al dente

World business, finance and political news from the Financial Times– FT.com Middle East

Interesting stuff.... Shares are slip sliding...

scrubbedexpat141

I'm getting close to just selling all of mine and taking the profit. Waiting. Then reinvesting at the same sort of prices (if they tumble that far) and earning a greater return.

That or just leaving them, because they'll come back one day.

Millhouse

Oil at 28 is crushing for the Middle East. Saudi has based their budget on 27-28 range so the shit must be starting to soak through their pants to their dishdashes by now.

iggle

Haha. A war will needs to happen pronto!

norsk

The yanks are not going to be interested in a war at this point so it looks like certain countries are up shit creek without a paddle...

Irishbeekeeper

4 more IT businesses closed shop this month and ran away with a lot of money. That makes it about 12 in the past 90 days. And these are the ones that I know of in Bur, I am hearing blood chilling stories about what is going on in Deira.
Banks have stopped giving out loans / credit insurance whatever and the Distis have stopped giving out credit. Hence all these undercutters who were solely relying on 30-45 days credit are slowly either bleeding or being smart about it and just running away.
I predict 3 more that will run in the next month or two.
So should I wait to buy a used car as I recon quite a few cars should be up for sale by now?

Meow

I heard that 60 people were made redundant last week from Etihad Rail, many is very senior positions. Curiously the wife on one of them (who ought to have had some idea) is claiming it was a complete surprise.

A lack of joined-up thinking really doesn't help some people.

Standanista

I heard a similar figure. I don't think this is as big a deal as what it's being made out to be though (albeit it's not so fun if you're one of the ones that's been laid off, but the severance being given is more than fair).The company that runs the trains and maintains the infrastructure and rolling stock is not Etihad Rail but Etihad Rail DB, which is a JV between Etihad Rail and Deutsche Bahn International. That's the actual railway and main employer, run by an Emirati-Anglo-German management team, and is not affected by these changes.The hit has been taken by the planning and design teams and suchlike back in Abu Dhabi. Well, Phase 1 is now successfully planned, designed, built and up-&-running, so Phase 1 positions had run their course anyway, irrespective of oil price. Factor in the low oil price and it would be reasonable to assume that timescales would be pushed back affecting Phase 2, particularly as the Saudis are nowhere close to even thinking about laying track up to their side of the Abu Dhabi border. It's all expats, not just the expensive white ones, I am told. It will all still eventually happen.On the other points above, I'm not sure who you fellas know at Network Rail but you obviously mix in higher echelons than me - when I worked for them they paid crap! Rail is a great industry to be in though, I agree with that. And despite the economic doom and gloom, all the current major rail projects for the region are still going ahead, just in many cases with more realistic budgets, resourcing and timescales than were originally projected back in the days of plenty.

Millhouse

Cheap Oil Means 1,500 Middle East Bankers Looking for Jobs - Bloomberg Business

Bahtatboy

Standard Chartered also cut about 100 positions at the end of the year, the recruiters said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

I love that bit. So much I want to punch someone.

Millhouse

is it me or are the malls quiet? maybe just the winter and people being outside.

TheShed

I very rarely go to the Malls, but I just feel EVERYWHERE is a bit quiet. Roads, bars, airport etc. My indicator of the tourist activity is the rate quoted outside of the ibis hotel on Shk Zayed near Al Barsha and that has been stuck at summer rates for a long time so I'm convinced that tourism is very significantly down.

DIFC foodcourt is certainly much quieter than it was last year.

Millhouse

Exactly. I don't go to malls much, but I had to go to MCC and DFC this weekend - normally parking nightmares. This time, no problem. I normally get stuck in traffic around downtown on Saturdays - this weekend, nothing.

DIFC food court - not really noticed that so much to be honest - I still have to queue for my daily taqardo.

mikewot

Ibn Battuta is usually the quieter mall but always buzzing on a Friday. No different last Friday, mobbed and parking a nightmare.
Maybe people are learning to avoid the crowded malls. Also there are many new ones opening. In Jumeirah Park a new one opened early last year. Victory Heights a new one opened couple of months ago. Directly across the Sheikh Mo road they're building a new one (less than 1Km away) in JVT with parking for 4000 cars. And they've just announced another one to be built in JVC with 235 shops. 3 malls within 3 Km of each other.
Not seeing a slow down.

Maxima

I can just about visualize the greased up recruiter, with the hair gel dripping onto the phone, down to a whisper as he says "this is a top top secret matter, so please keep it private as no one knows"