Singapore’s competitive edge eroding

Hourly wage cost rise for production staff in 2006 was second highest among 33 locations in US study

(SINGAPORE) A shortage of talent is still the biggest headache for businesses in Singapore, but sharp pay hikes in recent years - on top of increases in rentals and other costs - are triggering concerns about the island’s [...]

Jakarta to cut 2008 growth forecast on downside risks

(TOKYO) Indonesia will cut this year’s growth forecast amid greater ‘downside’ risks stemming from record oil prices and a global economic slowdown, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.
South-east Asia’s largest economy is expected to grow between 6.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent in 2008, lower than the 6.8 per cent expansion predicted earlier this [...]

Taxes to be cut despite rising inflation: Rudd

Govt is optimistic about growth prospects: minister

(SYDNEY) Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the government will go ahead with promised tax cuts, even as inflation rises at the fastest pace in 16 years.
‘There will be absolutely no change to people having tax cuts to take as additional income,’ Mr Rudd said on the Nine television [...]

NEWS ANALYSIS: Financial fears form correlation between oil and equities

Liquidation, profit taking in energy markets offset losses in equities

(LONDON) Oil and other commodities typically lag more mainstream assets, making them attractive as investment portfolio diversifiers, but since January, they have been swept up in the volatility gripping nervous equity markets.
The correlation between US crude and US equities has been 82 per cent, compared with [...]

Critical week for news of sub-prime damage: G-7

Leading banks to present first audited accounts since crisis

IN TOKYO

THIS week will be critical in revealing how much damage the credit crisis has done to the global financial system, according to a key official involved in last weekend’s meeting of Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers in Tokyo.
Leading banks will present the first audited accounts [...]

Sub-prime probes focus on disclosure, valuation

(WASHINGTON) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating how banks, creditrating firms and lenders valued and disclosed complex mortgage-backed securities that ultimately led to the sub-prime crisis, a top agency enforcer said on Saturday.
‘The big question is, who knew what when, and what did they disclose to the marketplace?’ said Cheryl Scarboro, an associate [...]

A year of denial in US sub-prime crisis

It took months for a consensus that crisis would spread to the broader economy

(NEW YORK) One year after the first alarm bells of the sub-prime mortgage crisis rang in Wall Street, many of its victims are trading at half their value or less, while others have long been buried.
On Feb 8, 2007, HSBC said it would [...]

Odds of US recession now at 50%: Blue Chip forecast

Outlook dampened by data showing a contraction in hiring, consumer spending

(WASHINGTON) The odds of a US recession have increased and stand at nearly 50 per cent amid a spate of data showing a weakening labour market, signs of more credit tightening and turmoil in the financial markets, the latest Blue Chip economic forecast projects.
A month [...]

New HDB upgrading scheme won’t add much more to resale prices

The Home Improvement Programme will not boost prices of resale flats as much because upgrading is on a smaller scale, say property experts
THE Home Improvement Programme (HIP) is the newest kid on the block in the Housing Board’s two-decade long upgrading scheme.
Property experts, however, say that it will have a far smaller impact on the value [...]

Fragrance Group buys $4m Pasir Panjang Road site

DEVELOPER Fragrance Group said on Thursday that it has bought a freehold property at Pasir Panjang Road for $4 million.
Fragrance said the property has a land area of 3,450 sq ft, which means that the land cost was $1,159 per square foot (psf).
The company intends to redevelop the property for commercial uses subject to the [...]

CentraLand to tap into commercial property market

It says China’s anti-speculative measures won’t hit property prices

CHINESE property developer CentraLand Ltd is poised to tap into the commercial property market in the city of Zhengzhou with its ongoing development of J-Expo, a wholesale commodities building located in the heart of Zhengzhou city.
Yan Tao, executive director and chief executive officer of CentraLand, said in [...]

China faces economic, political woes on price fears

(CHONGQING, China) China is supposed to be getting richer, but for Liu Gaohua, rising prices on everything from cabbages to houses mean life is only getting tougher.
‘It’s hard to get by day-to-day,’ said the resident of Chongqing, a western Chinese industrial city on the upper reaches of the Yangtze river.
‘We eat less pork than before. [...]

Growth may slow for first time in 3 years

Govt forecasts India’s economy to expand 8.7% as higher interest rates cool consumer demand

(NEW DELHI) India’s government expects economic growth to slow for the first time in three years, as higher interest rates cool consumer demand for homes, motorcycles and electric appliances.
Asia’s third largest economy is forecast to expand 8.7 per cent in the 12 [...]

ECONOMY WATCH: Asia not immune to global market turbulence: ADB chief

Bank will help region if drastic slowdown occurs, by changing ‘lending priorities’

IN TOKYO

WITH the US economy poised on the brink of possible recession this year, the dangers of economic shocks being transmitted to Asia via trade and financial linkages are very real, Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Haruhiko Kuroda warned yesterday in Tokyo.
Asian economies are [...]

LATEST US DATA: ‘Painful’ and ‘drawn out’ recession likely: report

(NEW YORK) The US economy has entered a recession that will be more painful and drawn out than the usual downturn, the director of the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey said yesterday.
Inflation pressures will linger despite the retrenchment in consumer spending, complicating the task of policy makers, the University’s Richard Curtin said in a [...]

Rising cost of going en bloc adds to cooler market

New rules bump up lawyers’ fees, draw out collective sale process by months
GOING en bloc is now a more costly and time-consuming business for home owners because of a new set of stricter rules implemented last October.
The rules - aimed at making the process more regulated and transparent - have bumped up the price of [...]

Investors withdraw £1.7b from UK funds

(LONDON) Almost £1.7 billion (S$4.74 billion) was withdrawn from UK property funds in the last three months of 2007, data from the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) showed yesterday.
According to the survey of 64 funds with a combined value of £37 billion, the vast majority of investors continued to flee the sector after Britain’s [...]

CBRE Q4 earnings slide 2.1% on interest expenses

It also cites softer investment sales environment

(NEW YORK) CB Richard Ellis Group Inc, the world’s largest commercial real-estate broker by market value, said fourth-quarter profit fell 2.1 per cent on higher interest expenses.
Net income declined to US$122.4 million from US$125.1 million a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based company said on Tuesday in a statement distributed [...]

London luxury-home prices jump again

1.1% rise in average price of units costing £2.5m or more; overall market unchanged

(EDINBURGH) Luxury-home prices in London, the world’s most expensive city for prime real estate, rose at the fastest rate in four months as the overall UK market stagnated, industry reports showed.
The average price of houses and apartments costing at least £2.5 million [...]

The markets are leading Asia to ruin

Europe’s successful politically-led integration model is showing Asia the way ahead - if its leaders would only be willing

TOKYO

WHILE Europe goes from strength to strength as a united continent with a strong economy and a currency to match, Asia continues to wander directionless waiting fearfully to see whether it will be spared the fate of [...]

Banks hold key to City office market

Lenders holding off expansion plans as credit mess lingers

(LONDON) The difference between a correction and a major slump in London’s City office market could turn on a few key tenants such as Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan, Knight Frank LLP said on Tuesday.
But record rents were likely to hold up in London’s West End district, [...]

Americans in for worst recession in 20 years?

Recent job and other data show an economic downturn may last longer, too

(WASHINGTON) The chances of the United States avoiding a recession appear to be growing dimmer by the day, and any contraction in the economy will likely last longer and be more severe than other downturns in the past 20 years.
Recent reports have shown [...]

US productivity growth seen slowing in Q4

Economists expect data to show a rise of just 0.5%

(NEW YORK) US worker efficiency probably grew in the fourth quarter at the slowest pace in more than a year, pushing up labour costs, economists said before a government report yesterday.
Productivity, a measure of how much an employee produces for each hour of work, rose at [...]

Lower interest rates for clients with good credit card record

Citibank is latest to offer tier pricing on rates for unsecured credit products
CITIBANK has joined the likes of Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart) and American Express in introducing a scheme to reward customers with a good credit record with lower interest rates for unsecured credit products.
Under the scheme, known as tier pricing, Citibank will offer from [...]

Slump in services sector signals arrival of US recession

Shockingly weak services data could be final proof of economy shrinking
ANY hope that the United States economy might escape a recession has now all but disappeared, say analysts.
The last straw came when the country’s huge services sector - covering industries such as banking, retail and construction - shrank last month for the first time in [...]

Indian property trust poised to launch $1.7b IPO in S’pore

INDIA’S fourth-largest realty company by market value is going ahead with its plan to launch a potentially huge initial public offering (IPO) for its Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust in Singapore.
Reports in India suggest that the IPO by Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd could be worth a whopping US$1.2 billion (S$1.7 billion), which would make it the [...]

What is scary about latest economic data?

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) issues a monthly index of activity in the non-manufacturing or services sector in the United States by surveying purchasing managers around the country.
The ISM is a US-based industry association.

The ISM survey on the services sector is a closely-followed gauge of a wide swathe of the US economy - from [...]

NEWS ANALYSIS: US slowdown likely to be worse than recent ones

WASHINGTON - THE chances of the United States avoiding a recession appear to be growing dimmer by the day, and any contraction in the economy will likely last longer and be more severe than other downturns in the past 20 years.
Recent reports have shown the US housing market slump and rising defaults in the mortgage [...]

CDL luxury development garners green award

CITY Developments Limited (CDL) was yesterday conferred the Green Mark Platinum award by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for its luxury residential development, Cliveden at Grange.
The award is for exemplary green projects that achieve 30 per cent energy and water savings. Such projects also need to have environmentally sustainable building practices, and innovative green [...]

Germans remain bullish about S’pore

Business community upbeat on growth prospects: survey

THE German business community remains bullish about Singapore as a regional business hub, a survey published yesterday shows.
The survey of businesses varying from small operations to multinationals was conducted by Droege & Comp in December, for the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
The companies were asked about growth prospects [...]

Americans preoccupied with fears of recession

Financial institutions in Wall Street remain very apprehensive about the many ‘unknowns’

WASHINGTON

INVESTORS in Wall Street were biting their nails early last week as they waited for US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues to decide whether to slash short-term interest rates for the second time in eight days. But with much of the [...]

It’s still the economy - but presidents can’t control it

AS THE US economy weakens and the campaign intensifies, Americans will hear more of liberal writer James Carville’s familiar refrain: It’s the economy, stupid.
Well, it ain’t or, at least, shouldn’t be. I’m not claiming that Mr Carville is wrong about voting. People vote their pocketbooks. In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, the economy overshadows [...]

US banks raise standards on commercial property loans: Fed

(NEW YORK) The Federal Reserve said it became tougher for US companies and consumers to get loans in the past three months, particularly to buy real estate.
Most lenders anticipate more delinquencies and losses this year, assuming ‘economic activity progresses in line with consensus forecasts’, according to the central bank’s quarterly survey of senior loan officers [...]

US services sector suffers record slide in Jan

ISM index slid to 41.9 in Jan from 54.4 in Dec, stoking recession fears

(NEW YORK) The US services sector retrenched sharply in January to levels not seen since the 2001 recession, renewing fears about an economic slump, according to a survey released on yesterday.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non-manufacturing plummeted to 41.9 from [...]

More colonial bungalows up for rent

Demand for these state-owned buildings is strong due to relatively low rentals
ANYONE with a hankering for a home with lots of nature and space, and does not mind living some distance from town might want to take note.
The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will be leasing out four of these colonial bungalows this month, along with [...]

TAKING STOCK: Fresh US recession worries, Dow’s fall drag down STI

PROFIT-TAKING on renewed United States recession fears and Wall Street’s overnight dip delivered a one-two punch to abruptly halt the Singapore bourse’s two-day rally yesterday.
A sharp selldown came in the last 30 minutes, as the Straits Times Index (STI) closed 38.66 points lower at 3,038.42, after rising a combined 95 points in the previous two [...]

US services sector contracts, stocks fall

NEW YORK - UNITED States stocks tumbled yesterday, led by a sell-off among shares of financial companies, as a report showing a contraction in the vast services sector last month heightened recession fears.
Data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) underscored concerns that the fallout from the housing slump was spreading to the broader economy.
In [...]

Markets will recover after 3-6 mths of mild recession: S&P analyst

He warns of one more major market collapse between now and rosier H2

THE sub-prime crisis will cause a mild US recession, but financial markets will recover in three to six months after most of the bad news is flushed out or priced in, says a leading US analyst.
Stephen Biggar, New York-based director for US equity [...]

Prime properties in for 5% fall in ‘08: UBS

Bank expects modest 0-5% growth in mass and mid-tier segments

ANALYSTS from Swiss bank UBS believe Singapore’s property market will ‘remain intact’, but they are nonetheless projecting a drop of 5 per cent in prime property prices for the year.
In the more affordable mass and mid-tier segments, where prices increased at a slower pace, UBS expects [...]

Budget may soothe fears over costs creeping up

Businesses worry over transport bills, economists expect some goodies

(SINGAPORE) Amid concerns that the costs of living and doing business could go up, economists expect the upcoming Budget to provide some form of relief.
These could come in the shape of more cash handouts, particularly targeted at the low to middle-income groups, as well as a cut [...]

S’pore population hits 4.6 million

Number of foreigners increasing faster than citizens, PRs

SINGAPORE’S economic planners think the country can hold 6.5 million people, a size they feel will be ideal to keep the economy humming.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, however, feels the optimum population size for tiny Singapore might be smaller, between 5 and 5.5 million.
The latest numbers released yesterday [...]

SMEs upbeat about 2008 growth

84% see same or faster GDP expansion: HSBC poll

SMALL businesses across the Asia-Pacific region are optimistic about their respective country’s economic prospects, with more than half of Singapore firms expecting the country’s economy to grow at the same pace as it did in 2007. This is according to an HSBC survey conducted in the last [...]

Growth in S-E Asia property market sustainable: DTZ

THE property markets of South-east Asia are expected to sustain the buoyant growth seen in 2007, says DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.
DTZ said that residential markets in the region are expected to continue to grow, ‘driven by steady economic expansion, increasing affluence and increasingly attractive projects as developers strive to refine concepts’.
In Vietnam, DTZ noted that [...]

Aussie property still looking up?

THE US sub-prime mortgage problem may have put a dampener on property stocks worldwide, including Singapore. But there appears to be at least one bright spot on the planet, if ANZ Bank is to be believed.
Said the bank in a recent report on its outlook for the Australian property market: ‘Property returns have accelerated, underpinned [...]

Asian CEOs bullish on 2008 prospects: PwC

ASIAN CEOs are more confident about business prospects in the year ahead, despite a fall in confidence globally, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey has found.
‘Many companies in Asia continue to be the engine of economic growth that has been driving prosperity for more than a decade,’ PwC said.
As a result, 56 per cent of Asian CEOs [...]

Asia more stable now than in 1997

ASIAN banks and markets here are a lot more stable and better placed for long- term growth, despite the sub-prime fears.
Lorraine Tan, S&P’s vice-president for Asian Equity Research, sees Singapore banks, in particular, as being very stable in a market where there is widespread fear of a financial sector collapse brought on by the US [...]

US economic woes, rate cuts fuelling HK property boom

Analysts see prices revisiting the heady 1997 peak

(HONG KONG) When first- time buyer Judy Kwan heard a flat was for sale in a street she admired in Hong Kong’s Wanchai district, she snapped it up within 24 hours without even seeing it, inheriting a tenant she had never met.
Now she wants to buy another as [...]

Subsales may spike again as projects near completion

NEWS ANALYSIS

Prices could soften if ’specuvestors’ are forced to offload properties

(SINGAPORE) Speculative activity took a breather in Q4 last year as the number of subsales as well as their share of total private home deals were down sharply from the preceding two quarters of 2007. However, many in the industry are wondering whether subsales will [...]

590 HDB blocks picked for upgrading

58 locations selected for improvement under revised schemes
ABOUT 590 Housing Board blocks in 58 locations islandwide have been picked for the next batch of improvement works under the HDB’s recently revised upgrading schemes. Areas set to benefit include Yishun, Tampines and Hougang.
These schemes include the new Home Improvement Programme (HIP) and Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) [...]

ROAD IMPROVEMENTS: Better traffic access for Sentosa, VivoCity and HarbourFront

Volume likely to rise due to IR, new condos; works to start in June
THE roads leading to Sentosa, VivoCity and HarbourFront will be widened to cater to an anticipated increase in traffic into the area.
With one of Singapore’s two integrated resorts opening on Sentosa and new condominiums to be built in the area by 2010, [...]

F1 in S’pore ‘an opportunity on the doorstep’

THE inaugural Singapore Grand Prix offers companies in the Republic an unprecedented opportunity to do some marketing and branding to a vast global audience, said a visiting Formula One (F1) marketing expert.
Still, few Singapore names have thus far stepped forward to take advantage of the opportunity that is ‘right here on your doorstep’, said Mr [...]

Small businesses in S’pore less bullish about growth outlook

SMALL businesses in Singapore are less confident about the growth outlook compared with six months ago, according to the latest survey by HSBC Singapore.
The bank conducted a survey covering more than 2,700 small businesses across nine economies.
In Singapore, only 32 per cent of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) surveyed expect faster economic growth over [...]

HELP FOR SWISS BANK: GIC ‘prepared to adjust terms of UBS deal’

THE Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) is prepared to adjust the terms of its deal to buy 9 per cent of UBS to help the Swiss bank win shareholder approval, GIC deputy chairman Tony Tan was quoted as saying yesterday.
UBS, Europe’s hardest-hit bank from the credit crisis, received a lifeline of 13 billion Swiss [...]

SM GOH IN DUBAI: Grow economy, draw investments to fight inflation

S’pore can tap Middle East and China to grow; inflation here lower than other nations: SM
DUBAI - SINGAPORE can tackle the rising cost of living with a clear focus on spurring economic growth and wooing foreign investments, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.
One front of this growth strategy is to open new doors in the [...]

Asian CEOs more upbeat than their Western peers

DESPITE a general decline in confidence levels, Asian chief executive officers (CEOs) are more upbeat than their Western counterparts, says a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey.
The annual survey, conducted late last year, found that 50 per cent of CEOs were ‘very confident’ about revenue growth over the next 12 months, compared to 52 per cent the previous [...]

Shanghai stocks jump 8.1% as govt comes to rescue

SHANGHAI - CHINA’S main stock index jumped more than 8 per cent yesterday in its biggest daily rise since June 2005, after the authorities intervened to halt a three-week slide in share prices.
Regulators’ approval of two new stock funds after a freeze of several months, official criticism of Ping An Insurance’s plan for a huge [...]

ICBC sets reserves aside for possible 30% sub-prime loss

BEIJING - CHINA’S biggest bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has set aside reserves equal to 30 per cent of its US$1.2 billion (S$1.7 billion) in sub-prime holdings to cover possible losses, a state news agency reported yesterday.
The report, if confirmed, would be the first indication that Chinese banks, which have so far [...]

Bush unveils record $4.2 trillion budget

Boost in military funding and cutbacks in health schemes mooted
WASHINGTON - THE United States’ first-ever budget to hit US$3 trillion (S$4.2 trillion) has been proposed by President George W. Bush.
It aims to boost military funding, virtually freeze many domestic programmes, and will result in huge fiscal deficits of around US$400 billion for this year and [...]

US December factory orders below forecast

WASHINGTON - NEW orders at United States factories rose a less-than-expected 2.3 per cent in December, the steepest gain since July, on strong aircraft sales, a government report showed yesterday.
Orders for durable goods, items intended to last three years or longer, jumped 5 per cent, also the biggest gain since July, as civilian aircraft orders [...]

ACCREDITATION SCHEME: Plans for new group to lift standards of housing agents

A GROUP of property agencies plans to form a new association to raise standards in response to growing complaints about estate agents.
The group, which will be separate from the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), will work closely with an ongoing accreditation scheme to lift the industry’s game.
Complaints about agents have shot up in the past [...]

WARRANT WATCH: CapitaLand contracts active on share plunge, bond issue

THE recent plunge in CapitaLand shares and news that the company is offering a convertible bond issue are drawing traders into fresh positions on warrants for South-east Asia’s biggest developer.
CapitaLand shares fared better than other property plays during the recent sub-prime selldown, but they took a beating last week. They plunged 73 cents for the [...]

Prices up everywhere, but inflation rate for food low here

Govt casting net wider to source for food; businesses also helping to limit price hikes
FACTORY operator Loke Yew Whye, a 54-year-old father of three school-going children, is finding it hard to cope with rising food prices.
The family, which survives on about $2,000 a month, which he and his wife earn, has been buying house brands [...]

Firms post strong gains so far, but all eyes are on bank results

Keppel Corp leads at half-time with record full-year earnings of $1.13b
THE stock market may have had a torrid time of late, but the financial reporting season has so far brought little but big smiles for investors.
With the reporting season for companies with Dec 31 year-ends now at the halfway mark, Singapore has so far registered [...]

UBS facing probe over sub-prime mortgage investments

Swiss bank may have inflated prices of securities despite drop in valuations
CHICAGO - UNITED States government prosecutors are investigating whether Swiss banking giant UBS misled investors by reporting inflated prices of mortgage-backed securities it held despite knowing those valuations had eroded, The Wall Street Journal reported last Saturday.
The Journal, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the [...]

HDB resale deals at a new low in 2007

Rising resale prices and higher COVs result in last year’s total of 29,436

THE number of resale HDB flats which changed hands fell to a new low in 2007 - with just 29,436 transactions recorded - as buyer resistance set in, in the face of escalating resale prices and more sellers asking for large amounts of [...]

Private homes losing speculative froth

Subsale activity slowed in Q4; rising rents defined 2007

(SINGAPORE) The level of speculative activity in the private property market, as measured by the extent of subsales, slowed considerably in Q4 last year, especially in the Core Central Region (CCR), according to the latest official data.
Islandwide, subsales as a percentage of total private housing sales fell from [...]

Property market shows signs of cooling

AFTER months of relentless price rises, the property market finally took a breather at the end of last year.
Almost all sectors - including private and public homes, offices and shops - applied the brakes in the fourth quarter, ending almost two years of acceleration, official figures showed yesterday.
They confirmed initial estimates earlier this month that [...]

Increases in cost of offices, shops starting to slow down

RESPITE may be in sight for those who have been griping about the surging cost of doing business in Singapore.
Latest figures show that the increases in the cost of shops and offices eased in the fourth quarter of last year, in line with a general slowdown in the property market.
Prices and rentals for these commercial [...]

Home prices on city fringe, suburbs still rising strongly

PRICE increases for high-end homes in the central areas may be easing, but not so for homes on the city fringe and suburban apartments - where prices are still rising strongly.
Urban Redeveloment Authority figures showed growth in the prices of uncompleted apartments in the central areas slid from 7.8 per cent to 7.6 per cent [...]

Growth in rents of private homes beginning to ease up

Jan 26, 2008
EXPATRIATES and other tenants in private apartments can finally start to breathe easier. Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released yesterday showed a subsiding of the sharp rise in rentals for condos in key areas.
Rentals for non-landed property in the coveted core central region, which covers Tanglin and Bukit Timah, for instance, grew [...]

Buyers paying $22k over valuation for resale flats

Median cash over valuation amount up a third; trend filters to outlying areas
BUYERS of resale Housing Board (HDB) flats paid a median amount of $22,000 in cash over the property’s valuation for their new homes from October to last month, a whopping 30 per cent rise from the previous quarter.
The good news for HDB flat [...]

Two new MRT lines by 2020

They will run through estates in north and east; North-South and East-West lines will also be extended by 2015
TWO new underground MRT lines will be built by 2020 - one from Woodlands to Marina Bay via Thomson, and the other from Changi to Marina Bay via Marine Parade.
The 27km Thomson line will run through Sin [...]

Flashes of optimism over global economy

Leaders note US system’s strengths and growth in nascent economies
DAVOS (SWITZERLAND) - COATS and jackets are off as blue skies and glorious sunshine soften the stark beauty of the icy Swiss Alps.
And in the nearly non-stop discussions between the world’s top political and business decision-makers gathered for this year’s World Economic Forum, flashes of optimism [...]

Asian exporters brace themselves for slowdown

Companies changing how they operate rather than wait for things to get worse
HONG KONG - ASIAN exporters are already feeling the effects of a United States economic downturn - effects that may be magnified by a weak US dollar, volatile world markets and fears that more bad loans may be ticking in the coffers of [...]

‘Stormy 2008′ expected for financial services

LONDON - THE financial services industry should expect ‘turbulent conditions for 2008 and beyond’ and may report an additional US$300 billion (S$429.8 billion) in losses related to the United States sub-prime crisis, according to a study by consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
‘We expect a stormy 2008,’ Oliver Wyman said in its State Of The Financial Services [...]

NEWS ANALYSIS: Spectre of recession spurs US bipartisan economic deal

Republican White House and Democrat-led Congress come together on stimulus package to resuscitate ailing economy
WASHINGTON - DEMOCRATIC House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke about ‘bipartisanship’ 10 times.
The combative lawmaker, who has been so critical of the Bush administration’s policies over the past year, took pleasure in announcing a hard-won deal on an economic stimulus package - [...]

US at the edge of a recession, says Greenspan

VANCOUVER - THE United States is drawing close to a recession, with the odds at 50 per cent or possibly higher, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday.
‘The odds have definitely moved up from a year ago, when I was talking of about a third,’ Mr Greenspan told a financial audience.
‘I think we [...]

Bumper prices fetched by HDB flats fuel condo demand

High cash over valuation provides ‘filter-up’ demand for private homes

(SINGAPORE) More Housing Development Board flats in prime locations are now being sold for more than halfa-million dollars each, and the trend is pushing up the asking prices for mass market condominiums and adding to demand for entry-level private homes.
Data compiled by property firm ERA showed [...]

US DATA: Dec home sales fall, cap biggest yearly slump

Purchases fall 2.2% to an annual rate of 4.89m; 1st fall in prices in 40 years

(WASHINGTON) Sales of existing homes in the US fell more than forecast in December, capping the biggest yearly slump in more than a generation.
Purchases fell 2.2 per cent to an annual rate of 4.89 million, the National Association of Realtors [...]

79 Anson Rd stake sold for 3rd time in 2 years

SEB Asian Property Fund pays $215m for 55% stake

TRADING office buildings continues to be flavour of the month in the real estate market. A 55 per cent stake in the freehold 79 Anson Road has changed hands for the third time in about two years. The latest deal involves a fund managed by Ferrell Asset [...]

Robinson CEO throws weight behind Lippo

Says the board is fully committed to the brand and expansion strategy

(SINGAPORE) Robinson CEO John Cheston has refuted recent allegations that the company’s major shareholder, Indonesia’s Lippo Group, doesn’t cherish the Robinson brand in Singapore.
Speaking to The Business Times at the company’s headquarters in Orchard Building yesterday, Mr Cheston explained that Lippo, along with the [...]

Staff costs, inflation major issues this year

SINGAPORE’S economy is strong enough to weather the fallout of a US recession this year, while escalating staff costs will be the top problem bosses have to grapple with in 2008, human resource practitioners were told at a conference yesterday.
Speaking at the SHRI Outlook 2008 conference, Hui Cheung Tai, regional economist at Standard Chartered Bank, [...]

Sustainable development a priority for S’pore: PM Lee

A top-level panel of ministers has been formed to chart the way forward, he says

IN DAVOS

PURSUE economic growth, but with an eye on the Earth.
Going forward, sustainable development will be a priority for Singapore - and a top-level panel of ministers has been formed to chart the way forward.
On the sidelines of the World Economic [...]

China economy expands 11.4%

But slower pace seen for 2008 on credit curbs, weaker global demand

(BEIJING) China grew 11.4 per cent in 2007, the fastest pace in 13 years, but is headed for a modest slowdown this year as global demand weakens and credit curbs to cap inflation ripple through the economy.
The softening was evident in figures issued yesterday, [...]

US response to downturn worrying

Instead of addressing the cause, policymakers are addressing the symptoms - the collapse of credit quality

THOSE Asian allies and trade partners of the United States who can raise their gaze above stock market gyrations look with concern at the US response to its economic difficulties.
They note a continuing unwillingness to face realities and fear that [...]

Bush and Congress join hands to revive economy

They set aside partisan differences to rush out $216b stimulus package
WASHINGTON - JOLTED by global recession fears, US President George W. Bush and leaders of Congress have joined hands in a rare show of cooperation, promising urgent action to pump up the economy with upwards of US$150 billion (S$216 billion) in tax cuts and government [...]