World

NEW YORK : The dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies on Tuesday as investors waited on U.S. retail sales and minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting on Wednesday. The greenback has bounced from a six-week low last week as investors ramp up bets that the U.S. central bank will continue to hike rates aggressively as inflation remains persistently high. Trading has been choppy, however, with the Fed not due to meet until Sept. 20-21 and with more consumer price inflation and jobs data due before then. Looser financial conditions as benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hold below 3 per cent and as the credit and stocks markets improve has increased speculation the Fed may need to be more aggressive in tightening conditions to address rising price pressures. “Every r...

SINGAPORE/MUMBAI : Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, is threatening to reduce the output of the world's most important food staple and stoke food inflation that is already near record highs. Rice has bucked the trend of rising food prices amid bumper crops and large inventories at exporters over the past two years, even as COVID-19, supply disruptions and more recently the Russia-Ukraine conflict made other grains costlier. But inclement weather in exporting countries in Asia, which accounts for about 90 per cent of the world's rice output, is likely to change the price trajectory, traders and analysts said. "There is an upside potential for rice prices with the possibility of production downgrades in key exporting countries," said ...

TOKYO: Japan's core consumer inflation accelerated in July to its fastest in seven-and-a-half years, driven by fuel and raw material prices and adding to the costs of living for households yet to see significant wage gains. In a sign of broadening price pressure, the so-called "core-core" index that strips away not just the impact of volatile fresh food but energy prices, also rose in July at the fastest annual pace in more than six years. While inflation exceeded its 2 per cent target for four straight months, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is likely to remain an outlier in keeping monetary conditions ultra-loose with price rises still modest compared with other major economies. "Food prices and a weak yen were the main culprits behind accelerating inflation," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief m...

SINGAPORE: A delivery driver was sentenced on Monday (Aug 1) to four months' jail after knocking down a 78-year-old woman in the central business district. The victim died of head injury a day after the accident. Muhammad Said Shahidir Dres, 35, was also banned from driving for eight years after pleading guilty to one count of careless driving. The court heard that on Apr 3, 2020, Said was driving his van along Cross Street while making a delivery at about 3.05pm. He was driving on the extreme right lane as he intended to make a right turn at the junction of Robinson Road towards Collyer Quay. Around the same time, the victim started walking across the signalised pedestrian crossing of Robinson Road between CapitaGreen and Hong Leong Building. She had crossed three of the four lanes o...

SHANGHAI: China cut its benchmark lending rate and lowered the mortgage reference by a bigger margin on Monday (Aug 22), adding to last week's easing measures, as Beijing boosts efforts to revive an economy hobbled by a property crisis and a resurgence of COVID cases. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is walking a tight rope in its efforts to revive growth. Offering too much stimulus could add to inflation pressures and risk capital flight as the Federal Reserve and other economies raise interest rates aggressively. However, weak credit demand is forcing the PBOC's hand as it tries to keep China's economy on an even keel. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was lowered by 5 basis points to 3.65 per cent at the central bank's monthly fixing on Monday, while the five-year LPR was slashed b...

NEW YORK : World stocks tumbled for a third consecutive session on Tuesday on concerns about likely U.S. and European interest rate hikes, after data showed resilient economic growth and inflation in both regions despite central banks' policy tightening so far. Two-year U.S. Treasuries scaled a new high not seen since 2007 after data showed U.S. job openings increased in July. This suggested that demand for labor was not slowing, bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to stick to its aggressive monetary policy tightening path. To discourage speculation that the Fed might cut rates next year to support economic growth, New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said on Tuesday the central bank likely needed to get its policy rate above 3.5 per cent, and was unlikely to cut...

The core inflation rate in Singapore reached a high of 4.4 per cent in June, affecting the prices of everything from transport to utilities and consumer goods and services. But what does this mean for your investment portfolio? Inflation doesn’t just reduce your purchasing power – it can also eat into your investment gains, necessitating a rebalancing of your portfolio to offset the effects. In a recent in-app survey conducted by moomoo SG, 66 per cent of Singaporeans interviewed were concerned about the strong US dollar and high inflation. To fight inflation, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) began its rate-hike cycle this year, raising interest rates by a total of 2.25 per cent or 225 basis points (bps) so far in 2022. Observers expect the Fed to raise rates by another 2 per cent or 200 bp...

POTENTIAL RAMIFICATIONS FOR YOUNGER WORKERS, EMPLOYERS AND SINGAPORE If the “choosiness” that embodies the current employees’ market - at least from the employer’s perspective - persists, it could inadvertently dampen the competitiveness of the local workforce, some employers said. Mr Lim, the business owner, said that it is still not clear whether the current attitudes among young workers will “be a new trendsetter for employment in Singapore”. He noted that amid the current labour shortage, it will be no surprise for firms unable to hire local employees to turn to foreign talent - be it bringing them in from other countries or having them work remotely overseas. “For the employees … once they see that jobs are now being taken up by other labour sources like foreign workers or more ma...

In this article 7974.T-JP 6758.T-JP MSFT A gamer plays on Sony's Playstation 5 console at his home in Seoul. Yelim Lee | AFP via Getty Images The giants of the video game world saw their sales slide in the second quarter, as initial tailwinds from the Covid pandemic faded. In the three months ended June, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo each posted disappointing results in their respective gaming businesses. The numbers reflect a broader contraction in consumer spending on video games. Americans spent $12.4 billion on games in the second quarter, according to market research firm NPD, down 13% year-on-year. Several factors are to blame, not least the relaxing of pandemic restrictions, with people eschewing home entertainment options in favor of outdoor activities. Ongoing shortages of semi...

An old crypto scheme has a new name — and it's costing investors millions. So-called "pig butchering" is when a scammer builds up trust with their victims before eventually pressuring them to deposit more and more of their crypto assets into bogus digital wallets or websites controlled by the scammer. The name refers to how scammers "feed their victims with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money," according to an FBI report. And you may have already encountered the latest iteration of this scheme. "'Pig butchering' scammers usually send a message via Whatsapp, text or another app like Tinder, as if it was intended for someone else, often with an attractive person's profile photo," says Chen Arad, chief operating officer of Solidus Labs, a company ...