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Showing 41 - 50 of 458 results for %22Yes Virginia%22

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: The RBA capitulates

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 7 FEB 2019
... fell by nine basis points to 1.71%; five-years down by 10 bps to 1.78%; and, 10-year bonds are 6 bps lower to 2.18%. Yes Virginia, with a mere shift in the RBA's guidance to N-E-U-T-R-A-L, yields have fallen across the curve. But special mention ...

Fed steady with a slight chance of a rate cut

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 10 JAN 2019
... more comforting to have all the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) put their imprimatur in black and white. Yes, Virginia. We got it! It's there in the minutes of the 18-19 December FOMC meeting. First things first. The minutes explained ...

Chief economist update: The angel in the capex details

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 30 NOV 2018
... $114,099m. This is 4.4% higher than Estimate 4 for 2017-18. Estimate 4 is 11.3% higher than Estimate 3 for 2018-19." Yes Virginia, Australian businesses have upped their capital spending plans in the face of multiplying challenges - trade war, Fed hikes ...

Chief economist update: Buy the dip or sell the rallies?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 13 NOV 2018
... insufficient. Political atmosphere post US midterm elections remains divisive. Oil unable to sustain earlier bounce. Yes Virginia, this is the general theme explaining for why Wall Street dropped (big time) - Dow down 2.3%; S&P 500 down 2%; Nasdaq down ...

Chief economist update: Americans who want work will find it

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 5 NOV 2018
... according to cmegroup.com, 73.6% that the US central bank will raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.25%-2.5%. Yes Virginia, I'm scratching my bald head too. Only 73.6% chance, after the Fed already intimated on several occasions that it will ...

Chief economist update: Famous last words

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 28 AUG 2018
The S&P 500 index closed at 2896.74 points at the end of last night's trading activity on Wall Street. Yes, Virginia, it's a new record high! Yippee-kay-yay and hallelujah! This is good for stock markets around the world, including Australia. ...

Chief economist update: Don't mind the gap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 AUG 2018
... number matches exactly the OECD's estimate of Australia's NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment). Yes, Virginia, the unemployment rate gap has closed and very soon you, I and Irene would be able to ask (and be given, crossed ...

Chief economist update: The BOJ kills off specs (for now)

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 1 AUG 2018
... and to enhance the sustainability of "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control." Yes Virginia, the BOJ has added another tool to try and coax inflation back to life. QQE with YCC has been expanded to QQE with YCC and ...

Chief economist update: Shanghai's drop is China's problem, the yuan's slide is everyone's

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 28 JUN 2018
... the path towards normalisation while the PBOC (just over the weekend) reduced its reserve requirement ratio. But yes Virginia, we all should "worry over impact." Those who still remember their history will recall that time in August 2015 when the People's ...