Taxes
Stocks dropped like a rock on Wednesday (August 14) when the DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) plunged 800.49 points – worst percentage drop of the year. What happened? Apparently the bond market flashed warning of recession. The yield of 10-year Treasury note broke below the 2-year rate – a rare but reliable indicator of economic […]
... written on Aug 16 2019Since the early dynasties of China, there has been connection between China and various early kingdoms in the Malay Archipelago. The first recorded movement of people from China into the present-territory of Malaysia was during the arrival of Mongol expeditionary forces under Kublai Khan to Borneo in 1292. Unofficially, the arrival of Chinese in the region could be […]
... written on Aug 15 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 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 2019From May 2009 to April 2018, Najib Razak earned RM58,605.15 every month as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia. Prior to that, he took home RM48,681.65 as the country’s 9th deputy prime minister. On top of that, his monthly allowances were RM3,846.59 as PM and RM6,508.59 as MP (2011 to 2014). The allowances were later raised […]
... written on Jul 26 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 2019
