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Showing 271 - 280 of 2991 results for Benjamin Ong

Chief economist update: Japan reopens for business

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 26 MAY 2020
It was a magnificent Monday, 25 May 2020, for Japan for on this day Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared the country's state of emergency over. We salute you our Japanese brothers and sisters, for Japan has flattened its coronavirus curve despite ...

Chief economist update: Hong Kong is ours

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 25 MAY 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic was both a curse and a blessing (for lack of a better word) for China's Politburo. Social restrictions and lockdowns imposed by the powers-that-be to contain the virus sent the economy plunging 6.8% in the year to the March ...

Chief economist update: Australia needs China more than it needs us

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 22 MAY 2020
"You don't mess with the Zohan." Or in Australia's case, don't mess with the Politburo. It's only been weeks since Australia called for an inquiry into COVID-19, offending China and sending it into retaliation mode - Beijing banned beef ...

Chief economist update: Border brawl

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 21 MAY 2020
Forget Australia's simmering political and trade tension with China, there's one building right inside our very borders. Canberra's worried that Beijing's ban on beef imports, increased tariff on barley could extend to boycott of Australia's ...

Chief economist update: Easing restrictions narrow oil demand-supply equation

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 18 MAY 2020
It's only been just about a month since oil producers were practically paying buyers to come and take their stocks off them. This was on April 20, one day before the WTI oil futures contracts for May delivery dropped to minus US$36.98 per barrel. ...

Chief economist update: Pay cut or pay not?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 15 MAY 2020
"Tell him he's dreaming!" The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) report showing that the country's unemployment rose from 5.2% in March to ONLY 6.2% in April surely is a pleasant dream considering the nightmarish backdrop of the long ...

Chief economist update: Powell blamed for fall on Wall Street

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 14 MAY 2020
Was it something I said? Yes sir, Mr. US Fed chair Jerome Powell, it was. Today's headlines not only infer, but blame your words for the fall on Wall Street overnight. The Wall Street Journal published: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped ...

Chief economist update: China's beef with Australia

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2020
'The Lucky Country' it may be but the year 2020 is not turning out well for Australia. Less than five months into the year and it has gone from devastation wrought by the bushfires, the lockdown forced on society by the coronavirus and, just ...

Chief economist update: Easing does it (again)

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 12 MAY 2020
Easing of central bank monetary policy settings helped equity markets rebound and economies to recover from the "Great Recession" wrought by the Global Financial Crisis of 2009. Easing - this time, of social distancing and lockdown restrictions (implemented ...

Chief economist update: Bad news is good news is back

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 11 MAY 2020
"Happiness equals reality minus expectations". Tom Magliozzi's famous five words appear to have made their way to Wall Street. For how else is one to explain the rally on 'the wall' - S&P 500 up 1.7%; DJIA up 1.9%; Nasdaq up 1.6%; Russell ...