), announced it had obtained a license to operate in Saudi Arabia, joining a growing number of financial firms looking to recoup... Money Morning is here to help investors profit ha...

Oil Crisis Worsening! What’s Next …

Sean Brodrick — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:12:35 +0000

I’ve been pounding the table about an energy crisis for quite some time. As a loyal reader of my Money and Markets column, you might think I’ve been proven right by gasoline soaring over $4 a gallon in 32 states and oil hitting new record highs. But most of what I’ve [...]

OPEC: Brace For $170 Oil This Summer!

Sean Brodrick — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:28:00 +0000

Just a few days ago, OPEC President Chakib Khelil told a French television station the awful truth that U.S. consumers don't want to hear. "I foresee prices probably between $150 and $170 ...

Peak Oil Truths & Consequences

Sean Brodrick — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:30:00 +0000

I hear that along with Peak Oil, the world is now hitting Peak Fertilizer. Well, there's enough BS being spread about the oil crisis that it could solve our fertilizer problem in a jiffy. Much of it ...

Congress Debates High Oil Prices While Corporations and Consumers Pick up the Tab

Money Morning — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:15:11 +0000

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor The price of oil edged up again yesterday (Tuesday), before settling at $137 a barrel flat, as concerns about short-term supplies continues to overwhelm Saudi... Money Morning is here to help investors profit ha...

Saudi oil production increases

James Hamilton — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:37:44 +0000

The recently announced Saudi oil production increases are more modest than had been suggested in some of the earlier rumors. The Oil Drum ([1],[2]) is your source for the meaning of the latest announcements.

Let’s Rally come Monday, go Saudi Arabia

Stockmasters Staff — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:16:03 +0000

Finally some good news, Saudi Arabia is ready to pump more than 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil for the rest of this year if there is demand, and could add an extra 2.5 million bpd of capacity above a current plan to reach 12.5 million bpd by the end of next year, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said at an emergency meeting of oil producing/consuming nations in Jeddah on Sunday.

Get Rich as Gas Goes Supersonic

Sean Brodrick — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:30:00 +0000

I just drove to Orlando, Florida and back — Ouch! My aching wallet! And my little Honda CRV averaged 26.5 miles per gallon on the trip, so my pain from paying for expensive gasoline ...

Saudi Arabia’s Promise to Open the Oil Spigot is Nothing But Spin

Keith Fitz-Gerald — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:08:17 +0000

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report First it called for a meeting of oil producers and oil consumers. Now Saudi Arabia has proposed a boost in oil... Money Morning is here to help investors profit handso...