Business Headlines

Here Are the Stocks and ETF to Watch After Shock Saudi Arrests

published Nov 5, 2017, 4:59:04 PM, by Arie Shapira

(Bloomberg) —A procession of shocking news out of Saudi Arabia, including the arrests of dozens of high-profile nationals, sparked a whipsaw session in the country’s stock market, which initially sold off as much as 2.2 percent before paring losses to end the day with a gain of 0.3 percent.

The volatility may carry over to other equities.

BlackRock’s iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia Capped ETF, ticker is KSA, is the sole U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund that aims to track an index of stocks from that country, such as the top-weighted chemicals company Saudi Basic Industries. While the ETF may see interest in Monday’s trading, it’s small, with assets of just $17.6 million. An average of about 10,600 shares have traded daily in the security this year, compared with 69.6 million in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF.

Most of the potential stock movers are directly related to investments by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was among the arrested.

Citi (C): Alwaleed’s 95 percent-owned investment vehicle Kingdom Holding Co. has held shares since 1991, boosting its stake during the 2008-09 financial crisis. The prince has said he is one of the biggest single investors in the bank. Twitter (TWTR): Alwaleed owns 4.9 percent of Twitter, according to a filing by the company in February; he pared his investment from 5.1 percent in December 2015 Apple (AAPL): The prince remains a shareholder after buying a 5 percent stake in 1997 Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA): Alwaleed held a 4.98 percent position in Fox as of Dec. 31, 2015; Kingdom Holding press releases as recent as last month mentioned that it still owns a stake in the company JD.com (JD): Kingdom led a group of investors buying a stake in the Chinese online retailer that was valued at $400 million Accor SA (AC FP): Kingdom has a 5.7 percent stake in Europe’s largest hotel operator Energy Recovery Inc. (ERII): Saudi Arabia accounted for 14 percent of the energy solutions provider’s total revenue in fiscal year 2016, up from 3 percent in the prior year, according to Bloomberg data S&W Seed Company (SANW): Saudi Arabia accounted for 16 percent of the smallcap agricultural company’s revenue in fiscal year 2017; S&W reports earnings November 9 post-market Saudi Aramco: A director and member of the royal council overseeing Aramco were among those arrested in the broader purge led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is leading a push to sell a stake in the company Lyft: Kingdom bought a 5.3 percent stake in 2015 and purchased more shares from Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund last year; the Uber competitor is one of several large tech IPO candidates that may go public in 2018.

The Author

Walt Alexander

Walt Alexander

Walt Alexander is the editor-in-chief of Men of Value. Learn more about his vision for the online magazine for American men with the American values—faith, family & freedom—in his Welcome from the Editor.

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