Stalling

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: UAE looks beyond GCC-UK trade agreement + Adia to cash in on Jersey Mike’s US IPO

Good morning, everyone. The job market may be showing signs of cooling, but that hasn’t stopped dealmakers or the UAE’s trade diplomacy push.

Our Big Story today is a contraction in UAE hiring for the first time in over four years, as firms push ahead with recruitment but fail to make it over the finish line. Elsewhere, Mubadala Capital has locked down the final terms on its Pierre & Vacances takeover, with more than 80% of shareholders now signed up to the EUR 1.90 per share offer.

Abu Dhabi’s trade diplomacy is still in full swing, with the UAE eyeing its own bilateral CEPA with the UK, hot on the heels of the wider GCC-UK trade agreement. Speaking of trade, emergency measures from Dubai Customs helped keep AED 33.9 bn worth of trade flowing despite the regional instability.

But first: A vessel was struck by an unknown projectile east of Fujairah’s Dibba, causing damage to its steering gear, the UKMTO said. No injuries to the crew were reported.

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and this year, we're giving the full day to the one question on every business leader's mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, and your own job?

Leaders in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore are asking the same things, and nobody has built a playbook that works yet. We're all figuring it out in real time — and for Egypt, the stakes are unusually high.

Egypt could leapfrog a generation on the back of this technology — or watch AI hollow out the industries and jobs we can't afford to lose. The leaders who get literate early will be the ones who get to decide which road we take.

Every session on stage answers one question: "So, what do I actually do about it?"

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Seats are limited and attendance is by invitation only. Request your invitation here.

UAE looks beyond GCC-UK trade agreement

The UAE isn’t stopping at May’s GCC-UK trade agreement — it wants a bilateral agreement of its own with London, Emirati ambassador to the UK Mansoor Abulhoul told Politico. Abulhoul described the GCC-UK agreement, which was finalized in May, as “a solid foundation,” before adding that the two sides must “move quickly” on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

In the cards: A UAE-UK CEPA would go beyond the GCC agreement, which includes removing duties on exports, facilitating business activity, and targeting sectors like financial services, digital trade, and investment protection, Abulhoul said. Possible outcomes could span increased collaboration on AI, digital trade, and financial services, more UAE investment in the UK, more tariff reduction, and mutual recognition of qualifications for skilled workers like lawyers and engineers, he added.

In parallel, the UAE is looking to join one of the world’s biggest trade blocs, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which agreed to kick off preparatory discussions on UAE accession last month. It’s also continuing its CEPA drive, with trade from countries it has an agreement with reaching AED 304.3 bn in 1H.

AED 79 mn in relief, AED 33.9 bn in trade protected

Dubai Customs says a package of emergency measures rolled out between March and June kept AED 33.9 bn worth of trade moving through the emirate during regional disruptions to shipping routes, even as the direct financial relief behind it was comparatively modest: AED 79 mn in liquidity extended to 428 companies, according to a Dubai Customs statement.

Measures included short-term financial relief with supply chain support, including customs duty installment plans, a 120-day extension for suspended duty cases, an 80% cut in eligible financial penalties, and a Green Corridor that redirected cargo through alternative UAE ports.

The Green Corridor alone helped move more than 203k containers and almost 3.2 mn tons of goods from 188 countries between March and June. Food led the cargo mix at AED 5.3 bn, followed by machinery and electrical equipment (AED 4.24 bn), vehicles (AED 2.21 bn), and plastics (AED 1.5 bn).

L’imad-backed Warner Bros. takeover on ice?

A US federal Judge has temporarily paused Paramount Skydance’s Gulf-backed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, citing a “strong showing” that it unlawfully hampers competition, Reuters reports. A hearing scheduled on 3 August will determine whether to pause the takeover until a trial decides if it violates federal antitrust law.

What now? The USD 110 bn merger — backed by L’imad Holding, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and the Qatar Investment Authority — will cost Paramount mns of USD in so-called ticking fees, owed to Warner Bros. shareholders, for every day past September it is not closed. An adverse court ruling could kill the sale, forcing Paramount to pay a USD 7 bn termination fee on top of USD 2.8 bn already paid to push away Netflix’s bid.

ICYMI: This is a direct outcome of last week’s move by 12 US states to file an antitrust lawsuit claiming that the proposed merger would hamper competition and harm cinemas and television distributors.

Data point

95% — that's the share of private companies covered by Emiratization rules that hit their hiring targets for 1H 2026, state news agency Wam reports, citing data from the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council (Nafis). More than 190k Emiratis are now employed across upward of 32k private companies under the program — well past Nafis' original five-year target of 75k.

Background: Companies with 50 or more employees must raise Emirati representation in skilled roles year over year, with financial penalties of AED 120k annually for each quota position left unfilled from 1 July.

REMEMBER- We've flagged that hitting the quota may be the easier half of the challenge — retention, not hiring, is where companies are increasingly struggling, particularly outside the largest firms.

Adia to sell down stake in Jersey Mike’s US IPO

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) — a disclosed 5%+ shareholder in the US sandwich chain — is selling shares in Jersey Mike’s upcoming IPO alongside majority owner Blackstone, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The sandwich franchisor plans to market about 43.5 mn shares at USD 21-25 each, split between new company shares and roughly 29.7 mn secondary shares from existing holders, including Adia and Blackstone, seeking to raise up to USD 1.1 bn. The offering is expected to value Jersey Mike’s well above the USD 8 bn Blackstone paid for its majority stake in 2024, with reports pointing to a target above USD 10 bn.

This follows a broader wave of UAE capital rotating out of US listings nearly as fast as it goes in. Adia and Advent International cashed in on the IPO of German gas engine maker Innio last month, raising USD 2.4 bn after pricing 90 mn shares at USD 27 apiece in an all-secondary sale. Adia has also paired with Advent last year to acquire a minority stake in Texas-based wealth management firm Fisher Investments that values the firm at USD 12.8 bn.

Ins. issues for airlines

Dubai flights at risk as airlines face ins. squeeze: Despite Dubai International Airport operating “at pretty much full capacity,” European airlines are struggling to secure ins. for regional travel amid renewed regional instability, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths told Bloomberg. International and regional airlines are pulling back once again — having only recently resumed flights to the region — following renewed strikes between the US and Iran.

ICYMI- Prior to the latest flare-up, the ins. issue has pushed Emirates to launch a dedicated travel ins. product to encourage travellers back on board.

PSAs

The UAE's push to create its own domestic card payment rail just hit its biggest milestone yet. Every licensed bank and financial institution in the country will now start issuing Jaywan, the central bank's domestic payment card, in a phased rollout, according to a press release (pdf). Jaywan cards work across PoS terminals, digital wallets, and e-commerce platforms for both domestic and international transactions and support contactless payments and banknote withdrawals.

Why it matters: Jaywan processes domestic transactions locally through UAESwitch instead of routing them through Visa or Mastercard's networks, which officials have said cuts processing costs and keeps payment data onshore.

REMEMBER- Jaywan was introduced in 2024 by Al Etihad Payments, the CBUAE's payments subsidiary, and has rolled out in stages since — first through issuers like Emirates NBD, then through co-badge tie-ups with Visa and UnionPay that extend Jaywan cards to international acceptance. Fintechs Botim and Al Maryah Community Bank (Mbank) became the first non-bank issuers last year.

It's about to get easier to get around Dubai on an e-scooter — or on foot. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has approved a five-year plan to expand the emirate's soft mobility network to 25 more residential areas by 2030, upgrading infrastructure around 63 public transport stations to sharpen first- and last-mile links between homes, metro, and bus stops and key destinations, RTA Director General Mattar Al Tayer said in a statement carried by the Dubai Media Office.

WEATHER- The mercury will hit 41°C in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, before dipping to lows of 31-32°C, according to our favorite weather app.

The big story abroad

International dailies have their hands full with geopolitical and business updates today, leading with blow-by-blow coverage of the regional war.

Yesterday marked the US’ 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, as US forces targeted the country’s capability to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the US Central Command said. US President Donald Trump vowed that Iran would “pay” for killing US soldiers last weekend in Jordan and Iraq.

Andy Burnham became Britain’s seventh prime minister in 10 years, succeeding his Labor Party predecessor Keir Starmer. The former mayor of Manchester pledged to restore the stability previous PMs failed to deliver, promising immediate actions followed by a long-term economic plan later this year to boost living standards.

Is Trump’s trade war back? Washington is set to slap Canada with a 50% tariff on a wide range of goods, as senior Trump administration officials claim that Canadian provinces paused purchases of US alcohol and introduced tariffs on US automobiles. The new levy takes effect in 30 days, exempting energy, potash, critical minerals, and goods already subject to US national security duties.

Anthropic settles in copyright suit over Claude training: A US federal court approved Anthropic’s USD 1.5 bn settlement in a class action lawsuit by authors who accused the AI startup of using their books to train Claude. The case — the largest settlement in a US copyright case — is among dozens of copyright suits brought against tech companies over their LLM training models.

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UAE hiring shrinks for the first time in four years as firms recruit to the final stage, then pause on uncertainty

Hiring in the UAE suffered its first quarterly contraction in more than four years. Cooper Fitch’s 2Q 2026 Gulf Employment Index, seen by EnterpriseAM, puts UAE hiring activity down 4% q-o-q in 2Q, the sharpest fall in staffing levels since August 2020. But the behavior behind this figure is more nuanced than it might appear — companies are running searches to the very end and then not hiring anyone.

“They are recruiting right up until the final stage, but not making the final hire,” Cooper Fitch CEO Trefor Murphy tells EnterpriseAM. He describes a holding pattern that has now dragged on for months. Initially, the thinking was that this trend would come to an end in June, which then became July, and is now more open-ended.

What’s behind this pattern? The cause, Murphy tells us, is less about any single shock than the stop-start rhythm of the US-Iran war. “Nothing kills confidence like uncertainty,” he says. “We went from a military conflict to an MoU on a peace process, and then [the strait] was blocked, unblocked, blocked, and unblocked,” Murphy explains, adding that the stop-start cycle is worse than a continuous conflict where the expectations are clear. “When it is stop-and-start, it is really difficult,” he says.

The regional hiring picture is uneven, and it tracks exposure to those disrupted trade routes. GCC hiring fell 3% overall in 2Q, with Qatar down 6% on its reliance on energy exports and Gulf shipping, Kuwait and the UAE down 4%, and Bahrain down 2%. Only Saudi Arabia and Oman grew, each up 1%, largely due to Hormuz bypass capacity. The UAE’s June PMI fell to 50.8, its weakest reading in more than five years, and the central bank raised its 2026 inflation forecast to 2.3% on supply pressures tied to the regional situation.

Beyond the headline figure, hiring didn’t stop so much as narrow to what firms could not do without. Companies funded roles tied to active delivery, revenue protection, financial control, regulatory requirements, and operational continuity, while broader expansion became harder to justify. Hiring in finance grew 5% and in investment management 6% on the back of ADGM and DIFC fund activity, while hiring in the mining industry grew 5% on Saudi exploration licensing — all defensible, delivery-linked activity.

The elephant in the room: AI

One line in the data cuts against the gloom: Hiring for data- and AI-related jobs grew 4%, even as hiring for software positions fell 6% and cloud jobs dipped 4%.

One take is that AI is bucking the downturn, but Murphy isn’t sold. “AI is being oversold to us by big tech, much like they oversold cyber, data, security, and consulting services throughout my career,” he says. “Our 4% growth figure might just be a recovery from a quiet 1Q” or just a reflection of the harsh market reality: AI is a tool firms are reaching for because of the freeze — a way to hold or cut headcount while keeping the work going.

Others say the AI momentum is real in places like the UAE and precedes the overall market slowdown: “The UAE’s AI momentum reflects a deliberate effort to embed AI across the economy, not just within the technology sector,” Bivek Sharma, chief technology and AI officer at PwC Middle East, tells us, with the pull now for talent “that can apply AI in operations, services, and decision-making.” According to PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, the share of UAE postings requiring AI skills tripled from 1.0% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2025.

PwC’s figures come with a few caveats: The Barometer covers the period between 2021 and 2025, so it stops before the market turned. It describes the years the UAE was still adding jobs, not the 2Q 2026 freeze. And even within PwC’s own data, that rising share sits on a shrinking base: total postings fell across every level of AI-exposed jobs between 2024 and 2025, with the most AI-exposed occupations shedding the most. A bigger slice of a smaller market can signal structural change as easily as growth.

BACKGROUND- Cooper Fitch’s index tracks new job prospects across the GCC using its own placement data. It measures what firms are actually recruiting for right now — which is why it caught the 2Q freeze that broader adoption surveys, built on job-ad counts or annual data, would miss. PwC’s barometer, meanwhile, looks at postings, regardless of whether they end up filled or not.

What’s next?

The impact of AI is now genuinely felt in how many UAE firms approach new hires — and this looks like cutting jobs, on one end. For a wealth management platform like Abu Dhabi-domiciled Sarwa, there’s a basic test for any new hire or contract: “It’s become less of, ‘Do we need this or not?’ and more of, ‘Can this be done by AI or not?’” Mark Chahwan, co-founder and CEO, tells EnterpriseAM.

Sarwa used an AI model for a recent Arabic-language website audit — not so long ago, that would once have gone to an agency. “AI is going to drive down costs” for some tasks, Chahwan says. “This is the kind of task that, instead of taking a few weeks, can now be done in an hour,” he adds.

Upskilling teams will be critical to many companies as AI skills become a requirement, regardless of position. Chahwan tells us that Sarwa’s chatbots now handle roughly half of inbound queries, with the firm deliberately keeping and expanding human support alongside them. Where Sarwa hires, it has stopped treating AI as a category of its own. “One of my really close friends, an engineer at Sarwa, started to say, ‘I haven’t written a line of code in so long,’ because it just became like a co-pilot,” Chahwan says. “The terms ‘AI engineer’ or ‘AI roles’ will probably disappear as it gets embedded in all jobs.”

“The biggest opportunity is not just hiring a handful of expensive AI specialists, but equipping the wider workforce with AI skills,” PwC’s Sharma says. “[Organizations] that combine targeted specialist hiring with large-scale upskilling will be best positioned to capture long-term value” — which is essentially what Sarwa’s Chahwan is saying about AI literacy becoming “part of all roles.”

And while this upskilling push will cut into the premiums some have been paying for general AI skills, execs in high-level positions with stand-out AI skills will likely have a window in which they can command higher salaries — for a little while longer, at least. PwC puts the AI wage premium in UAE financial services at 92%, against a 16.8% global average. Asked about hiring competition and premiums, Sarwa’s Chahwan says: “It’s more from the seniority, I would say, than just the fact that it’s AI. Because it’s so important to the C-suite and strategy, generally, the pay will come for someone who can have influence, steer people, and has the technical know-how.”

What to watch for in hiring — short- and long-term: In the near future, it’s about a ceasefire, not technology. “It is very hard to see hiring momentum returning without a permanent ceasefire,” Murphy says. His base case is a slow recovery, with a flat 3Q and a better 1Q next year. And as the recovery materializes, long-term tells are whether we see structural changes in the market, like AI offerings continuing to grow, all the while the larger job market offerings are shrinking.

Mubadala checks another box on its Pierre & Vacances buyout

Mubadala Capital and Pierre & Vacances signed the tender offer agreement setting final terms for the Abu Dhabi investor’s takeover of the French leisure group, according to a press release. Mubadala has now locked in commitments from shareholders representing 80.13% of the company’s outstanding share capital, while the board has already given its unanimous approval, pending its formal reasoned opinion once an independent fairness review and works councils weigh in.

Who’s in? Fidera Limited (which has a 26.72% stake in the firm), Benefit Street Partners (24.96%), Pastel Holding (8.60%), and Pristine, the state-linked lender trustee (11.49%).

The terms haven’t changed: The sovereign investor is offering EUR 1.90 per ordinary share in banknotes, with a further EUR 0.10 top-up available if Mubadala reaches 90% and delists the company — valuing Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs at roughly EUR 900 mn (c. USD 1.1 bn).

What’s next: Filing of the formal tender offer is still expected by 1Q 2027, pending regulatory clearances, the board’s final reasoned opinion, and shareholder vote on the EUR 0.11 extraordinary distribution built into the offer at an EGM slated for 30 September. Closing is now targeted for 1H 2027.

ADVISORS- PJT Partners is serving as sole financial advisor to Mubadala on the acquisition, while Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Freshfields are providing counsel. Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Natixis, and Société Générale are acting as presenting banks.

REMEMBER- Emirati sovereign players have increasingly been looking to Europe’s resort scene, with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority acquiring a significant minority stake in European Camping Group last year — building on its existing portfolio, which included a 17-hotel, EUR 600 mn takeover in Spain. Dubai-based developer Select Group also acquired three golf and country club resorts in the UK earlier this year.

Sanad closes out 1H with record revenue

Sanad posts record 1H revenue: Mubadala’s aerospace engineering and leasing arm Sanad Group reported 1H revenue of AED 4.31 bn, up 35% y-o-y, in a press release. International customers accounted for 99% of the total, and the company signed eight new commercial agreements worth AED 95.5 mn during the period.

The maintenance business drove the numbers: Sanad inducted 120 engines, up 33.3% y-o-y, and lifted engine deliveries 53.8%, putting it on track for about 300 shop visits a year by the end of 2026. In its first full operating period, Sanad’s new Asset Management division deployed around AED 165 mn and expanded its portfolio to 17 engines following 11 new acquisitions, alongside launching a Trent 700 rebuild program.

Behind the results: Sanad invested more than AED 800 mn over the past two years, including a AED 480 mn repair center in Al Ain due to open by 2030 and a GTF engine MRO center set for late 2028 that it says will be the world’s second largest. It also extended its Trent 700 work with Rolls-Royce to 2031 and added Lion Air and Air Canada as engine maintenance customers.

BoA taps HSBC veteran as MENA corporate bank lead

Bank of America (BoA) has appointed a new corporate banking head for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), it said in a press release. Khaled Darwish (LinkedIn) will be based in Dubai and will join BoA from HSBC, where he previously served as head of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Debt Capital Markets. His career also includes tenures at JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch.

Core42, e& team up on sovereign AI + BitDelta secures CMA greenlight

A sovereign AI play

e&, Core42 team up on sovereign AI offering: Abu Dhabi telecom group e& and G42’s sovereign cloud and generative AI subsidiary Core42 are teaming up on rolling out local AI infrastructure for both local and international firms, according to a press release. Companies will be able to use Core42’s AI infrastructure, which will be connected through e&’s network.

IN CONTEXT- The latest in-country move comes after Core42 announced a doubling down on its US presence, with plans to boost capacity by 42 MW to 60 MW at its AI infrastructure site in New York.

BitDelta secures CMA greenlight

Dubai-headquartered BitDelta Securities has secured regulatory approval for a category 5 license from the Capital Market Authority (CMA), according to a press release. The greenlight allows the crypto and digital asset exchange to operate as a regulated introducing broker for asset classes including FX, commodities, equities, ETFs, and futures.

A new player joins Sphere Abu Dhabi

Canada’s AtkinsRéalis will act as lead multidisciplinary design and supervision consultant on the construction of Sphere Abu Dhabi, according to a press release. The project uses a Design and Build framework, where both organizations operate in clearly defined, complementary roles, the company said.

AtkinsRéalis joins Dubai-based construction firm Alec, which was awarded the construction of Sphere Abu Dhabi last month. The project which will open on Yas Island in 2029, in a contract valued at USD 1.7 bn.

REMEMBER- The venue will match the 20k-seat capacity of the Las Vegas original, with DCT Abu Dhabi overseeing funding and construction. Sphere Entertainment will provide tech expertise, operational support, and creative content, earning annual fees once the arena opens.

Morgan Stanley turned the AI buildout into a bond market

Wall Street has quietly built a new bond market on top of the AI buildout, and Morgan Stanley is selling most of the paper, the Financial Times reports. The bank cracked a specific problem: how to get mainstream bond buyers — ins. pension funds, asset managers who would never touch a construction loan — to bankroll server farms. Its answer was to stand a USD-tn tech company behind the bond.

The agreement that set the template: Data-center developer TeraWulf raised USD 3.2 bn at 7.75% on a bond that Google effectively guaranteed, with most of the compute it funds already booked to Anthropic. Morgan Stanley made the paper palatable by lifting protections from project finance, routing the lease income into a locked account that pays bondholders first, and then stacking on extra collateral.

It worked well enough, it seems. The bank has since moved more than USD 40 bn in similar bonds, plus a USD 27 bn financing for Meta’s Hyperion site and a USD 35 bn chip deal for Broadcom. The reward shows up in the league tables, with Morgan Stanley’s capital-markets fees jumping to USD 2.3 bn in 1H from USD 1.4 bn a year earlier — a near-doubling that carried it past Goldman Sachs into second place globally, behind only JPMorgan, the salmon-colored paper says, citing LSEG data.

The whole structure works because of whose name is on the guarantee — which is also where the trouble starts. A hyperscaler’s promise is money-good, and the bond prices like it. Push the same structure onto the AI labs actually renting the compute — the OpenAIs and Anthropics still burning banknotes — and the credit thins fast.

The market already charges for the difference: Morgan Stanley priced one CoreWeave loan backed by a hyperscaler at 225 bps over the benchmark, and a near-identical one backed by two AI labs at 450 bps. And the pipeline is filling with more of the riskier kind.

There are also fewer hard assets underneath than there used to be. The newest structures separate the building from the chips and finance the chips against their rental contracts rather than their resale value. If the company renting the chips stops paying, bondholders are left holding a shed full of depreciating silicon.

The bigger worry is concentration dressed up as breadth. Turning data centers into tradable bonds has widened the pool of money funding AI — and tied it all to a single assumption, that demand for computing will keep climbing. “We’ll get to a place where AI infrastructure bonds are the majority of the annual supply of new-money non-investment-grade debt,” Morgan Stanley’s leveraged finance co-head William Graham told the FT. “It is the fastest-growing segment of the market and the first time to have a new segment in the market in the last 20 years.”

The tell is that some of Wall Street’s biggest lenders are edging back: Rivals don’t want to be seen leading a business that's turned data centers politically radioactive in parts of the US, and JPMorgan’s CFO said the bank looked at some of these terms and decided “we're not doing that.”

What to watch? The gap between hyperscaler-backed and lab-backed paper. As more debt leans on the labs instead of big tech, whether that spread widens is the cleanest early gauge of how nervous investors are getting. Moody’s, which is watching Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s balance sheets closely, is conceding there is no precedent for a capex cycle this size, and no playbook for what happens if it turns.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asia-Pacific markets are up this morning, led by South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei as investors try to benefit from last week’s steep selloff. Shaping investor sentiment for the rest of the week will be the wave of upcoming big tech earnings.

ADX	9.751	-0.3% (YTD: -2.4%)
DFM	5,796	-0.3% (YTD: -4.2%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,620	-0.4% (YTD: -5.5%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.7% o/n	4.1% 1 yr
TASI	10,742	+0.2% (YTD: +2.4%)
EGX30	53,126	+1.1% (YTD: +27.0%)
S&P 500	7,443	-0.2% (YTD: 8.7%)
FTSE 100	10,525	-0.7% (YTD: +6.0%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,227	-0.1% (YTD: +7.4%)
Brent crude	USD 88.94	-0.3%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.85	-0.4%
Gold	USD 4,025	+0.2%
BTC	USD 65,510	+1.5% (YTD: -25.2%)
Chimera JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.70	+0.3% (YTD: -1.3%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	151.13	-0.2% (YTD: -0.5%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	18.65	-0.6% (YTD: +24.8%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX fell 0.3% yesterday on turnover of AED 722.7 mn. The index is down 2.4% YTD.

In the green: Burjeel Holdings (+6.5%), Abu Dhabi National Co. for Building Materials (+3.3%), and Lulu Retail Holdings (+2.1%).

In the red: Gulf Cement Co. (-4.1%), Waha Capital Company (-4.0%), and Sudatel Telecommunications Group Company (-3.6%).

Over on the DFM, the index fell 0.3% on turnover of AED 446.4 mn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was down 0.4%.

CALENDAR

JULY

28-29 July (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

SEPTEMBER

1-3 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Middle East Energy, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

7-9 September (Monday-Wednesday): AIM Congress, Dubai World Trade Center.

7-9 September (Monday-Wednesday): International Property Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

12-13 September (Saturday-Sunday): Emirates International Congress on AI & Visionary Leadership in Transforming Healthcare, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

14-17 September (Monday-Thursday): Arabian Travel Market, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

15-16 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

17-19 September (Thursday-Saturday): International Real Estate & Investment Show (IREIS), Adnec, Abu Dhabi.

29-30 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): AFCM Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi.

OCTOBER

4-10 October (Sunday-Saturday): World Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

5-7 October (Monday-Wednesday): AI Everything Global, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

12-14 October (Monday-Wednesday): Airport Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

14-15 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Sharjah Investment Forum, Jawaher Reception and Convention Center, Sharjah.

13-15 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders, Dubai.

20-22 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Arab Competition Forum, Dubai.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

30 October (Friday): Large businesses achieving annual revenues equal to or above AED 50 mn must appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation.

Signposted to happen sometime in October 2026:

Abu Dhabi Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

NOVEMBER

2-6 November (Monday-Friday): Dubai Future Finance Week, Dubai.

4 November (Wednesday): Digital Transformation Summit, Sofitel, Abu Dhabi.

9-10 November (Monday-Tuesday): Annual government meetings, Abu Dhabi.

9-12 November (Monday-Thursday): EMEA Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education Conference, Dubai College of Tourism, Dubai.

10-12 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Dubai International Electric Vehicle Exhibition & Conference, Dubai World Trade Center.

16-18 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Police Summit, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

18-19 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Touchdown Middle East 2026, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

25-26 November (Saturday-Sunday): Doers Summit, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai.

DECEMBER

2-4 December (Wednesday-Friday): UN Water Conference, UAE.

4-6 December (Friday-Sunday): Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Capital Market Summit, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Water & Power Week, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

1 January: Deadline for large businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1Q 2027: Completion of the first phase of Hassyan seawater desalination project;
1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): World Governments Summit;
31 March: Small businesses with annual revenues of less than AED 50 mn are obliged to contract with an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
31 March: Government entities are required to appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
21-22 April (Wednesday-Thursday): Token2049, Dubai;
1 July: Deadline for small businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1 October: Deadline for governments to implement e-invoicing;
Abu Dhabi’s solar and battery energy facility, combining 5.2 GW of solar capacity and 19 GWh of battery storage, is set for commissioning.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2028:

Artificial Intelligence Summit.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2029:

Sibos 2029 organized by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Dubai;
Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi;
The commissioning of the seventh phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

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Stalling

An independent publication supported by

Today at a glance

THIS MORNING: UAE looks beyond GCC-UK trade agreement + Adia to cash in on Jersey Mike’s US IPO

Get Enterprise daily

Related

This publication is proudly sponsored by

UAE hiring shrinks for the first time in four years as firms recruit to the final stage, then pause on uncertainty

Related

Mubadala checks another box on its Pierre & Vacances buyout

Related

Related

Sanad closes out 1H with record revenue

Related

Related

BoA taps HSBC veteran as MENA corporate bank lead

Related

Core42, e& team up on sovereign AI + BitDelta secures CMA greenlight

Related

Morgan Stanley turned the AI buildout into a bond market

Related

CALENDAR

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An independent publication supported by

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