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JEDDAH – The aggregate profits of the GCC sector posted a decline of 5 percent year on year (YoY) and 10 percent quarter on quarter (QoQ) in 2Q10, Kuwait-based Global Investment House said Wednesday.

Poor bottom-line performance was exhibited by UAE banks that declined by 30 percent YoY with a further dampening act coming from Saudi banks which were down by 7 percent YoY. Being heavyweights within the GCC banking universe, profitability (2Q10 profit share of 19 percent and 46 percent respectively), banks indigenous to these two countries led the slide in overall profitability of the GCC aggregate, while those from the remaining countries fared much better. Banking sectors of Oman and Kuwait earned the spotlight with growth of 40 percent YoY and 34 percent YoY respectively.

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JEDDAH – The General Court in Jeddah witnessed a limited response Monday from people who are entitled to SR1 million compensation checks King Abdullah ordered for families of people who lost their lives in the Jeddah flood disaster.

The first people arrived after 12 noon and only 12 requests were referred to judges in preparation for issuing the checks. One woman among those seeking the checks was deeply saddened by her loss.

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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said on Sunday the US economy was expanding, but not quickly enough, and there was no “magic bullet” that will fix its problems.

Obama said in an NBC interview that the batch of grim economic data over the past few weeks was something his administration had anticipated.

Gloomy reports on gross domestic product and housing have raised fears the fragile economy could slip back into a recession or face a lengthy period of growth that is too slow to make much of a dent in the 9.5 percent unemployment rate.

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BERLIN – The head of Germanys employers federation for metalworkers Sunday rejected calls by the countrys top union for a six-percent pay rise for 85,000 workers in the sector, saying the recovery was still shaky.

“After the deepest and most brutal slump in recent economic history, the recovery is still on wobbly legs,” Martin Kannegiesser wrote in the Bild am Sonntag weekly.

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FRANKFURT – Financial markets will be keen to hear this week if the European Central Bank plans changes to its exceptional measures to underpin lending amid mixed signals on the global economy.

The ECBs main interest rate will likely stay locked in at a record low of 1.0 percent Thursday as the central bank releases its latest forecasts for growth and inflation in the 16-nation bloc.

The bank “has absolutely no reason to raise interest rates,” Capital Economics senior European economist Jennifer McKeown said.

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JEDDAH: A number of university graduates who applied for various public sector jobs have attacked the Ministry of Civil Service after a movie clip appeared on video-sharing website YouTube accusing the government department of nepotism.

They said they were even more astonished after the ministry swiftly denied the allegations instead of investigating them.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabian shares rose the most in a month, after US and European markets advanced and oil prices rallied on a pledge by Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to maintain the US economic recovery.

The stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index rose 0.9 percent to close at 6,055.54 points on Saturday, biggest gain since July 27.

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KUWAIT – Capital Intelligence (CI), the international credit rating agency, has affirmed Gulf Banks (GB) Foreign Currency Long-Term and Short-Term ratings of BBB+ and A2, respectively. These ratings carry a Stable Outlook.

The banks Foreign Currency ratings are supported by strong, demonstrated government support including a direct capital injection received in 2009 resulting in a significant official shareholding by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the rating agency said on Saturday.

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WASHINGTON – The US economy grew at a much slower pace this spring than previously estimated, mostly due to the largest surge in imports in 26 years and a slower buildup in inventories.

The countrys gross domestic product – the broadest measure of the economys output – grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the April-to-June period, the Commerce Department said Friday. Thats down from an initial estimate of 2.4 percent last month and much slower than the first quarters 3.7 percent pace. Many economists had expected a sharper drop.

The widening trade deficit subtracted nearly 3.4 percentage points from second quarter growth, the largest hit from a trade imbalance since 1947, the government said.

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DUBAI – Dubai shares rose the most in more than a week on optimism Dubai World is closer to resolving its debt restructuring after the state-owned holding company said it may raise as much as $19.4 billion by selling assets.

Emaar Properties PJSC, the developer of the worlds tallest skyscraper in Dubai, advanced the most in more than a month. Emirates NBD, the United Arab Emirates largest bank by assets, rose 1.2 percent. The DFM General Index climbed 0.9 percent, the most since Aug. 17, to 1,497.47 at the 2 p.m. close in Dubai, bringing the weekly gain to 0.4 percent. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index increased 0.1 percent.

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