Commodities
The backdoor government of Muhyiddin Yassin has extended the lockdown, or the MCO (movement control order) by 2 weeks until April 14 in order to contain the spread of Covid-19. In his televised address, the prime minister urged Malaysians to stay at home. He kept saying his government had no choice but to extend the […]
... written on Mar 27 2020In a world called the planet Earth, three powerful men determine, influence and control the world oil prices. They are U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Until 2018, Trump was still the most powerful of the trio, where his foreign policies – through Twitter’s tweets – […]
... written on Mar 18 2020Be prepared for US$20 oil in 2020. Ali Khedery, a former ExxonMobil’s senior advisor for the Middle East, said so and now even Goldman Sachs warned that twenty bucks for a barrel of crude oil is absolutely possible. On Sunday, oil prices crashed by more than a third or 30% – the worst one day […]
... written on Mar 09 2020Oil prices dropped more than 10% on Friday (March 6) when the U.S. WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude closed at US$41.28 – the lowest since August 2016. More importantly, it was WTI’s biggest one day percentage drop since November 28, 2014. Meanwhile, international benchmark Brent crude lost 9.4% to close at US$45.27 a barrel – […]
... written on Mar 08 2020Unlike the economy of Abu Dhabi, the big brother and richest emirate in the seven-emirate United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai’s economy is not directly dependent on oil. Dubai depends heavily on luxury real estate, tourism, logistics, and financial services for revenues. However, Dubai’s economy suffers indirectly when crude oil prices go south. Surprisingly, despite […]
... written on Feb 20 2020Singapore’s economy almost came to a standstill in the second quarter of 2019, thanks largely to the US-China trade war. Its economy grew by merely 0.7% last year, down from 3.1% registered in 2018. In essence, it had been the slowest economic growth since the 2009 (when its economy expanded 0.1%) Great Recession. Still, the country […]
... written on Feb 18 2020Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, was on cloud nine last year. Its currency – Thai Baht – was the champion not only among ASEAN countries, but also in Asia. In fact, the currency has been the best performing since 2018 (not only 2019). The currency appreciated a whopping 8% against the US dollar in 2019 […]
... written on Feb 08 2020As the deaths due to Coronavirus hit 427 people with 20,438 confirmed cases, global financial and business markets are increasingly affected by the epidemic. Crude oil is one of the commodities that has taken a serious beating. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading below US$50 per barrel in late trading Monday – hitting […]
... written on Feb 04 2020After a two year trade war, the U.S. and China finally signed a trade deal, popularly known as the “Phase One”. President Donald Trump signed the deal while Vice Premier Liu He signed the agreement on behalf of China. The trade deal came at an interesting time as the House prepared to send articles of […]
... written on Jan 16 2020Mahathir Mohamad, the world’s oldest prime minister, has been relatively quiet since the start of the New Year 2020 – for a good reason. The Malaysian prime minister, arguably one of the most outspoken leaders, has offended so many world leaders that he probably had lost count – from Myanmar to the U.S., China, India […]
... written on Jan 14 2020
