Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As we close in on the weekend — and the halfway mark for January — we’re continuing to see debt taking a leading role in the news cycle as SEC secured a USD 1.5 bn loan and SAL Saudi Logistics and Waja are the latest to take sukuk issuances to market.

Maaden is in the spotlight this morning as it announced adding some 7.8 mn ounces of gold to its mineral resources, led by the Kingdom’s largest gold mine, Mansourah Massarah, in Makkah Province and the new Wadi Al Jaww discovery in the Arabian Shield.

WEATHER- Light rain is expected in parts of Tabuk, Al Jouf, and the Northern Borders, while dust and sand storms will affect the Eastern Province, Northern Borders, Al Jouf, and Riyadh, significantly reducing visibility in these areas.

  • Riyadh: 19°C high / 8°C low.
  • Jeddah: 29°C high / 21°C low.
  • Makkah: 31°C high / 24°C low.
  • Dammam: 25°C high / 12°C low.

Watch this space

DIPLOMACY — Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar and Oman, are pushing the US to refrain from attacking Iran, after the White House “warned them to be prepared for such an attack,” the Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed Gulf officials. The three countries — led by Saudi Arabia — are appealing to US President Donald Trump by stressing on the potential repercussions an attack on Iran would have on oil markets, and by extension the US economy, according to the officials.

MACRO — The World Bank has revised downward its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s GDP growth this year to 4.3% in its latest Global Economic Prospects report (pdf). We’ll dive into the broader forecast for the region and what could be behind the downgrade in tomorrow’s issue.

GAMING — PIF subsidiary Savvy Games is getting some USD 12 bn worth of the sovereign fund’s stakes in gaming companies, Bloomberg reports, citing a document it has seen. The transferrals include shares in Nintendo, Bandai Namco Holdings, Koei Tecmo Holdings, NCSoft, and others. The move is part of an investment plan to put Savvy in control of PIF’s investments in games, “given Savvy is a leading games organization for the PIF and a core component of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy,” Bloomberg quotes a Savvy spokesperson as saying.

Data point

5.6k — that’s the number of licensed hospitality facilities in the Kingdom as of 3Q 2025, up 40.6% y-o-y, according to a General Authority for Statistics report (pdf). Hotel room occupancy reached 49.1% over the same period, up 2.9 percentage points y-o-y, while occupancy for serviced apartments and other facilities saw a slight drop to 57.4%.

Room rates: The average daily hotel room rate fell 3.6% y-o-y to SAR 341 over the same period, with an average stay of 4.1 nights, whereas serviced apartments saw rates increase 4.1% to SAR 208 a day, with an average stay of 2.1 nights.

Sports

Portuguese defender João Cancelo rejoined FC Barcelona from Al Hilal on a loan agreement until the end of the season, FC Barcelona said in a statement yesterday. The move marks the 30-year-old’s second spell at Barca, having previously played for the Catalan side during the 2023-2024 season, when he featured in 42 matches across La Liga and the Champions League.

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The big story abroad

There’s two big business stories making the rounds this morning: US-based luxury retailer Saks plans to file for bankruptcy, but is finalizing a USD 1.75 bn financing agreement that would keep its stores open. Plus: Netflix is considering turning its takeover bid for Warner Bros into an all-cash offer, a move that would help solidify it as the stronger suitor after Paramount Skydance (along with Gulf investors and Larry Ellison) made an all-cash, USD 108.4 bn hostile takeover bid for the company.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has ramped up his threats of US interference in Iran, telling protesters that “help is on its way” on Truth Social. White House officials have been meeting to discuss the situation in Iran, where the death toll has reached 2k, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

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