Saudi Arabia is an important country in the oil market and a member of the OPEC. Known for its production of natural gas and petroleum, it also has an emerging stock market called the Tadawul. It is the main stock exchange among the Gulf countries since 2007. Being a relatively new exchange, it did not offer derivative products like options or futures. But now the stocks in Saudi Arabia are gaining the attention of investors and fund managers as they are soon going to be listed in the emerging-markets benchmark.

The Dubai market has had a terrible few years due to the real-estate slump which is the backbone of the country’s economy, but despite that investors believe that the Dubai market offers better gains than the Saudi market.

But should investors switch to Saudi or the Dubai market is the question that needs to be answered?  

Some of the views expressed by experts:

Change global investments portfolio manager, Thea Jamison was of the opinion that the market in Saudi Arabia is expensive and when compared to Dubai, the returns and the operating margin are ‘not attractive’. Thea, says that the Saudi stocks are rallying due to the MSCI inclusion and thus the investors are optimistic about the stocks, but many companies are cautious about making any investments. Moreover, with the Saudi government adding stimulus to help the economy, companies will be under pressure to profitability making Dubai stocks a better option at least for now.

RWC Partners said that when compared to Dubai shares, the Saudi shares have always been expensive with fewer earnings for the value as the stocks have reached its maximum price. The RWC considers Dubai as a place which is good for companies which are looking to expand and foray into the African and the Middle Eastern markets due to it being a business hub. The property stocks in Dubai is expected to do well and yield great results. James Johnstone, who is the head of the RWC partners said, “We think the UAE has reached the bottom of its real-estate cycle. We have been using the opportunity to reduce some of our Saudi holdings and reallocate it back into the property stocks that are very cheap and attractively priced.”

The Saudi market is likely to join the MSCI emerging index from May and with Dubai posting strong fourth-quarter things deciding on where to invest is not going to be easy.

While the trade war with China rages, United States President Donald Trump has decided to focus on another trade agreement and this time he has turned his gaze at the preferential trade agreement with India, another giant economy in Asia. On Monday, the US President stated that preferential trade agreement is going to be ended for India since it is not in the US’ best interests. For decades, India has enjoyed being exporting products to the US to the tune of $5.6 billion per year without paying any duties. This move is directed at ending asymmetrical trade with India and remains a part of Donald Trump’s larger promise of substantially curbing the country’s trade deficits.

In a letter to the leaders of the United States Congress, Trump stated, “I am taking this step because, after intensive engagement between the United States and the government of India, I have determined that India has not assured the United States that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India.” A copy of that letter has been sent to the Government of India as well, and the measures could go into effect in 60 days.

The entire issue is related to India being part of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme that gives preference to certain developing countries. The US believes that high tariffs imposed by India on US products and regulation that has hurt US companies have made the whole thing untenable. It is believed that one of the biggest reasons behind this move is the new regulatory measures for e-commerce companies that were imposed by India, earlier this year. Those measures adversely affected the businesses of Amazon India and Walmart’s Flipkart. Both companies have invested billions in the country, and the sudden change in the ground rules has not been taken kindly.

The being said, the Government of India is not perturbed at all regarding the move, and a source inside the government told Reuters that the ‘actual benefit’ received by the country stands at around $250 million. It is not a particularly large amount in the large scheme of things; however, the source did add that he hoped that this does not lead to barriers to trade with the US. Considering the fact that India is going to have its elections this year; it would be interesting to see if New Delhi retaliates in any way to this move from Trump.

The U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve again about its tight monetary policy which has made the dollar strong and as a result hurt the country’s competitiveness. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Trump said that the gentleman at the Federal Reserve Bank likes a very strong dollar. Although, Trump mentioned his preference for a strong dollar, he mentioned that he would rather have a dollar that is strong and yet does not prohibit the United States from delaying with other nations.

Trump had made the economy an important part of his political platform. As a result, he has been repeatedly critical of the country’s central bank and its chairman, Jerome Powell. Although, Trump himself had appointed Powell, he remained critical of the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates several times last year. With rising concerns about slowing global economy trade war between the U.S. and China as well as financial markets volatility, the United States central bank has indicated that it will remain patient about the further tightening of the monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve had raised interest rates four times in 2018 as a part of tightening the monetary policy. On Saturday, Trump talked about lowering the dollar by avoiding quantitative tightening and by leaving the interest rates alone. He also mentioned that a weaker currency helps improve the competitiveness of a country’s exports. Powell, Chairman of Federal Reserve, has made it clear that he will not bow down to political pressure. He has already given a clear signal of the central bank’s independence in January 2019 by saying that he will not be resigning if requested to do so by Trump. This followed the reports in December that the United States President had discussed the feasibility of firing the Federal Reserve Chairman with his advisors after the interest rates were raised again by the Fed.

The Federal Reserve’s measure of purchasing large quantities of U.S. government bonds in order to boost economic growth especially during the financial crisis is called quantitative easing. This measure was taken by the Federal Reserve, which dropped its overnight lending rate to zero in order to lower long term lending rates.

According to investors, the Federal Reserve’s attempts at trimming its four trillion dollar balance sheet by at least $50 billion a month has resulted in tightening financial conditions. The Federal Reserve’s benchmark overnight lending rate is at present between 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent.

The US and China negotiators are very close to reach out to a deal to end the trade war. The Trumps administrator is thinking of withdrawing almost entire tariff hike on the Chinese products. The US can only remove the tariff hike if and only if China abides by its promise of protecting intellectual property rights and purchasing American goods, sources informed to Wall Street Journals.

There are important issues that still remain to be settled; meanwhile, the deal is still in discussion. US and China have agreed on a deal that needs Beijing to buy larger American agricultural goods, energy goods and seeks to remove some barriers that do not allow American Companies to operate in China. If China accepts the above condition, then the US is ready to remove its tariff hike on Chinese goods of worth 200 billion dollars out of 250 billion dollars of Chinese imports which are currently under the American charges.

One of the most important sticking points is whether the tariffs should be immediately withdrawn by the US or should the US wait for a little more time so that they can keep an eye over China and see whether it is following its promise, the sources mentioned. The US seeks to go ahead with the threats of tariffs hike to pressurize China and to make sure that China does not back out of the deal and withdraw the taxes completely when Beijing has implemented all the promises made in the agreement.

During the ongoing negotiation, the US had urged China not to bring in World Trade organizations cases in response to the US tariffs which needs to be levied so as to execute the deal, a person familiar with the talks informed.

The Summit Dates between the US President Trump and Chinese President Xi still needs to be finalized, delegates from both the side stated. The Wall Street Journal reporters had earlier mentioned the summit date to be on March 27 so as to end the trade war.

Sources say that China has presented that it will reduce the tariffs on Chemical, US farm, auto and other US products. Few sources also say that China may purchase natural gas of worth 18 billion dollars and also promises to speed up the process of withdrawing foreign ownership limitations on ventures namely Auto industries and to decrease the tariffs on imported vehicles by less than 15 percent, Wall Street Journal reports suggest.

Meanwhile, Trump along with his Economic team members have given a positive signal of reaching out a deal and sealing it. Earlier, Trump had extended the plan of increasing the tariff hike on Chinese goods that was supposed to take place on March 1.

On Friday, citing the delay over the tariff hike, US President had mentioned Beijing to remove all tariffs immediately that are levied against the US agriculture products.

The U.S and Chinese delegates are regularly in touch with each other through phone or video conference to strike the details of the deal.

However, the Trump administration is pressurizing China to approve the enforcement mechanism so that if China fails to keep its promise, then the US can immediately impose the tariffs hike on Chinese goods. Trump was accusing China of illegal trade practices for a year now and also delaying the promise of moving the economic power back to the US.

The Chinese delegates have offered to increase the purchases of American goods by around 1.2 trillion dollars for the next 6 years, a person familiar with the negotiation stated. But, it is still not known how Beijing is going to follow it if the tariffs hike will not be lifted along with other trading barriers, the person added further. In 2017, China had purchased around 130 billion dollars of US goods, reports according to the US figure.