Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic and buying stocks worth millions in the United States companies.What Happened The oil-rich kingdom's $300 billion sovereign-wealth fund has picked up shares worth half a billion dollars each in Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR), and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO).The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has also invested $522 million in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and $488 million in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). The fund picked up a $714 million worth stake in Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) as well. The fund is responsible for leading Saudi Arabia away from its hydrocarbon centered economy and has the mandate to invest in companies unrelated to the oil sector. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is the chairman of the PIF.Why It Matters The PIF has been investing in global stocks during the ongoing pandemic and crash in oil prices, making the kingdom's financial position extremely vulnerable, according to MarketWatch.The Saudi government last week increased the value-added tax, and cut subsidies to state employees to deal with economic pressures resulting from declining oil revenues.Last month, the Saudi government fund invested $500 million each in the global entertainment firm Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV) and the cruise operator Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL).See more from Benzinga * Mark Cuban On Consumer Demand, Small Businesses Dilemma And Market Uncertainty * Zoom Rival Facebook's Messenger Rooms Goes Live Worldwide * Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic To Raise More Than 0M From Deutsche Bank, Others(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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May.17 — Tim Moe, chief Asia-Pacific equity strategist, talks about the outlook for the region’s stocks, gold and oil. He speaks with Haslinda Amin and Rishaad Salamat on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”