The Afternoon Update with Lynlee Foo

For a market wrap of the week, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Geoff Howie, Market Strategist at the SGX to find out how the STI performed in the past week, the biggest movers, and what to look out for in the week ahead. They also discuss the latest factory activity data out from Singapore, the Singapore's latest inflation numbers, what to expect from the MAS, as well as US Fed's interest rate decision.

Recently, Singapore pushed New York off the top spot for the strongest growth in residential rents in the last quarter of 2022, fuelled by a supply crunch and strong demand. According to a report by Knight Frank, annual rents jumped 28% in the quarter from a year earlier. New York followed with 19% growth. Can we expect more pain for tenants? Or will prices cool down soon? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Audrey Siek, Show Host and Producer at Ohmyhome to find out more about the current property market. 

The Fed opted for a 25 basis point hike. Officials, though, did consider pausing increases in the days leading up to the meeting but in the end the hike got unanimous support. Fed Chair Jerome says the bottom line is inflation is still too high and more interest rate increases are needed. So what does this mean now for the banking sector? Will the Fed pause soon? Or will rates continue to go higher for longer? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Vishnu Varathan, Head of Economics & Strategy, Asia at Mizuho Bank to find out more. 

According to the latest AgFunder Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2023 - Global agrifoodtech funding in 2022 came in close to 50% (44%) lower than the year before. To help us get a better understanding of what is moving in the industry Rachel Kelly spoke to John  Friedman, Asia Director of AgFunder and GROW Accelerator.

Gold has returned to its shine as a safe haven amid a turmoil in the banking sector - with at one point prices even rose to $2,000 for the first time in a year. But what’s making gold so attractive right now? And do gold prices have more room to run? What about silver? Is there a silver lining there? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Priyanka Sachdeva, Market Analyst at Phillip Nova, to find out more about gold and silver in the current market. 

Culture is something that is intangible when viewed from a traditional financial investment standpoint. But why does culture matter when it comes to investing? How does culture play a role? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Yan Gao, Portfolio Manager and Business Analyst, WCM Investment Management to find out how WCM Investment Management uses culture as a metric to screen potential investable companies. Highlights:  00:55 - How is "culture" investable? 03:00 - What are some methods used to for a equity screening process? 04:34 - Why does "culture" matter when it comes to investing?  05:26 - How do companies with a "strong" culture perform better? 06:30 - What should investors note when they want to invest in a "strong" culture?

A deal to end the crisis of confidence that had started to spread across global financial markets - UBS Group has agreed to buy rival Credit Suisse in a historic, government-brokered deal. What does this mean now, and how are markets reacting? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Asia Finance reporter at Bloomberg in Singapore to find out more about this latest development and how much the US Fed will weigh the recent turmoil in the banking sector on its next monetary policy move.

The Afternoon Update's Hongbin Jeong speaks to Geoff Howie, Market Strategist from the SGX for a market wrap for the week, on the back of the turmoil that has hit the banking sector, including the fall of SVB and the crisis of Credit Suisse. They discuss how the STI fared this past week; how local banking stocks were affected; and how much the Fed will weigh the current turmoil when deciding on their next interest rate hikes. Also on the agenda, they talk about the outlook on Singapore's economy as the island releases NODX numbers and employment data. 

Volatility was one of the key outcomes of economic and market shifts in 2022, But will it be the same in 2023? Or could we see some stability this year? And as interest rates are expected to rise further, fears of a recession are continuously growing. But are such fears overblown at this point? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to James Beaumont, Head of Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, to find out what are the best investment strategies are in the current market as well as what  asset types are set to dominate this year. 

Crypto markets are reeling from a turbulent weekend, after one of the market’s leading stablecoins, Circle’s USD coin (USDC), lost its 1-to-1 peg to the US dollar. USDC restored its peg earlier this week and continues to hover close to $1, but the crisis might have broader implications for crypto and decentralised finance. USDC is usually considered the safest stablecoin. So what does this mean? What does this signal for crypto markets? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Evans Huangfu, Partner, Arcane Group to find out more. Highlights:  1:13 - What's led to the fall of SVB? 2:49 - What kind of exposure does this have on crypto players? 6:25 - How have crypto markets reacted to this collapse?  7:46 - Stablecoins were affected - what does this say about the severity of this collapse? 8:49 - Do you see this impact on crypto markets long lasting?