Middle East: Petrodollar ’shopping spree’ to continue
Middle East: Petrodollar ’shopping spree’ to continue
London, 21 Sept. (AKI) – Middle East oil exporters will continue their global ’shopping spree’, including multinationals and banks, despite a likely fall in oil prices in 2008, according to one of the world’s biggest investment firms.
Morgan Stanley says oil-exporting countries have been accumulating assets around the world and that the trend will continue,as made evident with Dubai’s state-owned stock exchange seeking a 20 per cent stake in the US Nasdaq stock market on Thursday.
“We are possibly witnessing the biggest shopping spree in history, as oil producers keep accumulating foreign assets,” says Serhan Cevik, Morgan Stanley analyst for Middle East and North Africa.
“Unlike the 1970s when the oil windfall was channeled into bank deposits, today’s oil riches are being used aggressively to build diversified holdings of assets and investment projects.”
Apart from the Nasdaq proposal, oil producers have moved into plastics, banking, financial companies and real estate in recent years, the investment firm says.
Morgan Stanley says they have been accumulating assets at an annual rate of 2.1 per cent of global GDP since 2000 – and 3.6 per cent this year.
Data provider Dealogic says Middle East firms have spent almost 66 billion dollars so far this year, after a total of 30.8 billion dollars spent during all of 2006.
“There is a huge windfall gain coming from higher oil prices,” Cevik said. “This is unlikely to disappear any time soon, despite a threat of a slowdown especially in the US.
“Oil prices remain robust and it is not going to disappear.”
The Bush administration has signalled plans to review the proposed move by Dubai’s exchange into the US Nasdaq stock market.
The Nasdaq Stock Market and Borse Dubai reached a deal in which Dubai would buy 20 per cent of Nasdaq and take its 28 per cent stake in the London Stock Exchange.
As part of the deal announced on Thursday, Dubai will withdraw from the bidding for OMX, a Stockholm-based equity market operator.
In a separate deal, the emirate of Qatar bought 20 per cent of the London Stock Exchange and about 10 per cent of OMX
President George W. Bush said the deal would be scrutinised under a recent law that reviews foreign investments in US companies. It will be considered by an interagency committee led by the US Treasury.
“We are going to take a good look at it as to whether or not it has any national security implications involved in the transaction,” he said. And I’m comfortable with that process”, Bush said.
The latest deals have provoked a worldwide debate about the power of the big spending Gulf emirates, cashed up by rising energy prices and economic growth. On Thursday crude oil topped 83 dollars a barrel and was trading at around 81 dollars on Friday.
Morgan Stanley says slower demand, especially from the US, will lower the price from an average of 67.1 dollars a barrel to 58.8 dollars in 2008 and then rise to 61.6 dollars in 2009.
“This could be a meaningful correction, but not dramatic enough to alter the growth cycle in oil-exporting countries or to lead to the withdrawal of petrodollar liquidity,” Cevik said.
The US interagency committee on foreign investments will begin a 30-day examination of the deal. Then it is expected to proceed to the US Congress for further scrutiny.
Nasdaq is one of the world’s largest stock exchanges with listings for about 3200 companies, including some of America’s biggest technology companies such as Microsoft Corporation and Apple Inc.
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Business/?id=1.0.1331180955
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Comment : By Canukistan_View
Excellent move. ACCUMULATION OF GREEN PAPER AND FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS BASED ON GREEN PAPERS ARE WORTHLESS. The only question when the USA government will throw the towell.
The fact that “We are possibly witnessing the biggest shopping spree in history, as oil producers keep accumulating foreign assets,” IS TELLING US THAT HUGE AMOUNT OF DOLLAR ARE BEING CHANGED FOR HARD TANGIBLE ASSETS as the dollar keep falling against every currency in the world!
But USA government hates this idea Because it competes with their strategy and spoil their game i.e. PRINT MONEY OUT OF THIN AIR AND CONVERT THEM IN HARD ASSETS AROUND THE WORLD.
This is why they are preventing the Arabs (USA ports, now NASDAQ), Chinese (UNOCAL) etc. FROM BUYING USA OF WESTERN EUROPEAN ASSETS AND CORPORATIONS. If every country in the world dump the USA and convert them in real assets – as the decline of the dollar is guarantee by the Federal Reserve printing press and Bush expensive war agenda, THEN WHO IS GOING TO HOLD THESE PAPERS? It will collapse the USA economy and the USA dollar! Inexorably is coming!
NOW ALL FREE TRADE RULES AND REGULATIONS ARE JUST CRAP By reading the next paras. you will notice that Free Trade IS A ONE WAY STREET FOR WESTERN POWERS. USA can buy anything BUT THE REST OF THE WORLD CANNOT! “President George W. Bush said the deal would be scrutinised under a recent law that reviews foreign investments in US companies. It will be considered by an interagency committee led by the US Treasury. “We are going to take a good look at it as to whether or not it has any national security implications involved in the transaction,” he said. And I’m comfortable with that process”, Bush said.”"
So that’s the end of free trade and fair game! FOR SURE AL HARD ASSETS SELL TO ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY DIMINISH NATIONAL SECURITY OF ANY COUNTRY as the new comers will have access to politics, technologies, banking system, employment as a way to introduce their agents, etc. So if the Arabs wants NASDAQ they will have access to the scams, insider and all the corruption actually controlled by USA zionist-nazi bankers. NO WAY JOSE!
Morgan Stanley PREDICTS lower demand and therefore lower price The lower DEMAND is just crap! USA consumption will go down for sure as they are most likely already in a RECESSION that will be prolonged and therefore will become DEPRESSION before this decade is over. But at the same time, as commodity prices keep going higher due to US dollar decline but mainly due to the RISE OF NEW ECONOMIC POWERS (China, India, Russia, Brazil) they will pick up the demand and keep the PRICE RISING TO $ 140!
The other crap is LOWER PRICE! As the oil is traded and price in dollar this is impossible! BECAUSE THE USA DOLLAR IS MORE BANKRUPT TODAY THAN IT WAS YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IT WILL BE EVEN CLOSER TO THE ABYSM AS NEVER BEFORE.
USA government keep printing papers like no tomorrow because there is no tomorrow for the US dollar! This is why they went to war and they are escalating those wars IN AN ABSOLUTE DESPERATE, CRIMINAL AND GENOCIDAL GAMBLING TO SAVE THE USA EMPIRE AND WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM!
JUMP BABY JUMP! The boat is sinking and won’t make it to shore
PEOPLE JUST DO NOT WANT TO BELIEVE THE DOLLAR IS DEAD, they refuse to change their thinking, they refuse to think out of the box and most of time they do not know where the box is in the first place! So folks let’s ensure your pink glasses are off and yes the landscape look like shit because it is real s***t!
I posted extensively few days ago saying THE WESTERN EMPIRE CURRENCIES AND FINANCIAL SYSTEM ARE BANKRUPT AND THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DOLLAR IS THE GAME PLAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS, FEDERAL RESERVES AND USA GOVERNMENT WITH THE COMPLICITY OF WESTERN EUROPEAN MONARCHS AND THEIR PUPPET GOVERNMENTS now that all chickens are inside the barn! This is why these … are going back to the year 1500 again with invasions, genocides, land grab, looting and destructions! Their new crusade is democracy, free trade, western values, anti-terrorism. HAAAA THIS IS JUST ZIO-NAZI CRAP TO COVER FOR THEIR MASTERS!
Since then three main issues confirms that USA WANTS TO SUNK THE DOLLAR NNNOOOOWWW The time to slaughter the chicken in the barn has arrived!
1. With US dollar index at 30 years low, oil over $80 and gold well above $700, the Feds CUT BOTH INTEREST RATES BY 50 BASIC POINTS! This is hyper-inflationary and the response around the world was immediate. SUNK THE DOLLAR FURTHER!
2. What has not been on media front pages IS THAT BUSH MANAGED TO ALMOST DOUBLE THE USA GOVERNMENT DEBT LAST WEEK i.e. from $ 5.6 TRILLION TO $9.815 TRILLION. At the same time the USA economy has been stagnant for most part and grew, in the same period from $9.6 TRILLIONS TO $13 TRILLIONS. In other words, the USA GOVERNMENT DEBT ALONE AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP increased in just seven years under Bush from 58% to 77%. To keep this number in perspective, remember that back in 1975, the years of the dollar crisis (wrongly called oil crisis) when Nixon moved away from gold standard (Bretton-Wood Treaty) the USA government debt was $ 542 BILLIONS and the GDP was $ 1.5 TRILLIONS i.e. 35%.
SO, IF IN THE 70s-80s THE DOLLAR INDEX COLLAPSED FROM 165 TO A MERE 80, what do you think the next level of the USD index will be when the government debt alone is now 77% of the GDP? I would say IT HAS TO GO DOWN ANOTHER 40% IF IT MANAGES TO SURVIVE THE TOTAL COLLAPSE! The economic recession and therefore slow growth means less revenue from taxes and more debt on the way! And the baby boomer! BOY OH BOY !
3. The fact that the Canadian dollar REACHED PARITY YESTERDAY CONFIRM ND REINFORCED THE SOLID SECULAR BOOM MARKET FOR THE COMMODITIES!
Believe me fellows, gold at $ 736 IS STILL CHEAP and silver at $13 IS EVEN CHEAPER!
So far this is the FIRST LEG and will go for another 15 to 25 years! JUMP BABY JUMP! The boat is rotten and is sinking! It want be able to reach shore the hole is just too big! JUMP BABY JUMP!
CHEERS FROM CANADA – PEACE PEACE
