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Showing 721 - 730 of 3072 results for "Benjamin"

Chief economist update: Fed funds at five point O

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 10 JUL 2018
The absence of fresh threat tweets from the US president has allowed me to take a fresh look at the US non-farm payrolls report released over the weekend. It was good. Nah, it was excellent, the stuff of every central bank's dream. US non-farm payrolls ...

Chief economist update: Friday when the trade war began

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 9 JUL 2018
Shots fired! Shots fired! The threat of a trade war became real on 6 July 2018, when at exactly 12:01 am (NY time), the US imposed a 25% tariff on US$34 billion of Chinese imports to which China immediately responded with a percent-for-percent and dollar-for-dollar ...

Chief economist update: Minutes of concerns

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 6 JUL 2018
We're all much aware of the US Federal Reserve's optimistic outlook for America's economic growth, unemployment and inflation and that, as per the 13 June FOMC statement, the risks to this outlook "appear roughly balanced." However, the ...

Chief economist update: Japan feels the heat

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 5 JUL 2018
Who better to talk about trade than the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In its latest report the WTO put into perspective the goings-on in the on-going global war on trade. To wit: "A total of 39 new trade-restrictive measures were applied by G20 economies ...

Chief economist update: Steady at 24 and counting

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 4 JUL 2018
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) didn't disappoint when it kept the official cash rate unchanged at a record low 1.5% following its 3 July board meeting. It has been 24 months now - the longest in recent history - that the official cash rate ...

Chief economist update: Draining the swamp

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 3 JUL 2018
"We're going to drain the swamp." This was one of US President Donald Trump's battle cry when he was still campaigning for the top job in America. It looks like he's on his way to fulfilling this promise but instead, Trump's draining ...

Chief economist update: US inflation hits target

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 2 JUL 2018
Houston, we're on target. The US Income and Outlays account released last Friday showed that US inflation as measured by the US Federal Reserve's favoured gauge - the core PCE price index - is now smack bang where the Fed wants it, rising by ...

Chief economist update: It's always slow in America in Q1

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 29 JUN 2018
The third and final estimate of US GDP growth showed the economy grew at an annualised rate of 2% in the first quarter of 2018. This is lower than market expectations and would be unchanged from the second estimate's 2.2% rate. While the slight ...

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

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 28 JUN 2018
The Shanghai Composite index's drop into bear market territory may have elicited some negative Trump thoughts, but China's response - through the accompanying depreciation of the yuan may have been "I'm taking you with me." Such is the ugliness ...

Chief economist update: Chinese dragon now a bear

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 27 JUN 2018
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? If we're talking about the US and China, it appears that the answer is that the immovable object (China) drops. China's Shanghai Composite index dropped to 2844.51 points from ...