Middle East Investors - Articles & White Papers

Islamic finance and sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) investing may appear to be completely unrelated approaches. Islamic finance prohibits riba (lending at risk) and excessive gharar (sale of risk). SRI investing has environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations at its core, but it still depends on…

Over the fourth quarter, equites performed strongly, while government bonds retreated somewhat. Key factors influencing financial markets during the period included a slight improvement in certain US economic data and relief that scheduled US tariff increases against China were not implemented in December. In addition, the…

This scorecard by S&P Dow Jones Indices looks back at the performance of Shariah indices in Q4 2019.

OPEC is faced with a wide range of uncertainties, which are perhaps best reflected in the gulf in narratives between the bulls and the bears. For the bulls, OPEC is in a strong position: the declines in non-OPEC supply are structural while the slowdown in global economic growth is temporary. Based on this view, a mini super-…

This 46-page report by the OECD provides unique comparative data about who owns the 41,000 listed companies around the world. These companies have a combined market value of more than USD 80 trillion, equivalent to the global GDP. Today, more than half of this amount is held by institutional investors and the public sector.…

In my post from a couple of days ago, I valued Aramco at about $1.65 trillion, but I qualified that valuation by noting that this was the value before adjusting for regime change concerns. That comment seems to have been lost in the reading, and it is perhaps because (a) I made it at the end of the valuation and (b) because…

In this blog post, Aswath Damodaran examines the imminent listing of Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil colossus. In a year full of interesting initial public offerings, Damodaran says that it is fitting that the last IPO he values this year will be the most unique, a company that after its offering is likely to be the most…

The third quarter of 2019 was nothing short of eventful. We saw the conclusion of Saudi Arabia’s inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index and official confirmation of the upcoming much anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of Aramco only to be eclipsed by an escalation of regional risk following the unprecedented…

PGIM Fixed Income's Giancarlo Perasso discusses recent trips to the middle east, as well as the economic outlook within Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.

The Gulf producers are the world’s largest crude oil exporters,with most of their crude – sold via long-term contracts – flowing eastward. But oil market dynamics are shifting, reinforcing certain existing trends and creating new ones: East of Suez crude balances over the next decade highlight Asia’s growing crude import…

Fixed income markets declined over November. Ten-year and two-year US Treasury yields stepped higher, while the FTSE World Government Bond Index fell back 1.16%. Emerging market (EM) bonds (as measured by the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Global (EMBIG) Diversified, which tracks hard-currency EM government bonds)…

In this podcast, David Ledesma discusses with Mike Fulwood, Senior Research Fellow at the OIES, the short- medium- and long-term outlook for LNG.

This report by Law Business Research examines the world of Islamic finance and markets around the world. Over 12 chapters, it covers select jurisdictions including Bahrain, Cayman Islands, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Oman, the UAE, and more.

A massive gap in how much capital Gulf countries need and what they have available for investment threatens to stifle the region’s economic and social development. This report by Oliver Wyman examines the trends driving the region’s growth and the increased need for more and better infrastructure. It outlines the extent of…

Climate Accountability Institute has released a new dataset quantifying how much each of the largest oil, natural gas, and coal companies has contributed to the climate crisis since 1965. They find that the top 20 companies have collectively contributed 480 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and methane, chiefly from the…

It’s now been three weeks since a drone attacked and knocked out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production and, if one hadn’t read the news and just casually glanced at the futures and options markets, one would never know that anything had been amiss. Oil prices (Figure 1) are smack in the middle of their recent range. The 14…

An escalation of military tensions in the Middle East would likely grab the market’s attention. We assess how geopolitical risks could impact portfolios.

Shariah-compliant investing has grown considerably in recent decades, as the Islamic investment community has demanded increasingly sophisticated investment solutions that adhere to the tenets of Islamic law. As a result, the need for high-quality, transparent, Shariah-compliant benchmarks has developed. Today, Islamic…

A review of the week's top global economic and capital markets news.

In canceling its planned initial public offering (IPO) marketing efforts in North America, Europe and Asia, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) has become the latest fossil fuel producer to be caught up in growing investor anxiety related to long-term oil demand.