The two biggest stories on Planet Finance this morning are out of Saudi Arabia: Aramco’s blockbuster USD 12 bn share sale sold out in hours — and Opec+ has said it will start phasing voluntary oil production cuts later this year. We have the rundown on both stories above in the news well and in What We’re Tracking Today.

Other stories making the rounds on an otherwise quiet(ish) news morning:

#1- EMs fall short in 1Q earning results: Nearly half of the companies in the MSCI Emerging Market Index missed analyst expectations with their 1Q 2024 results. Blame China’s slow economic recovery, rising wage costs and other expenses, sluggish consumer spending, and tighter monetary policy, Bloomberg writes.

How bad is it? MSCI EM companies’ average profits are down 10% quarter-on-quarter, marking eight “quarters of misses” for the average EM company, writes the outlet, according to its reading of MSCI index and earning estimates.

The worst performers: Industrial companies, financial institutions, tech firms, and real estate developers.

#2- Are Elon and Jamie Dimon besties again? That’s the Wall Street Journal ’s contention, noting that the Tesla / X boss and JPMorgan chief “spoke at an exclusive JPMorgan summit, opening the door to their working together again” after “years of feuding.”

#3- Chipmaker Nvidia looks set to surpass Apple in market value to become the world’s second-most valuable company behind tech giant Microsoft. Nvidia’s stock has tripled in value over the past year, and accounted for more than a third of the S&P 500’s gains in 2024. (Reuters)

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are solidly in the green in early trading this morning. Of the major benchmarks we follow, only the Shanghai Composite is flat. US and European stock futures were up slightly overnight as western markets look forward to the first trading day in June. (Anybody else wondering where the first five months of the year went?)

TASI

11,625

+1.0% (YTD: -2.9%)

MSCI Tadawul 30

1,455

+1.3% (YTD: -6.2%)

NomuC

26,118

+1.9% (YTD: +6.5%)

USD : SAR (SAMA)

USD 3.75 Sell

USD 3.75 Buy

Interest rates

6.5% repo

5.5% reverse repo

EGX30

26,869

-0,2% (YTD: 7.9%)

ADX

8,862

+1.3% (YTD: +7.5%)

DFM

3,977

+0.2% (YTD: -2.0%)

S&P 500

5,278

+0.8% (YTD: +10.6%)

FTSE 100

8,275

+0.5% (YTD: +8.8%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,984

0.0% (YTD: +10.2%)

Brent crude

USD 81.11

-0.9%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.59

+0.6%

Gold

USD 2,346

-0.9%

BTC

USD 67,798

+0.1% (YTD: +60.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL: TADAWUL-

The TASI rose 1.0% yesterday on turnover of SAR 5.6 bn. The index is up -2.9% YTD.

In the green: East Pipes (+8.9%), Shaker (+8.6%) and Mouwasat (+8.6%).

In the red: Astra Industrial (-3.9%), Tasnee (-3.2%) and Maaden (-2.6%).

THE CLOSING BELL: NOMU-

The NomuC fell 1.9% yesterday on turnover of SAR 68.8 mn. The index is up 6.5% YTD.

In the green: Group Five (+10.8%), Riyadh Steel (+5%) and WSM (+3.7%).

In the red: Knowledgenet (-9.4%), Alrasheed (-8.3%) and Miral (-7.9%)

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

The board of Nomu-listed AlBabtain Food approved SAR 1.7 mn in dividends at SAR 0.5 per share for 1H 2023, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. Dividends will be distributed Wednesday, 12 June 2024.

Yanbu National Petrochemical’s board approved a dividend of SAR 562.5 mn at SAR 1 per share for 1H 2024, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul. These are set to be distributed by 20 August 2024.

Shareholders of Seera Group Holding agreed to buy back up to 26.4 mn ordinary shares, after the company’s board said the stock is undervalued, it said in a filing to Tadawul. The self-financed buyback must be completed within the coming year.

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