Page 47 - Eco News Today

Singapore’s soaring housing prices are bucking a global slump but the trend is also turning rich overseas arrivals into an easy scapegoat for the city’s rising cost of living. If Asia’s safe haven wants to keep growing as a regional wealth hub, politicians will need to work harder to keep costs in check.

Big global currencies are rarely on different paths. Yet Japan's yen and China's yuan are slumping against the dollar while in Europe the euro is outperforming and sterling is on a tear.

Profits at China's industrial firms shrank by 18.8% year-on-year in the first five months of 2023, official data showed on Wednesday, as companies wrestled with margin squeezes from softening demand amid a stumbling post-COVID economic recovery.

Western central banks have been warned this week not to quit in the final lap of their monetary tightening campaign - the hard yards households and financial markets may now find exhausting.

Nearly 2.5 million households in Britain are at a "high risk" of financial vulnerability or other problems and may need support to pay their bills, according to a new study tracking the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.

India's KABIL, a state-owned joint venture formed to scout for minerals overseas, will "shortly" sign an agreement with Argentina to secure a few lithium blocks, a government source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist.

The European Central Bank is close to being able to pause the trajectory of rising interest rates so as not to harm the stagnant euro zone economy, ECB Governing Council member Mario Centeno said on Wednesday.

British shop price inflation slowed this month, offering a bit of respite for households hit by a surge in the cost of living and higher borrowing costs, a survey showed on Tuesday.

Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday, spurred by worries about political instability in Russia and possible supply disruptions, as well as U.S. demand hopes ahead of the summer driving season.