Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE ranked 27th globally in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in 2018, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s World Investment Report 2019, three positions up from its 2017’s classification by UNCTAD. Overall, the report said, the UAE received in 2018 direct foreign investments of more $10.4 billion, maintaining lead as …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is working to balance global oil markets this year, the country’s energy minister said when asked if there’s an impending surplus. The comments come a day after the International Energy Agency forecast global supplies will expand far more than demand next year, putting further pressure on Opec. Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Russia, are expected to …

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Cabinet adopted formation of the Advanced Skills Council under the chairmanship of Dr Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills, to oversee relevant policies, programmes and initiatives. The council will support and oversee the implementation of the recently approved Strategy for the Advanced Skills National …

Bloomberg Oil posted a weekly decline as the escalating US-China trade war and swelling American stockpiles overshadowed tanker attacks in the Middle East. Futures settled up 0.4 percent in New York but still closed the week down 2.7 percent. London-traded contracts slid for a fourth straight week. The White House blamed Iran for tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz, …

Bloomberg The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) said that international trade tensions are hurting demand for oil, slashing its estimates for consumption earlier in the year and predicting further challenges ahead. The organization, due to meet in the coming weeks to set production levels for the second half, said demand increased by less than 1 million barrels a day …

Bloomberg From 2008 to 2018 the amount of oil produced by the US, Canada and Brazil almost doubled. These three countries now produce roughly one quarter of the world’s oil, according to BP’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy 2019. The US alone in this time has more than doubled its oil output and effectively grabbed an additional 8 percentage …

Bloomberg As Huawei Technologies Co. comes under unrelenting pressure from the Trump administration, the Chinese telecom giant has one advantage that the US can’t undermine: a vast, global portfolio of patents on critical technology. Huawei holds 56,492 active patents on telecommunications, networking and other high-tech inventions worldwide, according to Anaqua’s AcclaimIP. And it’s stepping up pursuit of royalties and licensing …

Bloomberg Bitcoin futures may be more important than many in the market appreciate, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Recent reports from cryptocurrency asset manager Bitwise and the Blockchain Transparency Institute indicate that only a small percentage of reported trading may be authentic. If only around 5% of reported May trading of $725 billion is genuine, it would imply that …

Bloomberg An effort by the social media company Pinterest to limit the spread of medical conspiracy theories blocked one of the most prominent anti-abortion groups in the US from sharing its content on the site. And it’s put the social media company squarely in the middle of today’s culture wars. The anti-abortion organisation, Live Action, and conservative activist James O’Keefe …

Bloomberg For years, Tesla Inc. has hauled in revenue by selling credits to other carmakers that needed to offset sales of polluting vehicles to US consumers. These sorts of transactions have largely been shrouded in secrecy — until now. General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV disclosed to the state of Delaware earlier this year that they reached agreements …