Philip Chua Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘yesterday’

Yesterday's US economic data releases were mixed, although for us, continued weakness in the US housing market (as evidenced by July's housing starts and building permits figures), underscores a prevailing nervousness in markets. These 'headwinds' increase the chance of the Federal Reserve restarting its quantitative easing programme, having halted its

THERE should be no retirement age for workers, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said at a dialogue session yesterday. Singapore's ageing population means its employers have to help old workers stay productive and workers have to be willing to keep working, Mr Lee said. 'I don't think there should be a retirement age,' said Mr Lee, who is 86, drawing laughs from the more than 900 managers, government... more

RISING prices, in the wake of Singapore's strong economic rebound, affected households across all income groups in the first six months of this year, according to figures released yesterday. But cost increases were slowest for the lowest earners - those in the bottom 20 per cent by household income. This is a departure from recent years when rising prices hit low-income households hardest. Figures... more

There was little improvement in sentiment yesterday. Stocks drifted up early in the European session, despite a slightly larger uptake of the ECB's 6-day liquidity tender (€111bn). Once again, however, weaker US data turned things sour. US 10yr Treasuries briefl y fell below 2.90% before settling just above at 2.94%

FLYING to Australia and New Zealand will soon become cheaper for travellers here. Budget carrier Jetstar Airways yesterday announced that it would launch daily direct return flights between Singapore and Australia's Melbourne, as well as New Zealand's Auckland. It will start flying to Melbourne from Dec 16 at lower prices than those charged by many other airlines, including budget ... more

After Japanese inflation data overnight, today's economic data calendar is primarily focused on the US. April personal income and spending figures are published alongside the latest 'core' PCE deflator and the Chicago PMI and Michigan surveys for May. Following yesterday's slightly weaker-than-expected outturn for the second estimate of Q1 GDP,