Tag: money
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MAS responds
Looks like MAS had 2 busy months preparing their response to the 50 years loan incident which probably caught them by surprise. Now housing loans are effectively limited to a maximum of 30 years where it had been predominantly 35 years before.
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In choppy waters
The recent weeks have been some of the most volatile ones as the fear of the European financial crisis ripples through the economies of the world, resulting in a massive flight to safety to the USD and funds being drawn out of troubled countries, pushing up the USD and triggering bank runs. The rise in…
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SOR soars above 0.5%
SOR rises above 0.5% for the first time since June 2010, as the USD/SGD moves close to 1.3 again and LIBOR hit 0.54% on its continued steep incline, while SIBOR remains muted at 0.38%. The massive flight-to-safety from the Eurozone’s trouble pushes the US dollar higher as investors piled into Treasuries. This, the result of…
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Stimulus idea floated
Even as stimulus packages were announced for the US and much of Europe, the idea seems to be hinted at for Singapore as news of economic turmoil start to trickle in. Around the region, the Philippines has announced its plans for a stimulus package, and Indonesia has it in the works also, almost in a…
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Return to normalcy
Oil hit aboove US$94 per barrel today. For some time, it hovered around US$88 and refused to go down. USD/CAD went below parity (didn’t hold though) for the first time since Sep 21. SOR rose from under 0.2% to almost 0.35% in a little over a week, even as USD/SGD fell from 1.3 to 1.26…
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Hats off to a great Inside Job
The documentary that won an Oscar. The very country that plunged the world into recession is the same amazing country that allows such a film to be made and screened. This is Reality TV at its best, featuring a truly stellar cast of real politicians, Wall Street executives and other characters of international fame.
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World’s End Close
World’s End Close, Edinburgh The events in the past week may be telling us that we could be one step closer to the end of the world. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but these were significant events. US just lost its AAA rating for the first time. That means a loss of confidence…
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Quantitative Easing
QE3 Probably by now, the term Quantitative Easing (QE) is familiar to most people, having been widely publicized in the media. It is the “tool” employed by a central bank to revive the economy, by printing money.The aim is to get money flowing and thereby get the economy going. QE also keeps interest rates low…
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Sibor and SOR holds below 0.9%
Sibor and SOR rates seem to be consolidating and staying low this week, both (3-month rates) maintaining below 0.9% consecutively for the last 3 days. There is perhaps a lack of driver, with Libor rates (3m USD) hovering around 2.15% – 2.30% and USD/SGD exchange rates holding at 1.53 for now. News of impending Fed…
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Singapore not spared from the inevitable
Looks like it started to hit home in a big way – DBS cuts 900 jobs. Earlier on Chartered Semiconductor implemented temporary salary reductions of 5-20 percent.