Good morning, everyone, and happy THURSDAY. Our issue wraps up an incredibly busy week for the Kingdom, led by the flurry of agreements signed at the high-profile US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington. Over USD 260 bn in new agreements were signed yesterday, with a heavy focus on the AI sector.

Things were also busy in Riyadh with more real estate agreements signed, including at Cityscape’s third day, as well as strong demand for Cherry Trading’s retail offering, and an SAR 2 bn sukuk issuance wrapped up from Cenomi Centers. Let’s dive in.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- Subscription for Lavenco Aluminum Systems’ IPO on Tadawul’s parallel market Nomu will run until Tuesday, 25 November, after it was extended from 18 November, the company said in a supplementary prospectus (pdf). Qualified investors can each subscribe for a minimum of 10 shares and a maximum of 75k over the ten-working-day subscription window. The final share allocation was also pushed for five working days to be announced on Sunday, 30 November.

#2- Public schools start their autumn break today, kicking off the longest holiday of the first semester. The ten-day break applies to students, teachers, and administrative staff, ending Saturday, 29 November.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

Chips are finally here: The US Commerce Department approved sales of advanced AI semiconductors to Saudi and the UAE in a long-anticipated decision coinciding with the Crown Prince’s visit to Washington.

The approval authorizes PIF’s AI champion Humain and UAE’s G42 to purchase up to 35k GB300 processors from Nvidia, provided they meet “rigorous security and reporting requirements,” according to the department’s post on X.

AI has been a big theme of the visit. Humain swept up a flurry of partnerships with top US companies to deploy data centers and compute power. We have the details in today’s lead story.

Does Paramount’s Ellison want Saudi backing for Warner Bros. bid? David Ellison, who acquired Paramount this year for USD 8 bn, has reportedly held preliminary and “active” talks with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and other Gulf investors to secure financing for a potential bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the Financial Times reports, citing anonymous sources.

Discussions have not reached a final agreement, and the potential Gulf backers are not expected to be named in Paramount’s initial non-binding offer due today, the salmon-colored paper reported.

Rumors, rumors: A Variety report claiming the Ellison family was forming a USD 71 bn consortium with the PIF, Qatar’s Investment Authority, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority was denied by Paramount Skydance, which called the report “categorically inaccurate.” The company is reportedly considering increasing its offer from USD 23.5 per share to around USD 30, valuing WBD at about USD 74.3 bn, with 80% in banknotes and 20% in stocks, Axios and Reuters report.

Why it matters: The acquisition of WBD, which owns significant assets including its flagship movie studio, HBO, CNN, and franchises like Harry Potter and Batman, would position Paramount to better compete against rivals such as Netflix and Comcast.

Not for lack of interest in entertainment: The PIF voiced plans to increase its total annual deployment to USD 70 bn after 2025, with international investments potentially increasing and becoming more strategic, like the USD 55 bn Electronic Arts (EA) acquisition to boost Saudi’s gaming industry.

DATA POINTS-

#1- Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US treasuries inched up 0.9% m-o-m for the fourth consecutive month in September to USD 134.3 bn, according to data from the US Treasury Department. These included USD 106.1 bn in long-term bonds, comprising 79% of the total, and USD 28.2 bn in short-term bonds, accounting for 21%, according to Argaam.

On an annual basis, September’s reading marked a 6.7% y-o-y decline from the USD 143.9 bn recorded in the same month last year. Despite the annual decline, the Kingdom maintained the 18th spot among the largest investors in US treasuries in September. Japan topped the investors list with USD 1.19 tn, followed by the UK with USD 865 bn.

#2- Consumer spending via point-of-sale (PoS) transactions in the Kingdom fell 4.6% w-o-w in the week ending 15 November, reaching just under SAR 13.1 bn, according to the Saudi Central Bank’s latest weekly report (pdf). The number of transactions also went down by 1.2% w-o-w to 232.7 mn.

The details: Food and beverages accounted for the largest share of spending during the week, despite dropping 5.3% w-o-w to just under SAR 2.0 bn, followed by restaurants and cafes, which slipped 1.6% w-o-w to SAR 1.6 bn. Spending on apparel, clothing, and accessories dropped 4.1% to SAR 1.2 bn, and education spending fell 29.5% w-o-w to record SAR 126.8 mn.

Few activities saw an increase, including hotels, which rose 1.9% w-o-w to 318.8 mn, and trade of vehicles and spare parts, which inched up 0.6 % to SAR 513.7 mn. Saudi spending on gas stations saw a marginal uptick of 0.1% to SAR 981.4 mn.

Riyadh recorded the highest value of PoS transactions at SAR 4.7 bn, followed by Jeddah at SAR 1.8 bn.

OIL WATCH-

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports climbed to their highest level since February in September, hitting 6.46 mn bbl / d, up from 6.41 mn bpd in August, Reuters reports, citing data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative. The figure is higher than the 6.42 mn bbl / d Bloomberg estimated last month.

All up: Crude production in the kingdom also rose to 9.97 mn bbl / d in September, the highest since April 2023, and refinery throughput jumped to 2.94 mn bbl / d, the newswire added. Direct crude burn dropped to 485k bbl / d.

SPORTS-

Liv Golf kicks off offseason signings by adding Victor Perez to Cleeks GC, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Perez replaces Frederik Kjettrup and joins Martin Kaymer, Richard Bland, and Adrian Meronk. The Frenchman, finishing 108th in the PGA Tour Fall standings, was removed from this week’s RSM Classic following the move.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The international press is dominated by Nvidia’s stronger-than-expected earnings, which helped lift the S&P 500 after four straight days of losses. In Washington, US President Trump ended months of resistance by signing a bill requiring the release of the Epstein files.

Nvidia reported stronger-than-expected earnings, reporting 3Q revenue up 62% to USD 57 bn and net income of USD 31.9 bn, and lifting its outlook for 4Q to about USD 65 bn — comfortably above analyst estimates. CEO Jensen Huang pushed back on talk of an AI bubble, saying “There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our vantage point, we see something very different.” (Reuters | CNBC | The Financial Times | The New York Times | Bloomberg)

Nvidia’s earnings offered a temporary reprieve to investors after days of mounting anxiety over whether AI trade had overheated, with the S&P 500 breaking a four-day run of declines, though down more than 1% for the week. (CNBC | Reuters)

Across the Atlantic, the EU moved to dial back its long-running crackdown on Big Tech, unveiling a “digital package of simplification” aimed at easing rules on AI and privacy and potentially eliminating cookie-consent pop-ups (Semafor)

AND- US President Donald Trump signed a bill to release the files related to Jeffrey Epstein — a sharp reversal after months of a fight that exposed deep rifts within his own party. (The Associated Press | CNBC | Reuters | CNN | The New York Times | Bloomberg)

Closer to home, Israel intensified airstrikes across southern Lebanon, killing at least one person as it continues near-daily operations to prevent Hezbollah from rearming. This coincides with escalating violence in Gaza, where Israeli bombardments killed at least 25 Palestinians, threatening the fragile truce could unravel. (Reuters | CNN | The New York Times | Bloomberg)

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