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Showing 331 - 340 of 2991 results for Benjamin Ong

Chief economist update: Who's afraid of COVID-19?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 25 FEB 2020
Equity markets appeared to be immune several weeks after COVID-19 first made global headlines - it was known as "novel coronavirus" then - with the S&P 500 index and the S&P/ASX 200 index, among others, even hitting record highs. Even heavily-hit China's ...

China vaccinates against corona

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 24 FEB 2020
Weekend reports that COVID-19 is not only multiplying but infecting more countries sent financial markets back. According to Al Jazeera, a total of 76,288 cases and 2345 deaths have been reported in mainland China as at February 21 - there'll be ...

Chief economist update: Aussie employment rises... but so does our unemployment rate

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 21 FEB 2020
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) reported that the economy added 13,500 jobs in January - more than market expectations for an increase of 10,000 - with the creation of 46,200 full-time positions more than offsetting the termination of ...

Chief economist update: Working nine to five, barely getting by

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 20 FEB 2020
"Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin' Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'..." - Dolly Parton The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) latest update on the growth of wages among the country's workers ...

Chief economist update: Japan fails to learn from history (yet again)

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 18 FEB 2020
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana... and repeat the past, Japan did. Preliminary estimates show that the economy contracted by 1.6% in the last quarter of 2019 following a 0.1% growth (if you could call ...

Chief economist update: The virus, the trade deal and the AUD

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 17 FEB 2020
With a covid here, and a covid there, everywhere a covid, even old MacDonald (who had a farm) will get sick reading, hearing and listening to stories and warnings over escalating infection numbers... E-I-E-I-O. COVID-19 has captured the world's ...

Chief economist update: COVID-19 could hit Australia with triple whammy

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 14 FEB 2020
The same way as a computer virus freezes the computer's operating system, the coronavirus - renamed COVID-19 - has forced China into lockdown and slowed, if not completely frozen, economic activity in the country. But even without the government-mandated ...

Chief economist update: Australians not confident enough

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 13 FEB 2020
Latest surveys show an improvement in Australian consumer and business confidence despite concerns over the impact of the bushfires, floods and the coronavirus. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose 2.3% to 95.5 in February ...

Chief economist update: It's the US consumer, stupid me

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 12 FEB 2020
Uh-oh, I may have to put the letters "W" and "R" in front of my last name (Ong) cause that's what my last prognosis for the US economy and the Fed's response is turning out to be. I've been among those pencilling in a recession when the ...

Chief economist update: UK is now Bailey's baby

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 11 FEB 2020
Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney's last days on the job would have gotten more press were it not for the more pressing concern of the coronavirus. To be sure, there was nothing noteworthy in Carney's final monetary policy committee ...