??? Samsung Soars 7%!

Hala,

?? Shelby Peters sped through a police checkpoint, then paused to take a selfie — because, you know, priorities. Apparently, the Florida woman wanted to document her wild ride. We hear her getaway skills are just as “impressive” as her selfie game.(1) ????

amana’s Take

• The euro's trying to make a comeback against the dollar, but it’s feeling the weight. Despite EUR/USD flirting with yearly lows near 1.0495, the pair is facing headwinds as the U.S. economy flexes its retail sales strength. Turns out, American consumers aren’t ready to hit the brakes just yet.
• Jerome Powell and the Fed are in no rush to loosen those purse strings, with inflation still proving stubborn. That cautious stance? It’s keeping the dollar pumped, leaving the euro scrambling for some breathing room. Spoiler alert: no rate cuts in sight anytime soon.
• Meanwhile, over in Europe, the ECB’s dovish tone isn’t exactly giving the euro wings. With inflation projections dialed back, the Eurozone’s growth forecast is looking more like a gentle jog than a sprint. But hey, there’s still hope for a slow but steady recovery heading into 2025—just don’t expect any speed records.

Stock Market Update

???? Wall Street hit a rough patch on Friday as the Dow skidded 0.70% to 43,444.99, the S&P 500 slid 1.32% to 5,870.62, and the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.40% to 20,394.13. With Fed Chair Jerome Powell playing it cool and signaling no rush to cut rates (because apparently the economy’s still “vibing” with inflation over 2%), traders are left scratching their heads.(2) ????

???? Gulf markets also hit the brakes on Sunday, taking cues from the U.S. Fed’s hints at keeping rates steady. Dubai’s main index nudged down 0.1%, weighed down by a 1% dip in heavyweight Emirates NBD. Abu Dhabi tried to keep the party going with a 1.5% boost from International Holding—but even that wasn’t enough to lift the mood.(3) ????♂?

???? Looks like Samsung is flexing some serious financial muscle!

The tech giant's shares soared more than 7% on Monday after it dropped a bombshell announcement: a $7 billion stock buyback plan, set to unfold over the next 12 months.(4)? Samsung’s stock price was already cruising on the highway to success, revving up 7.21% last Friday thanks to a preliminary handshake with its biggest labor union. This comes after the workers went on strike back in July—but now, it looks like peace is back on the table (and so are some pretty impressive profit projections).????

???? Power Moves:

• Buyback Bonanza: Samsung plans to scoop up 10 trillion won ($7.19 billion) worth of its own shares over the coming year. ??
• Peace Talks Pay Off: The stock surge came right after Samsung reached a breakthrough agreement with its striking union. ???
• Market Mojo: The first 3 trillion won worth of shares will be bought back over the next three months, with plans to cancel them afterward. The remaining buybacks? Well, that’s up to the board’s imagination. ??

???? What’s Next for Samsung?

Samsung's buyback plan comes at a crucial time. After hitting a four-year low just last week, Samsung's looking to turn the tide—and fast. Despite a shaky Q3 profit outlook and some stiff competition from SK Hynix in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip game, the buyback move has investors buzzing. The big question remains: can it outpace its rivals in the AI chip race? ????

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Closer to Home?

• ?? MENA’s M&A market is on fire, with 522 deals raking in $71 billion—up 9% in volume and 7% in value from last year. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are leading the charge, snapping up deals like it’s a Black Friday sale. Cross-border M&As? They’re doing the heavy lifting, contributing over 70% of the value.(5) ??
• ?? UAE-based Pure Harvest is branching out! CEO Sky Kurtz is eyeing Morocco, Singapore, and even the U.S. Sun Belt for expansion as the agtech firm gears up for an IPO by 2027. With $100 million in new funding and 15 million kg of produce annually, they’re redefining farming—think tomatoes in the desert, but smarter, greener, and a whole lot tastier.(6) ??
• ?? Massive infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia and booming tourism in Dubai are set to fuel growth. The IIF forecasts Saudi GDP to bounce to 4.8% by 2025, boosted by infrastructure projects in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, the UAE’s growth engine keeps roaring, driven by $30 billion in FDI, tourism, a friendly business climate, and tech-savvy reforms.(7) ??

What Else Is Trending

• ?? Tencent Cloud is doubling down on its WeChat ecosystem to carve out a niche in the crowded cloud services arena, CEO Dowson Tong revealed at the Singapore Fintech Festival. With Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud hogging 68% of the market, Tencent’s secret sauce? Letting clients cook up their own mini-programs within WeChat’s massive user base.(8) ????
• ? Oil prices found a bit of lift on Monday morning as tensions flared between Russia and Ukraine, with Brent inching up 0.3% to $71.22 and WTI nudging 0.1% higher to $67.08. But don’t pop the champagne just yet! Concerns over sluggish fuel demand in China and looming forecasts of a global oil glut kept the rally on a pretty short leash.(9) ??
• ? Gold prices dusted off the gloom on Monday, with Spot gold bouncing back 1.2% to $2,591.16 as the dollar took a breather. After last week’s brutal plunge—the worst in over three years—it looks like gold finally found its shine again.(10) ??

??Quote of the Day

“The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.” – Warren Buffett

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amana.app

Sources::?(1) WFLA, (2) (9) (10) Reuters, (3) (5) (6) (7) Zawya, (4) (8) CNBC

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