Newspaper icon
The latest issue of Financial Standard now available as an e-newspaper
READ NOW

Economics

The horse still refuses to drink

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 28 AUG 2015
As night follows day, bad news is again followed by calls for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates one more time. Don't know about you but with interest rates at record low, businesses should be falling all over themselves locking in low borrowing ...

The man with the golden jawbone

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 27 AUG 2015
'twas Bill -- New York Fed Bank president and FOMC vice-chairman William Dudley - and his jawbone that did it.

It's the Fed, stupid

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 26 AUG 2015
Are we barking at the wrong tree? Let me rephrase that, we are barking at the wrong tree.

A$ falls to the occasion

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 25 AUG 2015
If this state of affairs goes on for much longer, we might just see something we haven't seen in 14 years - an Australian recession.

Gloom and doom news is good news

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 24 AUG 2015
The only problem I have is determining if markets have already bottomed or whether there's more in store before the central banks of the world decide to act - concertedly and in coordination. I don't think any central banker would just sit and wait until ...

Should the Fed re-launch QE?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 21 AUG 2015
Ask not when the Fed would start raising interest rates but whether the Fed should re-launch QE.

Bangkok bombs and Malaysia's terror

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 20 AUG 2015
No one would argue that is a tragic development for Thailand or for any other country for that matter. But more tragic is the goings-on in its neighbour - Malaysia.

Australia: which way now?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 19 AUG 2015
Apart from dropping the official cash rate to an historic low of 2.0%, the RBA has been Australia's one-man cheering squad.

Empire State bombs out

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 18 AUG 2015
With stats like these, who wouldn't wet their pants ? or be happy that the Fed would keep interest rates on ice for a long while longer?

One down, two to go

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 17 AUG 2015
With ECB interest rates remaining at record lows and the central bank continuing to flood the market with liquidity with its ?60 billion monthly asset purchases, the underlying trend is towards continued moderate improvement in the economy.