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Economics

Three for three

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 14 AUG 2015
If financial markets panicked on the first surprise devaluation announcement - because of "China hard landing"; "currency war"; "deflation pressure"; "commodity price plunges; "Asian financial crisis revisitation"; etcetera (name your favourite spook ...

PBOC does an SNB

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 13 AUG 2015
The yuan's semi-peg to the US$ meant that as the US dollar goes up, so does the yuan vis-a-vis other currencies.

Too much ado about a speck

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 12 AUG 2015
Sure, the Politburo didn't give markets the kind of stimulation - lowered interest rate or lowered reserve requirement or fiscal pump priming - they speculated about, but a stimulus is a stimulus is a stimulus.

Five minutes of commodity sunshine?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 11 AUG 2015
With supply still in abundance and global growth still weak, a reversal of the trend decline in commodity prices doesn't look like it would happen anytime soon.

All right

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 10 AUG 2015
There's something for the bulls and the bears and the birds and the bees and the moon up above in the July US employment update to confirm their respective cognitive biases.

Water, water everywhere

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 7 AUG 2015
The overall message is that the BOE would not raise interest rates ? just yet. The British currency's reaction confirmed this - it slipped by 0.6% overnight against both the US dollar and the euro.

September -- morn or mourn?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 6 AUG 2015
The timing of the first Fed rate hike isn't that big of a deal - Yellen told us so - what matters more is the speed and depth of subsequent ones. And here, Janet assured us that it would be slow and shallow.

Indian economy accelerating/slowing

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 5 AUG 2015
Latest data show that the Indian economy expanded by 7.5% in the year to the March quarter, up from 6.6% in the last quarter of 2014. Yes, you got that right, India grew faster than China.

Market to open lower

AAP  |  WEDNESDAY, 5 AUG 2015
The Australian market looks set to open lower after falls on Wall Street following a mixed batch of earnings reports and another big decline by technology giant Apple.

RBA to deliver nothing

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 4 AUG 2015
This month looks easy-peasy for the RBA. Keep the official cash rate steady at 2.0% plus a few minor tweaks in the 'Statement' and it's job done.