Author: Mark J
The government of Singapore has reiterated its estimated GDP growth for the year 2024 standing at 1-3% in view of the number of economic challenges. This decision comes at a time when the city stares at risks in the external environment even as internal markets remain fragile. More significantly, Singapore’s economy has presented stability and signs for gradual recovery in Q1 2024 with an economy growth rate of 2.7%. While this growth rate may be small it is higher than the growth rate of previous quarters, and has taken the confidence in the country’s economic growth forward. According to the…
Hong Kong regained the rank of Asian’s leading financial centre leaving behind Singapore as per Global Financial Centres Index. The survey published here on Monday ranked Hong Kong third internationally behind New York and London, while Singapore ranked fourth internationally. This development is a big positive for Hong Kong’s financial industry which has been hit hard as people left the city because of Covid restrictions. It is a well-known performance rating tool in the financial sector ranking cities according to a number of criteria including general business climate, talent pool, communications and transportation infrastructure, state of development of the financial…
The Chinese government unveiled a huge package of economic measures on Thursday to energize the world’s second largest economy. The pivoting is in an attempt to cope with decelerating hard economic growth, declining consumer demand and Trump’s trade war with Beijing. These stimulus measures that were launched recently by Premier Li Qiang are essentially a package of the monetary and fiscal policies aimed at stimulating the overall flow of funds in the financial market and stimulating con sumption demand in the country. The package is estimated to be worth about 2 trillion yuan ($280 billion) which put it among some…
The Federal Reserve made its expected move on Wednesday when it cut its benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 5.00-5.25%. It will be the last time since March 2020 that the central bank instituted the cut in the rate, and the change in the monetary policy agenda to promote growth with fears of a slowdown. Jerome Powell, speaking to the press after the meeting, stressed that the fate of cutting rates was not the start of a long process of lowering interest rates. But, he kept the door open saying that the Fed ‘would provide additional accommodation…
New and uncharted territory into which the financial technology industry is venturing is revolutionary and disruptive across the globe and the banking model is not immune to this. According to CB Insights, latest data indicate that fintech funding globally was at $44 billion in the third quarter for 2024, this is 15% above the second quarter, proving that this is a sector that can withstand hard economic times. At spearheading of the fintech revolution one can identify digital payment platforms and blockchain based financial services. Micro and small online sellers, which PayPal has been serving for many years, was intended…
World equities had a strong gains today due to investor’s reaction towards decrease in inflation and indications of a shift towards lower interest rates by key global central banks. The S&P 500 rose by 1 percent this week as investors hovered in anticipation for the second coming of quantitative easing. 1% and the S&P 500 rose 0. 8% today ; The Nasdaq Composite surged another 2%. 3%, both record highs to their highest levels ever recorded. European markets also followed the suit as the pan-regional Stoxx index of 600 companies rose by 1%. 5%. The rally was mainly driven by…
Equity markets advanced worldwide today as the hopes for Federal Reserve to trim interest rates in the near future mounted. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite index hit record high, as did European and Asian markets. The rally was aided by the latest economic figures that indicated that inflation is persistently coming down in the United States, which may afford the Fed the opportunity to ease monetary policy. The consumer price index for February that was released earlier this week indicated that the core inflation had increased by 3. 8% year-over-year, which is just below economists’ forecast. This is…
In a major step towards clean energy, NTPC Green Energy has signed to buy India’s largest wind power plant. This is a very ambitious project which is expected to produce electricity from renewable sources that will cater for about three million homes in India, a major boost in the renewable energy sector. The project is one of the several projects that have been deemed relevant by the Indian government’s quest to diversify the country’s energy sources towards the utilization of renewable energy. NTPC Green Energy Ltd a subsidiary of the state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has been one of…
This will be the first time Apple will be launching its latest iPhone on a Monday, a rarity in the company’s near 19-year history. The much-awaited iPhone 16 launch event named ‘It’s Glowtime’ is set for September 9, 2024, but it is not a Friday as has been the tradition of Apple in the previous years. It is not a simple matter of rescheduling but a strategic shift that has been brought about by a number of factors. The change of launch from Tuesday to Monday is mainly due to two big events that are expected to take place the…
As the days to the 2024 US presidential election approaches, the Indian American community is getting more and more enthusiastic. This excitement is all directed at none other than Kamala Harris, the first South Asian American Vice President of the United States. The slogan of ‘Hamari Ye Kamala Harris’ meaning ‘Our Kamala Harris’, has become the slogan of the Indian Americans who are proud of Harris and are ready to support her in the presidential debates against Trump. This is not just in words but has become a culture, fans celebrating after the game and the phrase “nacho nacho” (dance…