Saudi PIF Nearly Triples Holdings in US Market

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) logo
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) logo
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Saudi PIF Nearly Triples Holdings in US Market

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) logo
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) logo

The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, nearly tripled its holdings of US-listed stocks to $43.45 billion in Q3 2021, adding shares of Alibaba Group, Walmart and Pinterest.

Its US-listed stock holdings in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 increased from nearly $16 billion in the prior quarter, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which added the PIF made 19 new investments.

A new five-year plan would make the fund the leading catalyst for Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation and diversification.

The Fund plans to double its assets to four trillion riyals ($1.07 trillion) by 2025. To boost domestic economy, it plans to inject at least 150 billion riyals annually in the local economy in the next four years.

The five-year strategy would see the fund creating 1.8 million direct and indirect jobs by 2025, from 331,000 by the end of by the third quarter of 2020.



Iran's Currency Falls to Record Low against the Dollar as Tensions Run High

A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
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Iran's Currency Falls to Record Low against the Dollar as Tensions Run High

A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)

Iran’s rial currency traded Saturday at a record low against the US dollar as the country returned to work after a long holiday.

The rial had plunged to over 1 million rials during the Persian New Year, Nowruz, as currency shops closed and only informal trading took place on the streets, creating additional pressure on the market, Reuters reported.

But as traders resumed work Saturday, the rate fell even further to 1,043,000 to the dollar, signaling the new low appeared here to stay.

On Ferdowsi Street in Iran’s capital, Tehran, the heart of the country’s money exchanges, some traders even switched off their electronic signs showing the going rate as uncertainty loomed over how much further the rial could drop.