Newspaper icon
The latest issue of Financial Standard now available as an e-newspaper
READ NOW

Search Results

Showing 11 - 20 of 25 results for "Ouch"

Blahs take the blues away

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 8 AUG 2012
... record budget deficits." That was back in February last year when the US 10-year bond yield averaged 3.57%. It's now at 1.56%. Ouch! And you even had a helping hand from Standard & Poor's removal of one A from America's credit rating last August. But ...

Can't fix what's not broken, yet

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 3 APR 2012
... financial community. Recall the 100% certainty that the RBA would reduce interest rates last February? It didn't happen. Ouch! Hopefully no one lost their jobs over that call. And although forecasters got it right last month - the RBA stayed - Australian ...

Volatility is MIA

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 10 FEB 2012
... slap on my face the S&P 500 index, for instance, gyrated only between down 0.4% and up 0.32% before closing 0.15% overnight. Ouch! The official measure of volatility -- the VIX index -- closed below 20 overnight. This is down from above 20 reading at ...

The other emerging market

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 5 APR 2011
... past year or so. Between January 2010 and the end of last month, Brazil's BOVESPA index returned a whopping zero per cent. Ouch! You call that an emerging market return? Heck, developed equity markets appreciated by 11.1 per cent over the same period ...

When everything went wrong

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 24 NOV 2010
... authorities who are signing the bailout contract - yes, this will include various clauses involving measures to reduce the deficit (ouch!) - may not be the ones to implement them next year. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen announced that he would call ...

The Fed did it

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 12 AUG 2010
Ouch! Now that hurt didn't it? Of course it did. The S&P 500 index dropped by 2.8 per cent, the Dow fell by 2.5 per cent and the Nasdaq declined by 3 per cent. Not a good night overall. But why am I not surprised? As I've written just two days ago ...

Pain in Spain

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 13 MAY 2010
How do you say ouch in Spanish? They say money can buy happiness... but only if you have more than your neighbours. Or twisted to reflect the current environment of fiscal restraint -- Aussies still whinging at the absence of big give-away door prizes ...

Liar

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 23 APR 2010
... swaps increased to record highs and yields on two-year Greek notes went up by more than 275 basis points. How do you say "ouch!" in Greek? Double ouch! Greek bonds worth about 8.5 billion euros are due to mature next month. This means Greece would need ...

Easter egg hunt

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 6 APR 2010
... still unable to find jobs and not a few still struggling to make mortgage payments, the result would be a loud collective "Ouch"! A lower close last night would have dragged out details in the employment report that showed that the duration of unemployment ...

Miranda Kerr and the market

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 5 FEB 2010
Ouch! On days like these, an enticing photo of Miranda Kerr would go a long way in easing the pain. Someone please email me one! Now I understand why people around the world - and I would guess that they mainly belong in this industry - are crying out ...