Posts by Mark Darwin
US stock market races reality check in high-bar earnings season
The US stock market’s strongest two-year rally since the dot-com bubble is heading for its next big test as companies start releasing quarterly earnings, providing a major gut check on whether valuations have outrun the underlying reality. On Friday (Jan 10), the S&P 500 Index slid 1.5 per cent – its worst drop since mid-December…
Read MoreLarger S-Reits rank among those with highest net retail inflows in 2024
RETAIL investors have been net buyers of Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-Reits) in 2024 amid volatile performance for the sector during the year. These investors bought some S$1.6 billion net across the sector in 2024, taking their total net inflows into S-Reits over the past five years to more than S$6 billion. Across the…
Read MoreJPMorgan asks staff to return to office five days a week, prompting complaints
US BANK JPMorgan Chase on Friday asked its employees who are on hybrid work schedules to return to the office five days a week starting in March, an internal memo seen by Reuters showed, prompting hundreds of staff comments, including complaints. Financial companies have been aggressive in enforcing return-to-office demands in the wake of the…
Read MoreBig media pulls plug on Venu sports streaming service before launch
WALT Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery on Friday (Jan 10) abandoned plans to launch Venu Sports, their live sports joint venture, pulling the plug on a much-heralded effort that ran into substantial legal opposition. Shares of Warner Bros Discovery were down about 2 per cent, Fox’s stock fell about 1 per cent, while FuboTV’s…
Read MoreJapan’s NTT appoints banks for US$1 billion data centre Reit IPO in Singapore: sources
JAPAN’S Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp (NTT) has appointed Bank of America and UBS to work on a US$1 billion data centre real estate investment trust listing in Singapore, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The listing, which sources said was likely to take place in the second half of 2025, could help…
Read MoreEDB executive vice-president Tan Kong Hwee to be appointed CEO of Ipos
TAN Kong Hwee, executive vice-president of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), will be appointed the chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) on Mar 1. He will succeed Rena Lee, who has been CEO of Ipos since August 2020. Lee will take on a full-time role at the Ministry of Foreign…
Read MoreInvestors must diversify to navigate ‘world of uncertainty’ in 2025
Focus on defensive strategies, particularly around Asia and countries with minimal trade exposure, say investment strategists INVESTMENT strategists are gearing up for a year of heightened market volatility and trade policy uncertainty, according to their 2025 outlook. However, Bank of Singapore (BOS) chief economist Mansoor Mohi-uddin believes that investors should be prepared for both downside…
Read MorePrada among suitors for Versace, newspaper reports
ITALY’S Prada is among the potential suitors looking at fashion group Versace which Capri Holdings has put up for sale, daily Il Sole 24 ore reported on Friday (Jan 10). In November, Coach-owner Tapestry abandoned an US$8.5 billion deal to buy Michael Kors-owner Capri. After that deal to create a US luxury conglomerate fell through,…
Read MoreGold dazzled last year, but may lose some lustre in 2025
With the Year of the Snake upon us, market watchers are split on how the precious metal will fare after a record-breaking 2024 WHEN investors long for a steady asset in times of uncertainty, gold stands out as a solid portfolio diversifier that weathers not only geopolitical upheavals, but also fiscal risks. Even if we…
Read MoreSGX securities turnover value rises 5% in December despite lower market volume
THE total securities market turnover value on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) climbed 5 per cent on the year to S$20 billion in December, indicated the bourse operator’s monthly market statistics report released on Thursday (Jan 9). This comes despite December’s total market volume falling 15 per cent to 19.4 billion shares, from 22.7 billion shares clocked…
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