Finance and Economy
A couple of moons ago, 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad proudly declared that corruption in Malaysia has become a thing of the past following the change in government. The world’s oldest prime minister won the country’s general election in May on promises of fighting corruption and reforming institutions, blaming the previous Najib Razak regime for plunging the country into […]
... written on Dec 31 2018In what appears to be the next level of retaliation against the Government of Canada over the arrest of Huawei’s CFO (chief financial officer), Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese may have already decided what to do with Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen on charges of drug smuggling. Although information is sketchy, it’s highly possible […]
... written on Dec 27 2018Crude oil has a new buddy – the S&P 500. Less than 2 months after the oil entered the bear market territory on Nov 8, the S&P 500 – the American stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies – joins the club on Christmas Eve. On Monday, just before the […]
... written on Dec 26 2018President Donald Trump couldn’t hide his frustration anymore. The stock market sell-off will wipe out his only achievement as his government is officially shut down over funding. The U.S. shutdown could stretch into January, 2019. But the president’s biggest worry is the stock market meltdown, which could spell an economy slowdown and subsequently a recession. […]
... written on Dec 24 2018There were 21 states at the end of November which had joined the US$1.99 club – where at least 1 station sells fuel at less than two bucks a gallon. Today, the number of states have jumped to 31. In essence, American drivers in these 31 states pay US$1.99 or less for a gallon or […]
... written on Dec 23 2018International benchmark Brent crude oil broke the US$60 support level to about US$55. The American WTI, meanwhile, plunged below the US$52 psychological level to US$46 a barrel. If the U.S. crude futures contract continues to drop, we may see the oil breach the US$40 before the year end. In essence, the global oil prices are […]
... written on Dec 20 2018How will the economy be in 2019? Most analysts, economists, bankers and even speculators have the following forecasts – slowdown, bearish, uncertainty and even recession. Even if the world could avoid a recession next year, it will eventually come the subsequent year in 2020. Those who believe in the 10-year cycle, however, think the 2019 […]
... written on Dec 18 2018Three years ago, China and Israel reached a milestone in infrastructure cooperation. A deal was signed to allow a Chinese company to run Israel’s largest port city – Haifa – for 25 years starting from 2021. The Shanghai International Port (Group) Co Ltd (SIPG) won the bid to build the new port which will be […]
... written on Dec 18 2018Donald Trump is perhaps the best U.S. president Americans have ever voted for who wanted to “Make America Great Again”. One of his projects is to fix the U.S. trade deficit with China. Americans have every reason to be angry with the Chinese. They have stolen U.S. technology and secrets, even robbed millions of American […]
... written on Dec 15 2018The older the ginger, the spicier it gets – goes a very popular Chinese idiom. It means the older a person becomes, the wiser the person gets. When Mahathir Mohamad led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), to a stunning victory in the May 9th general election, the world was shocked and impressed […]
... written on Dec 14 2018
