Australia’s economy grew last quarter at the fastest pace in almost two years, underscoring the central bank’s decision yesterday to boost borrowing costs for the fourth time in five meetings.
Gross domestic product climbed 0.9 percent from the third quarter, when it gained a revised 0.3 percent, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. That matched [...]

australia, commodity, economic growth, forex, stock market Hide

Private-equity firms tell investors that the years following recessions offer the best opportunity to make money. This time may be different.
Prices paid in leveraged buyouts last year, at the tail of the worst financial crisis in more than seven decades, are about 25 percent higher on average than in 2001 after the dot-com bubble burst, [...]

global markets, stock market Hide

Royal Bank of Scotland’s deal for ABN Amro is acknowledged as a shocker. But is it the worst ever? Mathieu Robbins counts down the top ten bad deals.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Is Royal Bank of Scotland’s horrendously damaging acquisition of Dutch rival ABN Amro in 2007 the worst ever M&A deal? According to academics, it seems [...]

financial scandals, investment banks, investments, M&A Hide

NEW YORK: Wall Street shares plunged on Thursday as weak US data combined with heightened fears of debt problems in European Union countries sent shockwaves through the markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 268.37 points (2.61 percent) to end at 10,002.18, its lowest level since November, after a brief dip below 10,000 points.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq [...]

debt, Euro Zone, fears, stock market, US Hide

The January jobs report could turn the tide for markets Friday, but traders say there’s a lingering global risk aversion that won’t easily fade away.
The government’s employment report was supposed to have been the story of the week. That was until markets around the globe started focusing on the idea that sovereign debt risk in [...]

investments, unemployment, US Hide

International markets were supposed to be the place to make money in 2010, but so far have failed to live up to their billing.
From credit issues in Greece, Spain and Ireland to inflation fears in China, investors have been selling rather than buying when it comes to emerging and developed markets.
Despite a rough start, the [...]

forex, investments, stock market Hide

LONDON: The Bank of England on Thursday is expected to call an end to its radical policy of pumping out new money after Britain narrowly emerged from recession in the fourth quarter of 2009, analysts said.
Most economists also predict that the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will leave its key interest rate unchanged at [...]

debt, forex, inflation, Interest rates, UK, unemployment Hide

I REFER to last Monday’s report, ‘Moneylenders target HDB sellers‘, which mentioned that ‘agents…introduce desperate sellers to moneylenders, and may get a fee for the referral, usually about $500 a customer’.
The Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies does not support the practice of estate agents obtaining referral fees from moneylenders for introducing their clients to them.
Estate agents [...]

credit, debt, housing loans, Singapore Hide

Should you take advantage of the rare opportunity to own Berkshire Hathaway for less than $100 a share?
On Wednesday, it’s widely believed the board of Berkshire Hathaway will approve a 50-1 split of Class B shares [BRK.B  3332.00   85.00 (+2.62%)   ]. (In case you’re wondering why, the split is part of Buffett’s deal to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.)
But [...]

investments, stock market, US Hide

For a graduate couple in Singapore earning median salaries, the goal of becoming millionaires is not too distant, at least on paper.
That is, if they save a third of their income from age 25, and invest prudently to earn a modest return of three per cent a year. This does not include non-liquid assets such [...]

investments, retirement, Singapore Hide