Finance and Economy
Zakir 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 2019Every night at 9 p.m. ET, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) fixes a level at which the Yuan (Renminbi) will trade against the U.S. dollar within China. On Wednesday, the central bank sets the Yuan midpoint at 6.9996 per dollar. But by Thursday, it crossed the red line and breached the 7 level – […]
... written on Aug 08 2019In retaliation for Donald Trump’s announcement last week of new 10% tariff against an additional US$300 billion of Chinese goods, effective September 1, Beijing has finally fired its biggest shot since the trade war started in March 2018. It devalues its currency Yuan (Renminbi) and officially suspends purchases of American agricultural products. As a […]
... written on Aug 06 2019In March 2018, about 17 months ago, President Donald Trump confidently – even arrogantly – said that trade wars are good, and easy to win. His first shot at Mexico, imposing a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminium, helped spark a 420-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and […]
... written on Aug 05 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 2019Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he refuses to obey Donald Trump, he would be condemned. If he obeys his boss, he would be a puppet of the U.S. president. So when he took the middle way, cutting the key interest rate as desired by Trump, […]
... written on Aug 01 2019Huawei’s revenue grew 19.5% in 2018 – hitting US$100 billion – despite pressure from President Donald Trump on allies to boycott or ban Huawei from participating in the fifth-generation mobile networks, otherwise known as 5G, the latest mobile internet technology engineered to greatly increase the speed and responsiveness of wireless networks. It was quite an achievement […]
... written on Jul 30 2019According to the New York Times, the two optional safety features which could have saved the Boeing 737 MAX jets from crashing would probably add US$800,000 (£640,000; RM3.3 million) to US$2 million (£1.6 million; RM8.2 million) to the price of the aircraft – about 5% of the total cost of the jet purchased by Lion […]
... written on Jul 25 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 2019
