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Showing 291 - 300 of 2991 results for Benjamin Ong

Chief economist update: Turns out Brexit was heaven

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 24 APR 2020
Bad timing it may be but, it is what it is. The coronavirus pandemic struck just when the dark clouds of Brexit uncertainty lifted over the United Kingdom. For the best part of three years, Brexit was on every Brits mind - dampening business investment ...

Chief economist update: Thank goodness for Sorbent

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 23 APR 2020
They were loathed, yelled at, vilified and even arrested - but the hordes of panic-buyers and toilet paper hoarders that invaded supermarkets, hardware stores, bottle shops, and businesses selling "work from home" wares may have collectively limited ...

Chief economist update: Stimulus measures ease extreme fear

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 22 APR 2020
Tanking oil prices are the latest go-to excuse for the renewed downturn on Wall Street. But more than this, it's added to the challenges facing America's economy and its corporate sector. The US labour market has already deteriorated markedly ...

Oil tanks

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 21 APR 2020
Wouldn't it be nice to buy a house in Denmark was what I thought when I read the news that Jyske Bank - the country's third-largest bank - announced in August last year that it would pay home borrowers 0.5% per annum to take out a mortgage. Sweet! And ...

The great fall of China

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 20 APR 2020
Back in pre-coronavirus days, the thought that the Chinese economy would slow below the government's target of around 6.0% was enough to send chills down the spine of many investors and businesses. If memory serves me right, there were even forecasts ...

Chief economist update: Surveys say...

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 APR 2020
If this is as bad as it gets, give me coronavirus everyday (well, hope not). The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) reported that employment increased (yes, it's up) by 5900 in March and the unemployment rate ticked up by an itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie ...

Chief economist update: How deep the global recession?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 15 APR 2020
"It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago. The Great Lockdown, as one might call it, is projected to shrink ...

Chief economist update: BOK holds as infections ease

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 14 APR 2020
South Korea's KOSPI index has rebounded by 26.5% from the coronavirus-induced plunge that saw it hit an 11-year low of 1457.6 points recorded on March 19 this year - reducing its 2020 year-to-date loss by more than half to -16.1% from -33.7%. Similarly ...

Chief economist update: Credit ratings downgrades versus fiscal salvation

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 9 APR 2020
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) acted quickly in response to the coronavirus outbreak. In an emergency meeting on March 16, the Japanese central bank announced it would buy ETFs at an annual pace of ¥12 trillion, double its J-REIT purchases to ¥180 billion ...

Chief economist update: COVID-infected Aussie stats trickle in

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 8 APR 2020
Ho-hum. Financial markets widely expected the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) decision to keep monetary policy settings unchanged at its April meeting especially so soon after announcing a comprehensive accommodation package the month before ...