Saudi Arabia's prioritising of profit over principle has grown exponentially under Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Gold gained along with the safe-haven Japanese yen and Swiss franc, as the number of people infected by the virus in a fast-spreading health crisis surpassed 8,100 people globally, more than the total from the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic.
As the death toll from the Chinese epidemic jumped to 80 with those affected worldwide approaching 3,000, analysts say there are growing fears the crisis could become as bad as the SARS outbreak that hammered Asian markets in 2003.
Comments by Iranian officials and US President Donald Trump eased tensions substantially and pushed crude prices lower in late European trading.
Iran has been rehearsing its response to the United States for two years - and this might just be the tip of the iceberg.
Saudi Arabia has an incredible opportunity to move away from its complete dependence on oil, but it will need to make a number of structural changes to ensure its plans are not derailed.
OPEC published an outlook that suggests a shrinking oil market and lower oil demand growth. The organisation is being challenged by increased US shale oil production output and is curbing its own output to keep prices from dropping too low.
Iraq was rocked by demonstrations in early October, first denouncing corruption and unemployment before evolving into calls for an overhaul of the political system.
High-level trade discussions between the two sides are set to start later on Thursday. But, according to media reports the pair had made no progress in preliminary, lower-level talks.
The drop in the kingdom's credit outlook comes as it faces the risk of being dragged into a regional conflict with Iran.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says war [with Iran] would be catastrophic for global growth, in an interview with CBS, followed by more than one percent drop in oil prices.
Saudi Arabia's energy minister said that more than half of its daily crude oil production that was knocked out by a weekend attack had been restored.
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