World

NEW YORK : The dollar surged to a nearly two-year high on Wednesday after minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting reinforced expectations of multiple half percentage-point rate increases to control soaring inflation. The dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against six major currencies, climbed to 99.7780, its strongest level since late May 2020. It was last up 0.1per cent at 99.588. Fed officials viewed the hefty rate increases as appropriate at future meetings, especially if inflation pressures intensify, minutes showed. They would also have preferred a 50 basis point rise in the target range for the federal funds rate at the March meeting. "There's a realization that some of the doves have come over to the 50 basis point hike territory and that is likely what we're ...

Muslianshah Masrie | Photodisc | Getty Images Are you saving enough now for your eventual retirement? The odds are that you probably aren't. The latest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances for 2019 found that the median amount of savings in Americans' retirement accounts was $65,000. To say the least, that nest egg will not provide you with a very comfortable retirement. The figure, however, applies to Americans of all ages. When broken down by age groups, Americans between the age of 55 and 64 held a median savings amount of $134,000 — still far from ensuring a long, happy retirement — but significantly better than the national median. Americans under the age of 35, who still have a lot of time to ramp up their savings habits, had a total of $13,000. These days, that would buy you...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We earn a commission from affiliate partners on many offers, but not all offers on Select are from affiliate partners. There are many advantages when it comes to using a personal loan to cover a large expense. For one, personal loans tend to carry lower interest rates compared to credit cards, which makes them a more affordable option for borrowing money. While each lender has its own funding limit, you can also generally apply for up to $100,000, which should allow you to cover big expenses such as surprise medical bills or an emergency home repair. Not only that, funds are typically disbursed directly into your checking account so you can use the money quick...

Bearish bets on most Asian currencies eased as regional central banks sought to normalise policy due to surging inflation, while investors turned bullish on Singapore dollar for the first time in over a month, a Reuters poll found on Thursday. Long positions on the Chinese yuan firmed despite increasing vulnerability from COVID-19 lockdowns, divergence in global and domestic monetary policy cycle, narrowing yield differentials, and headwinds from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Maybank analysts say strong fundamentals — a solid trade surplus, potential for more monetary accommodation and capacity to boost infrastructure investment to support growth has investors still betting long on the yuan. Traders polled by Reuters have been consistently bullish on the yuan since late October last year...

China’s lockdowns to contain the country’s worst COVID-19 outbreak since early 2020 have battered the economy, stalling production in major technology and financial hubs like Shenzhen and Shanghai, and halting spending by millions of people shut in their homes. The restrictions are intended to eradicate any trace of the virus in the community, but they’ve also pressured everything from manufacturing and trade to inflation and food prices. Premier Li Keqiang has repeatedly warned of risks to economic growth, telling local authorities on Monday they should “add a sense of urgency” when implementing existing policies. The government is holding firm to its “COVID zero” approach for now, a strategy economists say will push growth down to 5% this year, below the official target of around 5.5%....

Soaring fertilizer costs have rice farmers across Asia scaling back their use, a move that threatens harvests of a staple that feeds half of humanity and could lead to a full-blown food crisis if prices aren’t curbed. From India to Vietnam and the Philippines, prices of crop nutrients crucial to boosting food production have doubled or tripled in the past year alone. Lower fertilizer use may mean a smaller crop. The International Rice Research Institute predicts that yields could drop 10% in the next season, translating to a loss of 36 million tons of rice, or the equivalent of feeding 500 million people. That’s a “very conservative estimate,” said Humnath Bhandari, a senior agricultural economist at the institute, adding that the impact could be far more severe should the war in Ukraine...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We earn a commission from affiliate partners on many offers, but not all offers on Select are from affiliate partners. When it comes to investing, you've likely heard the arguments for putting your hard-earned money into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds to diversify your portfolio or to allocate more of your portfolio toward conservative investments like bonds as you age. Before you begin the investing process and siphon away thousands of dollars for retirement or other future financial goals, there's one term you should absolutely familiarize yourself with: expense ratios. Expense ratios can eat away at your investment earnings, so it's important ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX was due to launch the next long-duration astronaut crew to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA early on Wednesday (Apr 27), including a medical doctor, turned spacewalker and a geologist specialising in Martian landslides. The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, was set for liftoff with its four-member crew at 3.52 am from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. If all goes according to plan, the three US astronauts and their European Space Agency (ESA) crewmate from Italy will reach the space station about 17 hours later to begin a six-month science mission orbiting some 420km above Earth. During a pre-launch briefing on Tu...

SINGAPORE: A driver and two passengers were charged in the State Courts on Saturday (Apr 9) after crashing into the counters at Tuas Checkpoint while trying to evade departure clearance. Singaporean Teo Thiam Leng, 46, the driver of the Malaysia-registered car, was charged with dangerous driving in the incident that took place early on Friday morning. He is accused of reversing his vehicle at the motorcycle arrival zone of Tuas Checkpoint and hitting an Immigrations and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, causing hurt. He was also given a charge of abetting the importation of 33g of methamphetamine into Singapore in 2016. The court heard that Teo has a previous conviction for drug-related offences. In 2007, he was sentenced to five years' jail and five strokes of the cane for traffick...

In a photograph from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukraine, a woman stands in the yard of a house, her hand covering her mouth in horror, the bodies of three dead civilians scattered before her. When Aset Chad saw that picture, she started shaking and hurtled 22 years back in time. In February 2000, she walked into her neighbor’s yard in Chechnya and glimpsed the bodies of three men and a woman who had been shot repeatedly in front of her 8-year-old daughter. Russian soldiers had swept their village and murdered at least 60 people, raped at least six women and plundered the victims’ gold teeth, human rights observers found. “I am having the most severe flashbacks,” Chad, who now lives in New York, said in a phone interview. “I see exactly what’s going on: I see the same military, the same Ru...