Consumer Spending in USA

US consumers reduced their expectations for spending over the next year to the weakest since at least mid-2013 as they grew more pessimistic about prospects for wage growth, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey showed.

Yuan

China's central bank plans to keep the yuan basically stable against a basket of currencies and fluctuations of the Chinese currency against the US dollar will increase, its chief economist said on Monday.

New Diet Rules

If the US government has its way, Americans would cut their consumption of sugar and corn syrup by more than 2 million tonnes a year - the latest blow for a sweetener industry facing an onslaught of criticism over negative health effects.

Asda

Asda, the British supermarket arm of US retailer Wal-Mart, will spend a further £500 million ($1.04 billion) cutting prices, it said on Sunday, firing 2016's first shot in a price war that has raged for two years.

All of Britain's "big four" supermarket chains - market leader Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - have been cutting prices in an attempt to turn the tide after losing customers to discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Adler Hostel

A year in from its S$1 million expansion, local luxury hostel Adler Hostel is now keen to grow its footprint both in Singapore and overseas through management contracts.

Located in the heart of Chinatown at South Bridge Road, Adler Hostel was launched in 2012 with 40 beds.

Budget Surplus in Germany

The German government can count on a larger-than-expected budget surplus of more than 10 billion euros (S$15.7 billion) in 2015, which will help Berlin meet the costs of an unprecedented refugee influx, Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

Pension Funds in Iceland

Iceland, in the slow process of lifting capital controls it imposed after a 2008 financial meltdown, said on Friday its pension funds would be allowed to invest 20 billion Icelandic crowns (S$222.2 million) abroad.

Spain's Princess Cristina

Spain's Princess Cristina, the sister of King Felipe VI, and her husband will go on trial Monday for corruption in a high stakes case likely to further damage the monarchy's image.

Apple.auto

Apple Inc has registered domain names related to automobiles, adding to speculation about the company's plans to develop an automobile.

The iPhone maker registered the domain names, which include apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto in December, according to domain information provider Who.is. MacRumors had first reported the news on Friday, but said the domain names could be related to Apple's CarPlay, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Apple.cars

Apple Inc has registered domain names related to automobiles, adding to speculation about the company's plans to develop an automobile.

The iPhone maker registered the domain names, which include apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto in December, according to domain information provider Who.is. MacRumors had first reported the news on Friday, but said the domain names could be related to Apple's CarPlay, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Apple.car

Apple Inc has registered domain names related to automobiles, adding to speculation about the company's plans to develop an automobile.

The iPhone maker registered the domain names, which include apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto in December, according to domain information provider Who.is. MacRumors had first reported the news on Friday, but said the domain names could be related to Apple's CarPlay, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Consumer Confidence in USA

Consumer confidence climbed to a 12-week high, boosted by improving household attitudes about the state of the economy.

Singapore's Dollar

Singapore's dollar slid to a six-year low after China's central bank reduced its reference rate for the yuan by the most since August. Barclays Plc said further declines are set to slow as the island-state's currency is probably close to the bottom of the central bank's policy band.

Depreciation of Yuan

China accelerated the depreciation of the yuan on Thursday, sending regional currencies and stock markets tumbling as investors feared the Asian giant could trigger competitive currency devaluations from trading partners.

Apple Inc

Apple Inc said customers spent over US$1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases in the two weeks ending Jan 3, setting a record for holiday season sales.

On New Year's day alone, customers spent more than US$144 million, breaking the previous single-day record set on Christmas Day.

Twitter Inc

Twitter Inc is building a new feature that will allow users to post tweets as long as 10,000 characters, well beyond its current 140-character limit, technology news website Re/code reported on Tuesday.

Yahoo and Starboard Value

A key investor in Yahoo demanded Wednesday that the board of directors undertake a management change and warned it could push for a board shakeup if that did not happen.

Activist hedge fund Starboard Value said investors appear to "have lost all confidence in management and the board" after the company, led by Silicon Valley star Marissa Mayer, has failed to turn around Yahoo's struggling core Internet business.

COE 06 January 2016

COE for small cars, which are mostly in Category A, ended at $45,002, down from $54,301 in the previous exercise.

Premiums for larger cars, which sit mostly in Category B, dropped from $55,001 to $54,920.

Meanwhile COEs for vehicles in the open category, slipped from $57,501 to $55,089.

COEs for commercial vehicles, which include goods vehicles and buses, fell from $46,001 to $42,036.

However, motorcyle premiums went up from $6,600 to hit a record high of $6,889.

FINRA

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) estimated a 4.7 per cent rise in disciplinary actions last year, according to the preliminary statistics released by Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog on Tuesday.

Bank of China

Bank of China has hired Goldman Sachs and BOC International as joint sponsors for the planned Hong Kong listing of its aviation arm, expected to raise about US$3 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Manulife

Singapore is expected to "quickly" become Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corporation's third largest business in the region, behind Hong Kong and Japan, now that it has strengthened its multi-distribution strategy through an exclusive 15-year partnership with DBS Bank, which started from Jan 1.

Scion Student Communities LP

GIC on Monday said that it plans to, together with joint venture partners, buy a student housing portfolio in the United States that is worth about US$1.4 billion.

GIC, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and The Scion Group LLC said that they have formed a student housing joint venture entity, Scion Student Communities LP.

2016 Bonuses

Investment bankers in London's financial center expect an average bonus of 24,461 pounds (US$36,000) this year, about a quarter of the compensation predicted by employees at private-equity firms, according to a recruitment company.

Stock Exchange in China

China's benchmark CSI300 share index tumbled 7 per cent on the first session of 2016 on Monday, prompting the stock exchange to halt trading for the rest of the day.

Valerie Pinto

Does she blog?

Oen Siew Yock

Does she blog?

Tax Raise in Hong Kong

Hong Kong will likely need to raise taxes and introduce new levies as an aging population is increasing public expenditure, according to the city's top financial services official.

Pension Reform in Greece

Greece's prime minister on Sunday said his government will not give in to "unreasonable" demands as the debt-ridden country braces for critical negotiations with international creditors on the thorny issue of pension reform.

Central Rate for Dong/Dollar Daily

Vietnam will announce a central rate for the dong/dollar each day starting from Monday, shifting from a fixed rate of 21,890 dong/dollar to allow more flexibility, the central bank said on Sunday.

Executive Condominium

Increased vacancy rates amid an oversupply of executive condominium units (ECs) is reviving debate in property circles about the relevance of the public-private housing type today.

Facebook Inc

Lately, Facebook has tried to be your buddy.

The company is building an artificial intelligence system, and its new features have taken on human-like sensibilities: "We care about you and the memories you share here," a message at the top of the news feed often proclaims, resurfacing an old post. Sometimes it even greets you with, 'Good morning.'"

DraftKings and FanDuel

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday filed an amended lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel asking the daily fantasy sports companies to give back all the money they made in New York State.

One Billion Barrels of Oil

Iraq said it exported 1.097 billion barrels of oil in 2015, generating US$49.079 billion from sales, according to the oil ministry.

Billionth Trip on Uber

Uber said on Wednesday (Dec 30) that it had made its billionth trip, in a new milestone for the global ridesharing service.

All Nippon Airways

Japan's All Nippon Airways is buying three Airbus A380s in a billion-dollar deal, business daily Nikkei said on Friday, making it the first Japanese carrier to own the superjumbo jet.

Free Internet Service

Facebook Inc chairman Mark Zuckerberg made a personal appeal in one of India's leading newspapers for the country to allow a free Internet service that has stirred controversy and invited questions from regulators.

Billionth Mobile-phone Customer in India

India just signed up its billionth mobile- phone customer, joining China as the only country to cross that milestone.

Happy New Year 2016

Wishing

You 

A 

Very 

Happy

New 

Year

2016! :)

First Evidence From Swiss

Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) on Wednesday handed over the first batch of evidence to US authorities for its investigation into alleged bribery schemes for soccer marketing rights.

Global Growth in 2016

"In many countries the financial sector still has weaknesses and in emerging markets the financial risks are increasing. All of that means global growth will be disappointing and uneven in 2016," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

New HDB Flats in 2016

Singapore's Minister of National Development Lawrence Wong on Wednesday said that the Housing and Development Board will launch 18,000 new flats in 2016, 3,000 more than what was launched in 2015.

Prank Calls

01 Feb - 5:34pm 84062994
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Barclays Plc

Barclays Plc will pay more than US$13.75 million to settle a US regulator's charges that it allowed customers to make more than 6,100 unsuitable mutual fund switches, and failed to provide some customers discounts on large fund transactions.

Tiger Airways

One likely reason Singapore Airlines (SIA) decided to extend the deadline for its S$453 million Tiger Airways takeover offer was that SIA was still nowhere near its goal when the offer would have originally expired.

Samsung in Vietnam

A unit of South Korea's Samsung Electronics won Vietnamese government approval on Tuesday to raise its investment in an electronics plant to US$2 billion, part of a wave of projects in Vietnam by global consumer goods giants.

Eunoia JC

You know ah? :)

You know ya? :)

Innova? :)

Is it in Eunos? :)

Goldman and JPMorgan

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co will probably benefit most from the coming wave of financial technology disruption, rather than being supplanted by startups driving the change, according to an Autonomous Research survey.

UK Property Sales Tax for Overseas Homeowners

The UK government's plan to increase sales taxes on second homes in Britain will also apply to people who live abroad.

Amazon's Prime

US online giant Amazon says it added three million customers to its Prime subscription service worldwide in the third week of December as it capped a record holiday season.

Andrea Gail Poon

Where is the hawker stall? :)

Is there any blog? :)

Floods in Northern England

Heavy rains triggered floods in parts of northern England, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes and the deployment of army personnel to shore up overwhelmed defences.

Geo Energy Resources

Coal-mining group Geo Energy Resources has entered into a conditional sale-and-purchase agreement to buy the remaining 34 per cent shareholding interest in Borneo International Resources Pte Ltd that it does not already own for US$25 million, the company announced on Dec 26.

Ferrari Inc

Ferrari North America Inc., a division of Ferrari NV, is recalling some 2016 California T vehicles due to the risk of a fuel leak in the engine compartment, according to a US Department of Transportation (DOT) notice.

Warm Christmas in USA

Much of the US East Coast could see record high temperatures on Christmas Day and through the weekend even as a major winter storm looms for the southern Great Plains, forecasters said on Friday.

Food Security in China

China will take steps to ensure sufficient food supplies as it pushes forward with land reforms, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement from the annual Central Rural Work Conference that ended on Friday.

Economic Growth in Vietnam

Vietnam's economy has expanded an estimated 6.68 per cent in 2015, the fastest growth since 2007 and extending growth momentum that started in 2012, the government said on Saturday.

Tan Puay Yee

Does he blog?

Taiwan's 2016 Presidential Election

The frontrunner for Taiwan's 2016 presidential election, opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen, on Friday pledged that if elected she would seek peaceful ties with mainland China while maintaining democracy on the island.