Commodities
Dow Jones dropped 1,164.52 points on Wednesday (May 18) – the biggest drop since June 2020. In fact, at 31,490.07, the DJIA saw the lowest close since March 2021. Likewise, the S&P 500 plunged to its lowest drop since June 2020. The fact that this is the fifth Dow decline of more than 800 points […]
... written on May 19 2022Joe Biden hosted ASEAN leaders in Washington last week for a special summit to commemorate 45 years of US-ASEAN ties. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in August 1967 and consisting of 10 nations, is an important political and economic union in the region as it covers a population of 660 million with a […]
... written on May 18 2022Crude oil hit more than US$130 a barrel after Russia launched its so-called special military operation in Ukraine. But crude oil was not the only commodity which skyrockets after the invasion. Sunflower oil, the world’s third most traded vegetable oil after palm and soybean oil, also hit the roof. Worse, Ukraine and Russia accounts for […]
... written on May 14 2022As expected, Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) has finally raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points today (May 11). With the increase, the first since the rate reached a record low of 1.75% in July 2020, the effective OPR (overnight policy rate) is now 2.00%. However, at the same time, the […]
... written on May 11 2022Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking during a news conference on May 4 to raise interest rate by 50 basis points, has signalled that the Fed could continue to approve increases of half a percentage point. Investors, however, spooked by earlier speculations that the rate could be up to 75 basis points, did not pay […]
... written on May 10 2022China has a huge problem – US$3.2 trillion foreign exchange reserve – the world’s largest reserves. In comparison, Japan, the country with the second largest foreign reserves, has only US$1.4 trillion (as of Feb 2022). China’s foreign assets included more than US$1 trillion in U.S. bonds and huge amounts of real estate, especially hotels and […]
... written on May 06 2022Vladimir Putin has finally made good on his threat to punish “unfriendly countries” that stubbornly and defiantly refused to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. The first casualties – Poland and Bulgaria – saw their gas supplies cut on Wednesday (April 27), coincides with a sharp rise in tensions between Western powers and Russia as the war in Ukraine enters its […]
... written on Apr 27 2022When Muhyiddin Yassin betrayed the democratically elected Pakatan Harapan and took over as Malaysia’s first backdoor prime minister on Mar 1, 2020, the local currency – Ringgit – plunged from 4.17 to 4.44 within days. It was as bad as during Najib Razak government, during which Ringgit hit a low of 4.50 as the country […]
... written on Apr 26 2022As the United States and its allies continue to pressure India to abandon, or at least maintain its distance from Russia till the Ukraine invasion is over, the Indian government has ignored the Western powers. Instead of condemning Moscow, New Delhi has instead bought more Russian oil largely due to huge discount offered by the […]
... written on Apr 20 2022For weeks since the invasion of Ukraine, the Western news media have painted Ukrainian as the winner, while the Russian as the loser. Ukrainian forces were seen as not only fiercely brave, but also invincible and undefeatable. The Russian forces, on the other hand, were being condemned as a coward, inefficient, corrupt, brutal and whatnot. […]
... written on Apr 11 2022
