Posts by Mark Darwin
US: Stocks end week mostly lower
[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks mostly fell on Friday (Jun 20) amid weakness in some semiconductor shares as markets weighed the latest developments in the ongoing war between Iran and Israel. Markets rose after US President Donald Trump’s remarks on Thursday on the Middle East, allowing for up to two weeks before possible US military…
Read MoreWhat I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Company
Starting Hawke Media over a decade ago was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. If I could go back in time and give myself advice, there are crucial insights I’d share that would have saved me years of learning the hard way. The most important truth about entrepreneurship is this: as a…
Read MoreMasayoshi Son pitches US$1 trillion US AI hub to TSMC, Trump team
[TOKYO] SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to team up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to realise what could be his biggest bet yet – a trillion-dollar industrial complex in Arizona to build robots and artificial intelligence. Son envisions a version of the vast manufacturing hub of China’s Shenzhen that would bring back high-tech manufacturing…
Read MoreShipping firm Maersk temporarily pauses Haifa port calls
Published Fri, Jun 20, 2025 · 06:06 PM [COPENHAGEN] Container shipping company Maersk said on Friday (Jun 20) it had temporarily paused vessel calls at Israel’s Haifa port, amid the country’s escalating conflict with Iran. The Danish company said it had not experienced any further disruptions to its scheduled operations in the region. Haifa port,…
Read MoreChina keeps benchmark lending rates unchanged as expected in June
Published Fri, Jun 20, 2025 · 09:35 AM [SHANGHAI] China kept benchmark lending rates unchanged as expected on Friday, after Beijing rolled out sweeping monetary easing measures a month earlier to support the economy. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was kept at 3 per cent, while the five-year LPR was unchanged at 3.50 per…
Read MoreReplace Fear with Focus: How Meditation Changed My Leadership
Fear is a natural human emotion, but I’ve learned not to let it control my life. While we can’t stop ourselves from feeling scared, we can choose how we respond to that fear. This realization has been transformative for my leadership journey and personal growth. When fear arises—and it will—acknowledging and recognizing it allows you…
Read MoreMOF says SRS withdrawal process ‘can be improved’; to work with banks
[SINGAPORE] The government will work with Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) bank operators to improve the process of withdrawing funds from their account. The response comes shortly after The Straits Times published a forum letter on Monday (Jun 16) by an account holder, Francis Yeoh, who described the current process as inconvenient, as it requires an…
Read MoreFinance ministry says SRS withdrawal process ‘can be improved’, will work with banks on this
[SINGAPORE] The government will work with Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) bank operators to smoothen account holders’ process of withdrawing funds from their account. The response comes shortly after The Straits Times published a forum letter on Monday (Jun 16) by account holder Francis Yeoh, who described the current process as inconvenient, as it requires an…
Read MoreOil prices up nearly 3% as Israel-Iran conflict escalates, US response remains uncertain
[CALGARY] Oil prices jumped almost 3 per cent on Thursday as a week-old air war between Israel and Iran escalated and uncertainty about potential US involvement kept investors on edge. Brent crude futures settled up US$2.15, or 2.8 per cent, to US$78.85 a barrel, its highest close since Jan 22. US West Texas Intermediate crude for July…
Read MoreTrump says he signed executive order extending deadline for TikTok closing
Published Thu, Jun 19, 2025 · 11:54 PM [WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (Jun 19) that he has signed an executive order extending the June 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of short-video app TikTok for 90 days. “I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for…
Read More