Currencies
Every month, Rachel Tan, a 53-year-old Singaporean tutor, boards a bus across the 1-km (0.6 mile) causeway for a day trip to Malaysia’s southern state Johor, where she stocks up on groceries and treats herself to lunch and a film. Thanks to recent streamlined immigration procedures, she doesn’t need to flash her passport but a […]
... written on Oct 20 2025Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung-Un were some of the authoritarian leaders Donald Trump admires. And there’s a reason why the U.S. president has shown greater respect for them than fellow democratic leaders from Western nations – the absolute power. Even though Trump says he’s not a dictator, he has hinted that dictatorships might […]
... written on Aug 28 20252.6 percent GDP growth is not exciting, nor is it the kind of number that makes politicians puff their chests or retail traders load up on call options. However, it is the kind of number that should make long-term investors smile. Because in 2025, while half the world is going through rate hikes, currency shocks, […]
... written on Jul 16 2025When Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered America’s AAA credit rating on August 5, 2011 after the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, very few thought it would take another 10 years before Fitch became the second major rating agency to do the same in August 2023 – downgraded United States of America’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to […]
... written on May 20 2025After just two days of talks (it was not even a negotiation), an agreement – despite a 90-day validity – has been reached between the United States and China in Switzerland. The best part is President Donald Trump is still waiting for a call from President Xi Jinping. That alone speaks volumes who actually has […]
... written on May 13 2025Japanese Yakuza have a unique form of extortion known as sōkaiya. Instead of harassing small businesses for protection money, the yakuza harasses the stockholder meetings of large corporations. But that was a big mistake, forcing the introduction of anti-organized crime law in 1992 and 2011. As a result, the mobsters were forced to go underground, […]
... written on Apr 21 2025In all three rounds of tax hikes – from 34% to 84%, and then to 125% – since Donald Trump started his tariff war on China last Wednesday (April 2), the U.S. president actually thought he could win easily. After all, Beijing was weak during Trump’s first term eight years ago, unwilling to go full […]
... written on Apr 11 2025As expected, Donald Trump was incredibly upset after Xi Jinping called his bluff and raised the bets in the poker game. Did the U.S. president really think Beijing will do nothing and with tail between legs, kiss his ring and accept the 34% tariffs slapped on the Middle Kingdom? Nope, the Chinese decisively slapped back […]
... written on Apr 10 2025Since returning to power in January 2025, Trump had already imposed two rounds of 10% additional duties on all Chinese imports. Having failed to bring the Middle Kingdom to its knees during his first term, the U.S. president is throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, in his “Trade War 2.0” with China. On Wednesday (2-April), […]
... written on Apr 05 2025Known as the United States’ “deputy sheriff” in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia is arguably one of the most vulnerable allies in the second Trump tariffs. While Canada dares to claim it could win the ongoing trade war with the U.S., the same cannot be said about Australia. In fact, the Aussie is so weak it […]
... written on Mar 25 2025
