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Showing 541 - 550 of 2991 results for Benjamin Ong

Chief economist update: Time to pig out on China shares?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 4 MAR 2019
The "Year of the Pig" is turning out to be what it signifies - prosperity, good fortune and success. This is no truer than from the land the 12 animal signs of the lunar calendar zodiac originated - China. This is against consensus expectations that ...

Chief economist update: US economic growth is slowing and accelerating

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 1 MAR 2019
US economic growth has slowed in the final quarter of 2018. US economic growth continues to accelerate in the last quarter of 2018. Both are correct statements. It only depends what measurement of US GDP growth rate is used. The US Bureau of Economic ...

Chief economist update: Wrong way, go down

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 28 FEB 2019
The A$/US$ exchange rate is, according to my Bloomberg screen, currently trading at US$0.7141, up 0.04% from the previous trading day and up 1.3% this year to date. In turn, Bloomberg's US dollar spot index has risen 0.14% overnight and is just ...

Chief economist update: The Fed has hit neutral

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 27 FEB 2019
The widely-anticipated market moving event this week - US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's semi-annual testimony before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the US Senate - turned out to be a bummer. We've seen this ...

Chief economist update: Trump tweets bull market back into China

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 26 FEB 2019
Two tweets from the US President (only because it couldn't fit in one) were all it took to send China's stocks soaring and turn its market technically from a bear to a bull. China's Shanghai Composite Index spiked 5.6% yesterday after US ...

Chief economist update: The RBI surprises (again)

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 25 FEB 2019
The Reserve Bank of India is full of surprises. When financial markets expected it to raise interest rates, it didn't. When everyone expected interest rates to remain steady, it cut. Recall that back in October 2018, the RBI surprised markets by ...

Chief economist update: Nerves of steel

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 22 FEB 2019
Could it be? Could it be that Westpac's chief economist Bill Evans has just gotten one up on me? Nah Virginia, me don't want to "kill Bill", we economists may not see eye to eye but we stick together. More so that Bill's come around to my ...

Chief economist update: Cut it, cut it now

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 21 FEB 2019
What's the time Mr Wolf? It's time to go Philip! It's time for RBA governor Philip Lowe to go and cut interest rates. Perhaps impatience may have gotten the better of me for it's only been two weeks since the Australian central bank ...

Chief economist update: BOJ exit last year, BOJ easing this year

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 20 FEB 2019
Japanese officials and investors must be wiping the sweats from their foreheads after the Cabinet Office released its latest National Accounts report and showed the country dodged a recession. Japanese GDP grew 0.3% in the December 2018 quarter following ...

Chief economist update: Where sentiment goes, there too is spending

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 18 FEB 2019
The University of Michigan's latest update on consumer confidence indicates that there's hope still for household spending. Recall the reported big drop in US retail spending (down 1.2% in the month of December) that I penned is consistent with ...