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Showing 1041 - 1050 of 3072 results for "Benjamin"

A tale of three PMIs

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 22 FEB 2017
Two accelerations and one of moderation - this is the story painted by the latest updates on US, Eurozone and Japanese purchasing managers' index (PMI). While it still remains above the 50-expansion/contraction mark (for the 12th straight month), Markit's ...

Boring but the trend is our friend

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 FEB 2017
The world of financial markets and tea-leaves reading would be a boring place if not for "seasonality adjusted" estimates of economic statistics, especially ones that go up one month and down the next and/or beat expectations one month and disappoint ...

A rate rise on the ides of March?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 16 FEB 2017
"Beware the ides of March". This quote had always been imbued with a sense of foreboding because this day marked the assassination of Julius Caesar back in 44 BC. It shouldn't be for the "ides" was just the fancy way Romans termed the 15th day of March ...

British inflation quickens but still off-target

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 15 FEB 2017
UK headline consumer price inflation quickened to 1.8% in the year to January from 1.6% in the previous month. While lower than the expected 1.9% increase, this is the fastest gain in consumer prices since June 2014. According to the Office for National ...

China price rises

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 15 FEB 2017
If inflation was the man driver of the People's Bank of China's monetary policy, the latest update on consumer prices would not have a significant sway on interest rate direction - up or down. China's consumer price inflation accelerated to 2.5% in ...

Bump in business confidence and conditions

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 15 FEB 2017
Now that's more like it. The NAB monthly business survey showed both business confidence and conditions on the rise. Unlike the seemingly inconsistent result from the December survey - where business conditions gained 4 points while business confidence ...

Vehicle sales hit the roadblock

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 14 FEB 2017
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reported that total vehicle sales grew by a mere 0.2% in the year to January - the slowest since February last year. This compares with annual growth rates of 9.5% in December and 16.6 in November. ...

Lifted by external demand

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 14 FEB 2017
Though below market expectations, the Japanese economy managed to stay afloat, up 0.2% (1% annualised rate) in the fourth quarter of last year that followed a 0.3% (1.4% annualized) increase in the three months ended September. This marked the fourth ...

Trump matters

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 13 FEB 2017
Guess it isn't over till it's over folks! Trump and what he'll do next continue to dominate the headlines and Twitter-verse. So much so that only few gave a hoo-ha to central bank monetary policy announcements - the BOJ, the Fed, and the BOE met in ...

Mexican pain

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 10 FEB 2017
"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me". But not for Mexico, it appears, especially when the words come from POTUS. US President Trump's rhetoric about "building a wall along the US-Mexican border"...and making Mexico pay ...