London-based conference group, ICG, is organizing a two-day conference, IREF Middle East 2006 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between the 4th - 6th of November 2006 at the Jeddah Hilton.  The conference is in co-operation with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and in association with Islamic Banker magazine.

According to a study conducted by Samba Financial Group, the Kingdom is positioned to earn an all-time record, SR761 billion ($202.9 billion) in oil exports earnings this year, representing a 25-percent increase in oil earnings compared to last year. Furthermore, according to many bankers, the projected magnitude of the capital flows in the GCC and Saudi economy over the next few years is 'mind-boggling.'

A majority of Koreans take investment in real estate the most effective means to increase their wealth, despite a series of strong anti-real estate speculation measures by the government, a poll shows.

Stock investment and funds were traditionally considered the third most effective way of getting rich, though this has risen, from 4.9 percent in 2000 to 12.6 percent.

Shares of large Internet companies together with Yahoo Inc. felt under pressure amid concerns about its advertising exposure to the softening real-estate market.

An RBC Capital Markets research report on the topic seemed to dampen on any upside gain Yahoo had hoped to achieve from announcing its social-networking feature, called del.icio.us, has tripled its audience size to more than 1 million during the past nine months.