Middle East

The majority of Gulf stock markets declined in the early trading on Monday as oil prices fell. Investors awaited the release of a number of U.S. Economic data after the end of government shutdown. After a two-day suspension, loadings at Novorossiysk, the Black Sea port which had been attacked by the Ukrainians, resumed after the suspension. Brent traded at $63.91 per barrel as of 0810 GMT. The benchmark index in Qatar fell 0.6% due to a broad decline. Industries Qatar dropped 1.4% while Qatar National Bank eased 1%. Dubai's benchmark index fell 0.3% due to pressure from consumer staples, real-estate...

The oil prices dropped on Monday, wiping out the gains of last week, as loadings were resumed in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, which had been suspended for two days following an attack by Ukraine. Brent crude futures fell 53 cents or 0.82% to $63.86 per barrel at 0423 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded at $59.53 per barrel, down 56c or 0.93% since Friday's closing price. Both benchmarks gained more than 2% Friday, ending the week modestly after exports at Novorossiysk & a Caspian Pipeline Consortium Terminal in the neighbouring city were suspended. This affected the...

Airbus' regional aircraft fleet in the Middle East is expected to double by 2044 to 3,700 planes, a senior official revealed on Sunday. Airbus's Head of Marketing for Africa and the Middle East, Grainne Van den Berg, told a recent press conference that the European planemaker anticipates Middle East passenger traffic to grow at a rate of 4,4% per year over the next 20 years. Van den Berg said that Airbus expects services in the region will double by 2044 to $29.9 billion. The forecast was made ahead of the Dubai Airshow - the Middle East's largest aviation event, which...

The major Gulf stock markets fell on Thursday morning, mainly due to persistently low oil prices and a series of disappointing corporate earnings reports. Oil prices, which are a major catalyst for Gulf financial markets, fell on Thursday. This was a continuation of the losses that were made in the previous session. A report showing increased crude inventories at the U.S. confirmed concerns that global supplies would be more than enough to meet the current fuel demand. OPEC's report on Wednesday showed that the world oil market would see a small excess in 2026, after OPEC+ production increased and other...

AD Ports Group, based in Abu Dhabi, announced on Thursday that it had signed an agreement to purchase a majority stake in a container port in Syria's major commercial port for $22million. This is the latest indication of how Syria continues to attract investment in its efforts to rebuild. AD Ports, a joint venture with the France-based CMA CGM Group shipping company, will purchase a 20% stake at the Latakia International Container Terminal. The terminal is the dominant trader of agricultural and industrial products, handling 95% of Syria’s container volume. Syria is looking to raise money from international investors to...

According to LSEG and market sources, Russia's seaborne gasoil and diesel exports dropped 4% from September to 2.37 million metric tonnes, due to seasonal and unplanned refinery shutdowns that reduced fuel production. Market sources reported that exports of ultra low-sulphur fuel via Primorsk fell 5.7% on a month-to-month basis to 0.906 millions tons. LSEG data shows that Turkey remained the top buyer of Russian gasoil and diesel, with imports increasing 1%, to 1.0 millions tons. The shipment to Brazil dropped 73%, to 74,000 tonnes. According to LSEG, Brazil increased its diesel imports due to the shrinking Russian supply. Brazil imports...

Emirates Group announced on Thursday that its net profit grew by 13% to $2.9 billion for the six-month period ending September. The company cited a strong and consistent travel demand in all regions, which boosted their airline's business. The Gulf carrier is continuing to recover from the pandemic and consolidating Dubai's status as a global hub for aviation. In a press release, Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum stated that "global demand for air travel and travel services have been buoyant despite geopolitical events in some markets and economic concerns." Emirates Group plans to increase capacity with...

Iraqi government awarded $764 million to Corporacion America Airports, a Luxembourg-based company, and Amwaj International of Iraq. The companies announced the award in a joint statement released on Wednesday. Amwaj CEO Namir El Akabi said the project will be a build, operate, and transfer model over a period of 25 years, starting with the expansion of the airport’s capacity up to 8.5 millions passengers in the initial phase through the construction of a brand new terminal. Phase 1 of the project is expected to be finished in three years. Baghdad’s international airport was constructed in the 1970s-80s. Since then, little...

Sources in maritime industry said that the European Union's anti-piracy force had deployed a warship off the coast of Somalia, after a suspected pirate band tried to target vessels in the area. Sources from the maritime industry said that armed assailants fired at a commercial oil tanker Monday off the coast of Mogadishu after they attempted to board it. This was the first incident of suspected Somali piratery of this kind since 2024. The attack, as well as other incidents, has raised concern for the shipping lanes through which vital energy and goods are shipped to global markets. This week,...

According to two industry sources, and LSEG ship tracking, Russia's Black Sea Port of Tuapse suspended fuel exports while the local refinery halted crude processing following the November 2 Ukrainian drone attack on its infrastructure. Ukraine announced on Sunday that its drones had struck Tuapse - one of Russia's major Black Sea oil port - causing an explosion and damage to at least one vessel. This was part of Kyiv’s effort to undermine Russia’s war economy through targeting its energy infrastructure. The regional administration confirmed that the strike caused an fire in the port. Since several months, Ukraine has been...

Sources from the maritime industry said that armed assailants fired at a commercial oil tanker Monday off the coast of Mogadishu after they attempted to board it. This was the first incident of suspected Somali piratery of this kind since 2024. Maritime sources reported that if confirmed, it would be the first Somali pirate attack on a merchant vessel since May 2024. This could pose a risk to the vital energy and goods being transported through this region. In a report, British maritime risk group Vanguard stated that the vessel was about 332 nautical mile (615 km), off the coast...

Mostakbal Misr, Egypt's grain buyer of state, said on Thursday that several shipments of wheat which had been held up for weeks in Egyptian ports because payment problems were now cleared to be unloaded after the issues were resolved. Since early October, eight vessels carrying approximately 200,000 metric tonnes of wheat were stranded due to delays with the clearing of letters of credit. The delay caused delays in unloading and increased costs for shipowners. Mostakbal Misr stated that the payment issues for wheat cargoes which were delayed in Egyptian port had been quickly resolved. As of Wednesday night, the issue...

In October, the share of Russian and Indian aluminum in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell as nearly 50,000 tons from Australia, Indonesia and the Middle East entered the system. LME data released on Monday showed that the percentage of aluminium stock of Russian origin available in LME warehouses fell to 51% from 59% in September. The share of Indian origin also decreased by one percentage point, to 40%. LME has prohibited metal produced in Russia after April 13, 2024 from its warehouse system. This is to comply with U.S. & British sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine 2022. Metal produced...

The third quarter of recent history was both one of best and worst for dealmakers around the world. According to Dealogic, megadeals generated a staggering $1.26 trillion worth of global mergers and purchases during the third-quarter - an increase of 40% over the previous year. This was the second best third-quarter ever by deal value. Data show that only 8,912 transactions were completed, down 16% on last year. This is the lowest third-quarter deal volume for 20 years. Dealmakers are in a strange situation, as they had high hopes for 2025 following the election of Donald Trump. Trump's punishing Tariffs,...

The third quarter of recent history was both one of best and worst for dealmakers around the world. According to Dealogic, megadeals generated a staggering $1.26 trillion worth of global mergers and purchases during the third-quarter - an increase of 40% over the previous year. This was the second best third-quarter ever by deal value. Data show that only 8,912 transactions were completed, a drop of 16% compared to last year. This is the lowest third-quarter deal volume for 20 years. Dealmakers are in a strange situation, as they had high hopes for 2025 following the election of Donald Trump....

These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. Mexico is planning to increase import tariffs on almost 1,500 products including cars, steel, textiles and appliances to protect the domestic industry and job opportunities, particularly from cheap Chinese goods. This comes amid wider trade talks with both the U.S. Oracle has signed an unprecedented $300 billion cloud computing contract with OpenAI to support massive AI expansion starting in 2027. This is one of the biggest tech contracts ever, and signals a high-stakes wager on ChatGPT’s continued...

Israel's military confirmed that a missile fired from Yemen at Israel on Thursday fell in an area open outside Israeli territory. No sirens were activated. This was the third launch of this kind within 24 hours. Yemen's Iran supported Houthis have recently increased attacks and launched missiles in response to Israeli attacks against Yemen. The Houthis launched missiles and drones towards Israel from thousands of kilometers away, calling it an act of solidarity with Palestinians. The majority of missiles or drones that were launched either missed their targets or were intercepted. Israel has responded by bombing areas in Yemen controlled...

Two sources familiar with the matter said that JD.Com's property investment arm and two other firms are planning to launch a Singapore based real estate trust (REIT), with assets valued at potentially more than $1 billion. Sources said that JD Property (the unlisted infrastructure investment platform and asset management platform for JD.Com) is creating the REIT in partnership with Partners Group, a Swiss investment firm, and EZA Hill Property which is backed up by Asian investment firm Hillhouse. Sources who refused to name themselves because the matter was private said that the REIT plan could be listed at the Singapore...

A senior official revealed on Wednesday that Uganda was in discussions with credit export agencies and development finance institutions to have 85% a planned rail project funded with debt. This is due to concerns about the already high public debt. In October of last year, Turkey's Yapi Merkezi was awarded the contract for the construction of the 2.7 billion euro ($3.15 billion) rail. Preliminary works have already begun. Perez Wamburu said that some of the potential financiers are the OPEC Fund for International Development (FIDA), the Africa Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and some European export credit companies. Wamburu...

These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. California-based Palo Alto Networks has entered into talks with Israeli cybersecurity company CyberArk Software to purchase it in a deal valued at over $20 billion. Union Pacific announced that it will buy the smaller competitor Norfolk Southern for $85 billion. This deal will create the United States' first coast-to-coast rail freight operator, and change the way goods are transported across the nation from grains to automobiles. CBL Properties, based in Tennessee, has acquired four malls for the...

The operator of the Greek bulk carrier said that the 19-member crew, which was severely damaged by repeated attacks in the Red Sea, likely carried out by Houthi militants are safe. They will arrive at Djibouti on Monday evening. Michael Bodouroglou said that the fate of the Liberian Magic Seas, which is flying the Liberian flag, was uncertain. The vessel could sink, according to Bodouroglou. The first incident of this kind to be reported since mid-April was Sunday's attack off the southwest coast Yemen. The Magic Seas was targeted by gunfire, rocket-propelled missiles, and skiffs for more than four hour....

An attack on a ship in the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen's southwest coast, was launched by eight small boats using gunfire and grenades. A British maritime agency and a security firm confirmed the incident. The situation continues, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations and British maritime security company Ambrey. The attack was not immediately attributed to anyone. This is the first report on the region by the agencies since the middle of April. The tensions in the Middle East are still high due to the conflict in Gaza, the 12-day Israel/Iran war that lasted for...

Hamas announced on Saturday that it had responded in kind to a ceasefire offer made by Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy for U.S. president Donald Trump. The proposal included a call for an end to war which was previously a redline for Israel. In a press release, the Palestinian group stated that it would release 10 living hostages in exchange for Israel releasing a number Palestinian prisoners. This is in line with Witkoff’s proposal. Hamas' statement continued: "This proposal is aimed at achieving a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza Strip. It also aims to ensure that...

Norway's $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, can begin selling stocks it holds in Russian companies, as long as it complies with worldwide sanctions, the deputy finance minister told Reuters on Friday. Permission to offer the fund's Russian stocks is given on the condition that the sale can be carried out in line with suitable sanctions, Ellen Reitan said in an email. The Norwegian finance ministry bought a halt to all deals in the fund's Russian properties soon after Moscow's. invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and stated at the time that. the ultimate goal was to divest...