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Showing 1051 - 1060 of 2991 results for Benjamin Ong

The year that was and the year that will be

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 19 DEC 2016
It's now a week before Christmas and two before we bid 2016 adieu! And what a year 2016 was. It scared you, I and Irene at the open. The Fed was going to raise interest rates and China's economy was heading for hard landing. These two factors alone ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 16 DEC 2016
Australia employment There's good news and bad news in the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) latest update on the country's labour market. The unemployment rate increased to 5.7% in November, the highest rate since August this year and was more ...

The good and the bad in the Fed rate hike

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 15 DEC 2016
At long last - after 12 long months of toing and froing speculations - it came to pass. The stars aligned enabling Janet to move nearer from turning almost a decade of abnormal monetary policy into normal. Two days less of a full year, the Fed followed ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 14 DEC 2016
Australia business confidence "While outcomes in the survey are not pointing to a severe slowdown in economic activity, the results have softened enough to suggest that growth remains sub-trend." (Alan Oster) This is a fair assessment from NAB's group ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 13 DEC 2016
China vehicle sales China's tax break on small vehicles -- halving the 10% purchase tax on vehicles with 1.6-liter engines or smaller - is having the same impact as the US' 'cash for clunkers' programme back in July 2009, it's sending car purchases ...

The Fed lady and the Trump

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 12 DEC 2016
"This is the moment; this is the day When I send all my doubts and demons on their way. Every endeavor I have made ever Is coming into play, is here and now today." -Donny Osmond, 'This is the moment" Well, Wednesday (14 December 2016), to be precise ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 9 DEC 2016
Australia trade balance It makes a nice sequel to the horror 0.5% contraction in Australia's third quarter GDP growth, a widening of the country's trade deficit, that is. Australia's trade deficit rose by 21.3% to A$1.54 billion in October from A$1.27 ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 8 DEC 2016
US JOLTS report The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that job openings in America fell by 97K to 5.53 million in October (in line with expectations) from 5.63 million in the previous month (upwardly revised from 5.49 million), taking ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 7 DEC 2016
Australia GDP Economists expected Australia's economic growth to halve to 0.3% in the September quarter from 0.6% in the three-months ended June. That turned out to be highly optimistic. This is because the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) latest ...

Economic Wrap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 6 DEC 2016
Australia AiG performance of services It wasn't as sharp as the 3.3 point increase in the manufacturing index to 54.2 in November, but the AiG performance of services index's 0.6 point rise to 51.1 continues the trend towards stronger expansion seen ...