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Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The drumbeats of economic blame have been pounding away. Inflation. Inflation. Inflation. Some, like Lawrence Summers, have been saying this for many years. Too much money in the system that would in theory boost activity and eventually drive prices up. Or, as an economist, who will remain anonymous, once said jokingly about a big name in his field and predictions of recessions, “Paul Krugman made a career of saying, ‘We're going to have a recession this year” for 15 years. When one finally happened, he said, ‘See? I told you.’ And he got the Nobel Prize.” Oh, Nobel Committee, Summers is waiting for that telephone call. Ironically, as someone who’s frequently been wrong and loath to admit it , as Michael Hirsch wrote about Summers some time back in The Atlantic, there’s a strong argument that he helped propel the reckless global capital flows and fight off regulation that would result in the Great Recession, the … [Read more...] about Inflation Blame Game Targets Consumers And Workers

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline The stock market rebounded strongly on Friday, posting its first positive week this month as recession fears subsided somewhat thanks to positive economic data suggesting that inflation may have peaked, while some experts expressed optimism about the health of the economy. Key Facts Stocks snapped a three-week losing streak on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.7%, over 800 points, while the S&P 500 jumped 3.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 3.3%. Markets got a boost after the latest consumer sentiment survey from the University of Michigan showed that inflation expectations eased slightly in June, rising 5.3% compared to a year ago—but lower than the 5.4% expected. Investors also cheered optimistic remarks about the economy from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard, who said that recession fears are “overblown” and consumer spending remains strong. Stocks … [Read more...] about Dow Jumps 800 Points, Stocks Snap Three-Week Losing Streak After Inflation Expectations Ease

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Average Credit Card Interest Rates Have Topped 20% Rising interest rates have pushed the annual percentage rates on credit cards to new highs. The average annual percentage rate on a new credit card is now more than 20%, according to LendingTree’s tracker. It’s the first time that rates have topped 20% since the tracker began in 2018. And rates are poised to go even higher across the board. Credit card balances reached $841 billion in the first three months of the year, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the same timeframe, 229 million people opened new credit card accounts, an increase from the previous quarter. [ CNBC ] Inflation Causing 85% Of Americans to Adjust Their Essential Purchases You don’t have to follow the news to know inflation is raging. Inflation in May 2022 was up 8.6% from the past twelve months. A quarter of respondents selected that they only have a little … [Read more...] about This Week In Credit Card News: Average Card Interest Rate Tops 20%; Inflation Wrecking Personal Budgets

- A + A (June 23): Singapore’s key inflation gauge accelerated for a third month to the fastest in almost 14 years, bolstering the case for further monetary policy tightening and stronger action to buffer consumers from the drag of rising prices. The central bank’s closely watched core inflation print, which excludes private transport and accommodation, rose by 3.6% from a year ago in May, according to a joint statement on Thursday (June 23) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). That pace, the fastest since December 2008, matches the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey, and compares with 3.3% in April. The increase was due to inflation across food, services, retail goods and energy, they said in the statement. They also repeated a warning from last month that prices will pick up in the coming months before easing toward year end as external pressures recede, while flagging upside risk from geopolitical … [Read more...] about Singapore’s faster inflation adds pressure to tighten policy

High inflation and worries about economic contraction are stunting the markets but proving to be catalysts for growth in one area: an interest in striking and unionizing. advertisement advertisement The number of strikes between January and May 2022 is double that of last year, according to data from the Cornell-ILR Labor Action Tracker , a database that tracks labor protest activity across the U.S. During that time frame, there were 153 strikes around the country comprising 73,500 workers, compared to 78 strikes involving 22,500 workers between the same months in 2021, according to Johnnie Kallas, a former labor organizer and the director of the ILR Labor Action Tracker. The increase in strike activity appears to be moving in lockstep with a sudden push in unionization among American workers, too. Recently, workers have voted to form unions at Amazon warehouses , Starbucks cafés , and Apple stores . Some Google employees unionized last … [Read more...] about Labor strikes have doubled in the past year. Is high inflation part of the reason?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline With oil prices down this month, billionaire investor Warren Buffett is once again buying the dip by adding to one of his favorite energy stocks, as his investing conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway purchased roughly $500 million worth of Occidental Petroleum shares this week. Key Facts Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased roughly 9.5 million shares of Occidental over the past week at a cost of nearly $530 million, according to a new regulatory filing late on Wednesday. After a buying spree that started in late February, Buffett’s investing conglomerate now owns roughly 152 million shares of Occidental—a 16.3% stake worth nearly $8.5 billion that makes Berkshire by far and away the largest shareholder in the energy giant. Shares of Occidental Petroleum failed to rally on the news Thursday, but it remains one of the best-performing stocks this year, rising over 90% thanks to the massive spike in oil … [Read more...] about Warren Buffett Adds To Massive Stake In Occidental Petroleum, Buying The Dip After Oil Prices Drop

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Memories of the Federal Reserve’s 1994 tightening cycle still tend to trigger financial PTSD here in Asia. Under the direction of then-Chairman Alan Greenspan, the Fed doubled short-term interest rates in just 12 months. The ferocity of the moves racked up some serious collateral damage: Mexico’s economic meltdown; the bankruptcy of Orange County, California; the death of 129-year-old bond dealer Kidder, Peabody & Co.; and developing Asia. It took a few years, but the dollar’s powerful rally in response to higher U.S. rates made currency pegs in Bangkok, Jakarta and Seoul impossible to maintain. The resulting devaluations in 1997 set the region back decades in terms of living standards and economic confidence. Now, the Jerome Powell-led Fed seems set to outdo the worst of the Greenspan era. Not because of the magnitude of the rate hikes Team Powell might engineer, but because of how far it’s fallen behind the … [Read more...] about Federal Reserve Is Losing Asia Faster Than In 1994

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): The prospect of a global recession on the horizon is in focus again following the US Federal Reserve’s sharp and unexpected 75-basis-point increase in the Fed funds rate and determination for more hikes, as it steps up efforts to tame skyrocketing inflation in the country. Since early June, the Fed has also embarked on quantitative tightening, as opposed to easing, when it started scaling back its US$9 trillion balance sheet and stopped reinvesting maturing debt in its securities portfolio — effectively reducing the money supply in the system. Elsewhere, other developed-market economies are also suffering from high levels of inflation. The fight to keep inflation from spinning out of control in the West comes at a time when the growth of Asia’s economic engine — China — comes into question. There is also the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine to contend with. Amid all the noise, it is easy to believe that a global recession is … [Read more...] about Assessing Malaysia’s recession risk

The world is getting older. By 2050, the global population of people in their 80s will be three times what it is today. According to the Stanford Center on Longevity, half of all the 5-year-olds currently living in the U.S. can expect to make it into their 100s . Harvard Medical School aging researcher David Sinclair suggests that the first person to live to age 150 has already been born . advertisement advertisement It’s too early to predict all the ways that longer lives will change society, but at least one industry is starting to make some guesses. The developers, designers, and operators of senior housing are thinking about and planning for how these demographic shifts will affect their businesses and the services they provide. To get ahead of the curve, some are designing their facilities for people who will technically be seniors for more than 40 years. They’re learning from communities around the world where people tend to live the … [Read more...] about How to design homes for life well beyond 100

This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 13, 2022 - June 19, 2022. Due to be completed in August 2025, MIRA at Shorea Park has a GDV of RM363 million (Photo by OSK Property) - A + A OSK Property’s MIRA at Shorea Park has achieved a take-up rate of 85% since its launch on Sept 25 last year. Sitting on a 4.98-acre freehold parcel and part of the larger 27.7-acre Shorea Park development in Puchong, the serviced apartment project comprises two 31-storey towers with a total of 908 units. Due to be completed in August 2025, MIRA at Shorea Park has a gross development value (GDV) of RM363 million. OSK Property CEO Ong Ghee Bin says in an email, “We have garnered very positive response and feedback from the market with our first presence in Puchong. This also shows that with the right pricing, amenities and strategic location, we have succeeded in catering for the essential needs of our customers in their home … [Read more...] about OSK Property’s MIRA at Shorea Park 85% taken up