Citi Sees Gulf Economies Remaining Resilient Despite Oil's Drop
Citigroup Inc. remains optimistic about the prospects for countries across the Middle East despite the recent drop in oil prices.
Countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are working hard to deepen their capital markets, according to Carmen Haddad, a vice chair of Citigroup's private bank. That should help them attract the foreign direct investment they need to pull off their ambitious plans to transform their economies and rely less on crude income.
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New York Times
22 minutes ago
- New York Times
Live Updates: Israel Launches New Strikes on Tehran
Israel's latest wave of attacks on Iran took out Tehran's main gas depot and its central oil refinery in separate parts of the capital, engulfing its sky in smoke and flame early Sunday. The Shahran fuel and gasoline depot, which has at least 11 storage tanks, was hit and set afire during the Israeli attack that began on Saturday night, Iran's oil ministry said in a statement. Shahran is in an affluent neighborhood of luxury high rises. 'The fire is terrifying, it's massive; there is a lot of commotion here,' said Mostafa Shams, a resident of the area. 'It's the gasoline depots that are exploding one after another, it's loud and scary.' Separately in the city's south, Shahr Rey, one of the country's largest oil refineries, was also struck, according to Iranian state news media. Emergency crews were trying to contain the fire, and a resident of Tehran, Reza Salehi, said he could see the flames from miles away. Israel's targeting of Iran's energy facilities, a crucial source of export cash for the country as well as of domestic energy, represented a significant escalation in its military campaign against Tehran. Earlier on Saturday, Israel had struck two key Iranian energy sites, including a section of the South Pars Gas Field, which is one of the world's largest and critical to Iran's energy production. Video Credit Credit... WANA, via Reuters 'We have entered the second phase of the war, which is extremely dangerous and destructive,' Abdollah Babakhani, an expert on Iran's energy sector based in Germany, said on Saturday. But the multiple massive explosions targeting energy and fuel targets in and around the capital spread fear among residents. Israeli warplanes also struck sites in Tehran related to Iran's nuclear program, including experimental laboratories, according to two Israeli defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive operational details. A woman named Shirin, who lives near the gasoline depot in northern Tehran and asked that only her first name be used out of fear for her safety, said neighbors were frantically calling each other asking what to do. She said the explosion was so loud that her mother fainted. Shirin's husband was worried about fuel and gasoline shortage following the attack. 'Israel is attacking left and right; it's not just military targets, this is our livelihood and our lives,' Shirin said in a phone interview from Tehran. She was also angry at the government in Iran, she said, for not providing any guidance or shelter for civilians caught in the crossfire. Hamid Hosseini, a member of the energy committee of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, said Iran's municipality had been discussing moving the Shahran fuel depot from the residential area in northern Tehran for years, fearing an attack or an accident could be catastrophic. The attack on the depot set off massive explosions, according to an official at the oil ministry, who said the depots were exploding one after another and threatened to significantly damage residential neighborhoods in the area. The depot has about 8 million liters per day of gasoline entering its storage tanks and has a capacity to hold about three full days of fuel needs for Tehran, according to the ministry official. Israel did not immediately respond to request for comment on the strike.
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Israel Striking Dozens of Targets in Iran
Smoke and fire rise from an oil refinery in southern Tehran. (atta kenare/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Egypt Leads Mideast Stock Losses Amid Strikes; Israel Rebounds
(Bloomberg) -- Most Middle Eastern markets dropped on Sunday as investors signaled growing concerns of a wider conflict amid tit-for-tat attacks by Israel and Iran. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban As Part of a $45 Billion Push, ICE Prepares for a Vast Expansion of Detention Space Do World's Fairs Still Matter? Egypt's main stock index was the worst performer among markets that opened for the first time since the attack began on Friday, posting the biggest losses in more than a year on concerns that a halt in Israeli gas production will lead to fuel shortages in the import-dependent country. Its currency weakened past the 50-per-dollar mark at local bank trades. Israel's equity benchmark ended higher, erasing intraday losses, as defense supplier Elbit Systems Ltd. rallied. In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul gauge's declines were limited by Aramco, which gained on the back of higher oil prices. The escalation comes at a challenging time for Middle Eastern equities after they underperformed global markets so far this year, dragged by oil-price volatility, geopolitical uncertainty and fiscal strains in some countries including Saudi Arabia. The weekend's events have already dented hopes for a quick end to the hostilities and boosted demand for haven assets such as gold and the dollar. 'It is no surprise that with an open-ended Israel-Iran shooting war under way, that regional markets have been pounded too, as far as Egypt, which has seen gas supplies from Israel cut off,' said Hasnain Malik, a strategist at Tellimer in Dubai. 'The spike in oil price reflects the risk of Iranian exports going offline but not serious disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global oil falls.' Israel and Iran continued to bombard each other for a third day, their long-standing enmity erupting into open conflict on the heels of hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon. It has already led to the cancellation of nuclear talks between Iran and the US and undermined cross-asset bets in the region predicated on a return of peace. Egypt's EGX 30 Index fell as much as 7.7%, before paring losses to 4.6%. All its 31 stocks posted declines, while the pound traded as weak as 50.6 units per dollar, according to local-bank quotes. Israel shut down production at its biggest natural gas field over the weekend, stopping supplies to Egypt. Israel's stock index rose 0.5% as of 4:05 p.m in Tel Aviv thanks to a 6% jump in defense supplier Elbit. The maker of rockets, drones and aerial defense systems for Israel's army said last month it's betting on growing business in Europe as well. The Saudi market mostly joined the selloff as 222 of the benchmark index's 253 stocks posted losses. However, the impact was offset by gains for Saudi Aramco, which rose 1.8% on the back of Friday's surge in crude prices. Other markets across the region including Kuwait and Qatar retreated. Investors' key concern remains oil supply chains and prices. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced more than 7% to settle near $73 a barrel on Friday, for the biggest one-day jump since March 2022. 'In the most negative scenario of a complete disruption to Iranian oil supply and a closure of the strait of Hormuz, oil could rise to above $120 per barrel,' said George Saravelos, global head of FX strategy at Deutsche Bank AG. --With assistance from Galit Altstein, Omar Tamo and Tarek El-Tablawy. (Updates prices throughout.) American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years As Companies Abandon Climate Pledges, Is There a Silver Lining? US Tariffs Threaten to Derail Vietnam's Historic Industrial Boom ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
