Sa current inflation rate

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Interest Rates On The Rise With interest rates on the move, due to the Fed’s latest rate hike , there are winners and losers galore. One of the areas we haven’t paid much attention to for years is our savings accounts. For most of us, we have been beaten into submission, simply accepting the laughable interest we’ve been getting. If you’ve been with a traditional bank the savings interest rate has been, well, insulting. Some banks have been paying as low as 0.1% on some of their savings accounts. How Your Savings Account May Change What has changed is with the Fed’s announcement of a .25% rate increase, banks will have to adjust to keep up. Of course, lending rates will increase as well, but the big winner here is your cash savings rates. When the Fed increases their rates, banks in lockstep will increase what they are paying to park money at their bank, generally speaking. Essentially, it is exactly the outcome the … [Read more...] about What Rising Interest Rates Mean For Your Savings Accounts

BANGKOK, June 25 (Reuters): Thailand's inflation will remain elevated this year but should fall back into the central bank's target range of 1-3% in the second quarter of next year, a bank official had announced, South-East Asia's second-largest economy is expected to return to its pre-pandemic level late this year or early next year, Sakkapop Panyanukul, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand, told a trade seminar. The BOT predicts headline inflation of 6.2% this year and 2.5% next year. Thailand's economy is expected to grow by 3% this year and 3.7% next year, driven by exports, increased domestic demand and a recovery in tourism, the state planning agency had said earlier. Exports, a key driver of growth, still had momentum despite the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the global economy, Danucha Pichayanan, head of the National Economic and Social Development Council, told a business seminar. "The Russia-Ukraine issue is a risk but it's also an opportunity, … [Read more...] about Thai inflation seen back to target in Q2 2023, says central bank; economy expected to grow by 3% in 2022

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) headquarters, center, in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. Investment activity is thus expected to strengthen, driven by rising capacity utilisation, government’s capex push and deleveraged corporate balance sheets. Manish Banthia The monetary policy for the last two years was largely crisis management given the pandemic times. However, post 2021, as growth started to recover, it was required for the Reserve Bank of India to normalize interest rates. Given that fiscal support in India was not as large in comparison to the US, the recovery seen in India was gradual. With the crisis behind us now, it is imperative we move to a more neutral stance in terms of... … [Read more...] about RBI will take interest rates to a neutral zone and stop there

Wall Street's main indexes rose over 1% on Friday as signs of slowing economic growth and falling commodity prices tempered expectations over how high the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to rein in inflation. Global financial markets have been roiled this month on worries that rapid rate hikes by major central banks could cause a recession, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) confirming a bear market last week as it recorded a 20% drop from its January closing peak. The three main indexes on Friday looked set to notch their first weekly gain in four, boosted by megacap growth stocks and defensive sectors such as healthcare and utilities seen as safer bets during times of economic uncertainty. "Conversations about the U.S. economy likely slowing which could lessen the hawkishness of the Fed, combined with lower commodity prices and bond yields - these are reasons investors are mentioning to justify why we could experience a near-term bounce," said Sam Stovall, … [Read more...] about Wall Street rallies as traders dial back rate-hike bets

With inflation breaking records, gas prices pushing $10 per gallon and the border exploding with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, President Joe Biden decided to issue an executive order to “enhance protections for transgender children and take steps to ban conversion therapy as efforts continue in Texas and other states to restrict gender-affirming medical care.” “Gender affirming medical care” is a woke term that includes chemical castration and puberty blockers, as well as hormone injections from the opposite sex. It also includes actual castration and mastectomies that are not medically necessary. These irreversible and dangerous medical actions are more accurately described as “gender destroying.” They have nothing to do with care. There’s no way to know what the president means by “conversion therapy” in this this context, but it is clearly an effort prohibit any restrictions by states like Texas against parents who want to experiment on their own children with … [Read more...] about SYLVESTER: Inflation, Gas Prices, Drag Queens And Biden’s Sinking Poll Numbers

(Representative image: Reuters) Dear Reader, A whiff of change wafted through the markets this week. The focus shifted from worrying over inflation to concerns about growth. The advance Purchasing Managers Indices (PMIs) for the current month for the US and the Eurozone showed slowing growth, but while they indicated inflation was cooling in the US, it continued to rise relentlessly in the Eurozone. They also reflected stalling demand and falling business confidence. The New York Fed’s economic model predicted an 80 percent chance of a hard landing for the US. UK consumer confidence hit a record low. In China, housing starts and property transactions reached extreme lows. The worries over an imminent recession in the US, the UK and the Eurozone sent commodity prices sharply lower. Copper prices have moved down dramatically. My colleague Ravi Ananthanarayanan wrote about the dark clouds hovering over steel . Crude oil prices too fell. That dissipated some of the … [Read more...] about MC Pro Weekender | A new narrative

Wall Street, New York City (File image: Reuters) Wall Street's main indices soared on Friday in a broad rally as signs of slowing economic growth and a recent pullback in commodity prices tempered expectations for the Federal Reserve's rate-hike plans. The S&P 500 rose over 3% for its biggest one-day percentage rise since May 2020. All 11 of the benchmark index's sectors ended at least 1.5% higher. Stocks rebounded this week as financial markets have been roiled over worries that rapid rate hikes by the Fed to rein in 40-year-high inflation could cause a recession. Still, investors have been gauging when the market might hit its bottom after the benchmark S&P 500 earlier this month recorded a 20% drop from its January closing peak, confirming the common definition of a bear market. "Some of the moves, the sellers just get exhausted so you don’t have as much capital moving out," said Shawn Cruz, head trading strategist at TD Ameritrade. "This might be a … [Read more...] about Wall Street mints big gains to end a strong week

Wall Street, New York City (File image: Reuters) Global dealmaking is entering an arid season as raging inflation and a stock market rout curb the appetite of many corporate boards to expand through acquisitions. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February and fears that an economic recession is looming dealt a blow to merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the second quarter. The value of announced deals dropped 25.5% year-on-year to $1 trillion, according to Dealogic data. "Companies are standing back from M&A in the short term as they are more focused on the impact of a recession on their business. The timing for dealmaking will come but I don't think it's quite there yet," said Alison Harding-Jones, Citigroup Inc's EMEA M&A head. M&A activity in the United States plunged 40% to $456 billion in the second quarter, while Asia Pacific was down 10%, Dealogic data showed. Close Europe was the only region where dealmaking didn't crash. Activity … [Read more...] about Global M&A deals brace for dry spell as boardrooms put expansion on backburner

Tengku Zafrul: The MoF will continue to monitor external factors that can have a negative impact on the domestic economic situation to ensure that the cost of living of the people is under control. (Photo by Zahid Izzani Mohd Said/The Edge) - A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): The projected consumption subsidy expenditure of RM77.3 billion so far for 2022 is the highest subsidy in history ever borne by any government, said the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the projected consumption subsidies cover petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (RM37.3 billion), cooking oil (RM4 billion), flour and electricity to reduce the people's cost of living, and subsidy bills (RM9.7 billion), excluding welfare assistance from 2018 to 2022. “When added to other assistance such as social welfare assistance, including Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia (BKM) (RM11.7 billion) and other subsidies (RM14.6 billion), the total subsidy so … [Read more...] about RM77b subsidy so far this year highest in history, says Zafrul

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin You've probably seen the pictures of the mountains of luggage at London's Heathrow Airport. You've heard about the heat wave. And maybe you have friends who got Covid while they were in Europe. With all that's happening, maybe you need a better guide to traveling to Europe this summer. "Tourism is back," says David Corsun, director of the University of Denver's Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management. "Hotels are full. Flights are full. Restaurants are full." Travel by Americans to Europe will soar 600 percent over last summer , according to new projections by Allianz Partners. Europeans are traveling more, too. A new survey by insurance company Europ Assistance Group found that 71% of Europeans intend to travel during the summer . That's a 14 percentage point increase compared to 2021. But you don't have to get stuck in a crowd and miss the best part of your European vacation. Europe has changed … [Read more...] about The Ultimate Guide To Traveling To Europe This Summer