Good morning, wonderful people. We’re back in your inbox after what seems to have been an eventful weekend, and ahead of a big week for Saudi that will feature the Crown Prince’s first US visit since 2017.

Leading today’s packed issue: Inflation remained contained in October, holding steady at 2.2%. Meanwhile, the Tourise summit’s third (and final) day saw more projects and investments in Saudi’s bustling tourism sector unveiled. Let’s dive in

HAPPENING TODAY-

The two-day Jeddah Fintech Week kicks off today at Jeddah Hilton. The financial markets education event will feature over 50 workshops on investment strategies, fintech innovations, and risk management, bringing together over 40 experts from 20 countries to share their insights.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

Cityscape Global kicks off tomorrow at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center and runs until Thursday, 20 November. Organized by Tahaluf, the event will feature urban and investment projects, real estate firms from 120 countries, and discussions on real estate technologies, investment, and financing. Last year’s edition concluded with SAR 230 bn in real estate agreements, including multi-bn-SAR investments by PIF-backed Roshn, the National Housing Company, and the Real Estate Development Fund to promote home ownership.

PSAs-

#1- Title deed registration for 142.8k properties across 104 neighborhoods in Hail will begin on Sunday, 23 November and run until Thursday, 26 February 2026, the Real Estate General Authority said in a statement on Thursday. Owners can register online via the Real Estate Registry platform or at service centers.

#2- Today is the last chance to register for the Absher Tuwaiq Hackathon, the Academy said on X. The national competition invites innovators to develop digital solutions for security and government services, with tracks including Absher service innovation, IoT and field technologies, digital identity security, and AI for security prediction. It features a prize pool of up to SAR 1 mn, with additional support of SAR 450k for the top three projects from the National Technology Development Program and MVPLAB. The remote hackathon will run from 23 November to 10 December, with the in-person event running between 11-13 December.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s US trip on Tuesday will reportedly feature the full pomp of a state occasion, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing an unnamed senior US official. The itinerary includes an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, a Cabinet Room lunch for agreement finalizations, and an East Room dinner hosted by First Lady Melania Trump.

F-35 sale moving forward? Trump is expected to approve the sale of 48 Lockheed MartinF-35 fighter jets to the Kingdom, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing an administration official. The sale has already cleared major hurdles at the Department of of War and is now under review by War Secretary Pete Hegseth ahead of the visit, the Telegraph reports.

The Pentagon is not as keen: A Pentagon report warns that China could gain access to F-35 technology through espionage or its military ties with Riyadh, New York Times reports. China has supported Saudi missile development, raising US security concerns similar to those that stalled a previous UAE F-35 transaction under Biden. Preserving Israel’s regional military edge as the only Mideast country with F-35s is another US concern.

ALSO- Aramco is expected to sign two US liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreements with Woodside Energy and Commonwealth LNG during the visit, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources it says are in the know. The Commonwealth LNG pact would see the oil giant secure up to 2 mn tons per annum (mtpa) from a proposed Louisiana facility, while the Woodside agreement is expected to include a stake in its USD 17.5 bn Louisiana project and an offtake for up to 2 mtpa. Aramco is targeting 20 mtpa of US LNG capacity, with 4.5 mtpa already under development, according to CEO Amin Nasser.

AND- The Trump Organization is in talks to add a Trump-branded property to the Kingdom’s USD 63 bn Diriyah project, with CEO Jerry Inzerillo telling the New York Times that an agreement is “just a matter of time.” The comments align with statements from Dar Global, the Trump Organization’s main foreign partner, whose CEO Ziad El Chaar signalled more collaborations with Saudi gigaprojects. Trump-branded projects are already planned in Jeddah and Riyadh.

ICYMI- A US-Saudi Business Council meeting and investment summit is set for Wednesday, 19 November and is likely — though not confirmed — to be attended by the Crown Prince and Trump.

#2- The Public Investment Fund (PIF) reportedly held early-stage talks with Aston Martin chair Lawrence Stroll about potentially taking the luxury carmaker private, the Financial Times reports citing three people in-the-know. The PIF — already the company’s second-largest shareholder with a 17% stake — is reportedly exploring the move as Aston Martin faces deepening losses, rising debt, and repeated net income warnings.

Aston Martin denied the news, officially stating to the salmon-colored paper it is “not in talks with PIF about being taken private,” while the PIF declined to comment.

The potential take-private would add another major automotive bet to the PIF’s growing portfolio. The fund has already invested heavily in US EV-maker Lucid, which supplies EV powertrain technology to Aston Martin, and is developing an automotive manufacturing hub in the Kingdom, including its own EV brand Ceer and a JV with Hyundai in King Abdullah Economic City.

#3- The Saudi stock market is experiencing a “liquidity drought,” with recent trading sessions seeing values fall below SAR 3–4 bn, Naif Al Rajhi Investment’s Hesham Abou Jamee told Al Arabiya on Thursday. Raising foreign ownership limits alone would not revive the market, calling instead for full access to all foreign investors, Abou Jamee argues. However, the proposed move could gradually lift daily liquidity to SAR 7–9 bn.

The government has been rolling out capital market reforms to address the issue: Saudi Arabia is moving to open its main market directly to foreign non-residents under new draft rules. The CMA has also overhauled fund regulations to open the market to foreign funds and fintech distributors while strengthening risk rules, and it is also making it easier for GCC retail investors to invest directly in the main market.

DATA POINTS-

The Kingdom’s research and development (R&D) expenditure rose 30.4% y-o-y in 2024 to SAR 29.5 bn, according to the latest data (pdf) from the General Authority for Statistics. Government bodies accounted for the largest share of funding in 2024 at 53%, followed by the business sector at 41%, with higher education contributing the remaining 6%. Meanwhile, the number of R&D employees increased 14.7% y-o-y last year to 56.6k, while the number of researchers rose 12.8% y-o-y to 41.6k.

OIL WATCH-

Opec kept its global oil demand growth projections unchanged at 1.3 mn bbl / d for 2025 and 1.4 mn bbl / d for 2026, according to its monthly oil report (pdf). Demand in the Middle East is forecast to climb by 108k bbl / d in 2025 to average 9 mn bbl / d, led by higher consumption in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the UAE.

Demand for Opec crude was revised down by 100k bbl / d from last month’s assessment to 42.4 mn bbl / d. For 2026, demand for Opec crude is seen at 43 mn bbl / d, also 100k bbl / d lower than the previous projection. This implies a small surplus of around 20k bbl / d next year, assuming production remains at October levels.

On the supply side, Opec’s output stood at 28.5 mn bbl / d in October, with the UAE pumping some 3.3 mn bbl / d based on direct communication with the organization. Opec’s secondary sources put the UAE at some 3.4 mn bbl / d. The figures line up with a recent Reuters survey that estimated Opec’s October output at 28.43 mn bbl / d.

The IEA tells a slightly different tale: The International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its demand growth forecasts by 80k bbl / d for 2025 and by 70k bbl / d for 2026, with both years remaining under the 800k bbl / d mark, Reuters reports, citing the agency’s latest monthly oil report. Stronger petrochemicals feedstock consumption underpinned IEA’s projection.

On the supply front: The agency now expects world oil supply to climb by 3.1 mn bbl / d in 2025 to an average of 106.3 mn bbl / d, , according to the report. A further 2.5 mn bbl / d is expected to be added in 2026, reaching 108.7 mn bbl / d. Both figures mark an increase of roughly 100k bbl / d from last month’s forecast.

Wider surplus on the horizon: The global oil market could swing to an even larger glut next year, with a potential 4.1 mn bbl / d surplus as output rises while demand softens, IEA projects. That would widen the implied 2026 mismatch between supply and demand by 120k bbl / d from the 3.97 mn bbl / d surplus flagged in the agency’s October report, according to the newswire.

PIF WATCH-

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) cut its US stock holdings to USD 19.4 bn in 3Q 2025, down from USD 23.8 bn in the previous quarter, Argaam reported, citing US Securities and Exchange Commission data. The fund fully divested from nine companies — including Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Visa, Walmart, Adobe, and Booking — and closed all options positions across 42 firms. Meanwhile, it kept stakes in six companies, including Lucid Group, Uber, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Allurion Technologies, and Clarivate.

***You’re reading EnterpriseAM Saudi, your essential daily roundup of business, economics, and must-read news about Saudi, delivered straight to your inbox. We’re out Sunday through Thursday by 7am Riyadh time.

EnterpriseAM Saudi is available without charge thanks to the generous support of our friends at Tas’heel and Hassan Allam Properties.

Want to send us a story idea, request coverage, ask for a correction, or otherwise get in touch? Reach out to us on saudi@enterpriseAM.com.

DID YOU KNOW that we also cover Egypt, the UAE, and the MENA logistics industry?

Were you forwarded this email? Tap or click here to get your own copy of EnterpriseAM Saudi delivered every weekday.
***

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

A broad sell-off took hold of equities on Thursday as concerns around extreme valuations of AI firms and the US Federal Reserve potentially slowing its easing cycle spurred market jitters. Wall Street posted its worst day in a month, with the S&P 500 sinking 1.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling 2.3%, as heavyweights like Nvidia and Tesla faced steep losses. Even BTC extended its downturn, falling below USD 100k to its lowest level since May. (Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg | Reuters)

** We have more on the possible trajectory of rate cuts in this morning’s Planet Finance, below.

.. and a flurry of trade agreements: The US secured trade frameworks with Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala and Ecuador, as well as a dual agreement with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Guatemala, El Salvador, and Argentina are down to a 10% tariff rate, while Ecuador, Switzerland (which committed to invest USD 200 bn in the US in the next three years) and Liechtenstein are going to stand at 15%. (Foreign Policy | Semafor)

Exemptions, too: President Trump exempted agricultural imports like coffee, cocoa, tea, beans and some beef products from tariffs, in a bid to soften the political blowback resulting from higher prices in store shelves. (CNBC)

ALSO- Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched a rocket with a pair of Nasa aircraft heading to Mars, deploying the aircraft 20 minutes later and recovering its booster following its separation from the aircraft in a major milestone for the company, which is competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. (Reuters | Bloomberg | AP)

AND A SIGN OF THE TIMES- Three of the songs topping music charts on Spotify this week were generated by AI, with two of them by now-viral AI-generated country artist Breaking Rust. (Guardian)

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido) General Conference will take place from 23 to 27 November at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. The five-day event — Unido’s supreme policymaking organ — runs once every two years and defines the organization’s policies, approves its budget and work programs, and elects board members. It will run following the Ministerial Conference for Least Developed Countries on 22 November, creating a joint platform that connects ministers, corporate leaders, investors, and innovators.

Tags: