Commodities
Earlier this month, when President Donald Trump announced a new round of 10% tariffs on US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports, the remaining goods yet to be taxed, Beijing was not convinced that the U.S. would escape from the escalated trade war unscathed. Trump also overplayed his hand in the poker game when he threatened […]
... written on Aug 14 2019Singapore has a piece of very bad news for not only its own people, but also the region, if not the world. The small island’s economy almost came to a standstill in the second quarter, thanks largely to the US-China trade war, which has gotten worse after China retaliated against Trump’s 10% new tariff on […]
... written on Aug 13 2019Zakir Naik, the controversial Indian Islamic preacher accused of spreading hate speech, laundering money, and funding terrorism by the Indian government has launched what appears to be a stinging attack against China. His attack is so damaging to the Malaysia-China bilateral ties that not even Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had dared do it. Speaking […]
... written on Aug 12 2019A day after the Wall Street crashed 333 points as a result of less than impressive interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, the stocks made an incredible rally – skyrocketed to as much as 311 points – until Trump spoils the party. The president dropped a bombshell when he declared an additional 10% tariff […]
... written on Aug 02 2019Two weeks earlier (July 4), Britain’s Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory. Britain accused the ship of transporting oil to Syria, hence had violated European Union sanctions. Officials initially said the seizure happened on orders from the United […]
... written on Jul 21 2019In March 2018, India raised the import tax on crude palm oil to 44% from 30% and hiked the tax on refined palm oil to 54% from 40%. The fourth increase in import tax in less than 6 months – the highest level in more than a decade – was to protect the country’s local […]
... written on Jul 19 2019For the 12-month period from April 2018 to March 2019, U.S. home purchases by foreign buyers dropped 36%. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), foreigners bought only 183,100 properties worth about US$77.9 billion, down from 266,800 valued at US$121 billion in the previous period. That’s a loss of US$43 billion worth of home […]
... written on Jul 18 2019If the United States’ economy is in bad shape due to its trade war with China, how come its stock market has been so bullish lately? The S&P 500 is about to pull off its best first half of a year in at least 10 years and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is enjoying its best June […]
... written on Jun 27 2019Donald Trump still talks as if his latest tariff hike – from 10% to 25% on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods – is like money dropping from the sky. The U.S. president continues hoodwinking his supporters that the Americans are winning because as a result of the trade tariffs, China pays US$100 billion to […]
... written on Jun 21 2019China just revealed that its overall trade surplus registered US$41.65 billion last month (May 2019) – despite ongoing trade war with the U.S. That’s a mind-boggling number as economists polled by Reuters had expected the country to post an overall trade surplus of only US$20.5 billion. Instead of forecast that both exports and imports would […]
... written on Jun 11 2019
