Cultural context is key to understanding the changes happening for women in Saudi Arabia

As Republicans invest, Democrats hold back—sometimes within the same family. Call your advisor.

There’s also an emotional component to the Coins2Day Most Powerful Women International Summit that wraps up here today. Change is coming fast and furious to the ancient culture of Saudi Arabia, and that’s unlocking opportunities and some challenges that few ever expected to see.

I’m meeting many women in leadership roles that didn’t exist a few years ago or were always held by men. They’re eager to find partners, role models and friends.

The speed has surprised Lubna Olayan, a 12-time MPW honoree who’s broken barriers throughout her career: “I truly wasn’t expecting that we would be where we are.”

H.E. Dr. Hala Al-Tuwaijri, the first woman to lead the Saudi Arabia Human Rights Commission, illuminated the importance of understanding cultural context. “We received a lot of harsh criticism on segregating schools but actually those of us who come from this part of the world know that if schools were mixed, many conservative families would not have sent their girls to school in the first place. Many of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here because our families back then would not have accepted the fact that we’ll be sitting next to boys in high schools.”

That’s food for thought. So, too, is the interactive art installation at the summit. Designed by artist and entrepreneur Caroline Ghosn, who also created the Burning Man 2024 temple, it’s a prism on which attendees have written nuggets of wisdom.

Wisdom was certainly on display as Coins2Day editor in chief Alyson Shontell interviewed Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture and #2 on Coins2Day’s 2025 list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Business. “When I joined Accenture in 2010 as the general counsel, I didn’t know what a CIO [chief information officer] was. I came from a law firm. We didn’t have such a thing. We didn’t use technology. I’m old enough to remember when we didn’t have the internet. I share with you where I was in 2010 because anyone can learn these skills. At 42, most of the skills that matter today I didn’t have. Fifteen years later, I have them.”

More news below.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]

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The markets

• The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Tuesday. The index is up 1% YTD. 
• S&P futures traded down 0.6% this morning, premarket. 
• The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.3% in early trading. 
• Asia was up (mostly): Japan was down 0.6%. Hong Kong rose 0.6%. Shanghai was up 0.2% and India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.4%. 
• The 'Magnificent 7' all fell Tuesday, except for Tesla, which rose 0.5% after Elon Musk said he expected to still be in charge in five years.
• Bitcoin was sitting above $106,000 this morning.

From the analysts 

• Pantheon on May jobs: Homebase data signal a 150K rise in May private payrolls, matching the average of the last three months......But its skew towards hospitality means it is a poor overall indicator; others have a better track record. Major consumer confidence surveys have diverged markedly; we suspect political bias is the problem.
• Oxford Economics on student loan policy change: The end of student debt forbearance, and the resumption of collection efforts on delinquent loans, will have a minimal impact on overall consumer spending. “Although it doesn't warrant a change to our near-term forecast, it does lend some downside risk,” wrote Grace Zwemmer, Associate Economist at Oxford Economics, and author of the report.

Around the watercooler

Accenture CEO: ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough’—and she has the motto on a plaque in her home by Orianna Rosa Royle 

World Economic Forum says it will take 100 years to achieve global gender parity—investment titan Lubna Olayan says we ‘cannot afford’ to wait that long by Eleanor Pringle

Ray Dalio says the risks from U.S. Credit downgrade ‘are greater than the rating agencies are conveying’ by Paolo Confino

Google pushes AI deeper into its empire of search, shopping, and work products at its developer conference by Sharon Goldman

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Massimo Marioni.