Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Kohei Wong, the first Singaporean to have successfully joined a professional baseball team — the Ibaraki Astro Planets in Japan, joins us to share his journey to Japan. What does he hope to learn from his stint in the land of the rising sun? And what are his aspirations for baseball in Singapore? Tune in to find out! Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

US treasury secretary Janet Gellen Is set to visit Beijing. What can we expect? Could china reciprocate by sending their own officials? China's new law on foreign relations puts in place measures to counter foreign encroachment .They are also buying large amounts of natural gas to curb an energy shortage. Lastly, US trade and Treasury official Brad Setser claims that China has $3 trillion of ‘hidden’ currency reserves. Should we be worried about China's lack of transparency? We speak to Dr. Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow, Singapore Institute of International Affairs more about this.

What are the similarities between Lewis Hamilton, Nick Kyrgios and Erik ten Hag? All three have been hampered by circumstances beyond their control. How do you continue to keep up your motivation in such a situation? Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

This Humid House is a Singaporean brand that has gone from a small floral business to a botanical design studio whose work includes working for big names like Cartier and Dior. Now, it is the florist-in-residence at the luxury Milanese label Palm Angels' new Paris flagship store. We speak to John Lim, Founder and Creative Director, This Humid House more about this.

Singapore stocks started the week in positive territory, after markets in the US and Europe closed higher on Friday. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent to 3,212.63 points after 64.8 million securities changed hands. In terms of companies to watch for today, we have OUE Healthcare and Healthway Medical. That’s as OUE Healthcare proposed to delist Healthway Medical via a conditional exit offer at S$0.048 per offer share in cash. Elsewhere, all eyes on a slew of economic data including data points on Singapore’s private home prices, Asia’s factory activity.  Also in focus – OCBC’s growth in ASEAN and the Greater China region, refiners’ expectations for Saudi Arabia to lower crude prices and Apple reportedly cutting the production of its Vision Pro AR headset.  On Market View, the Drive Time team unpacked these developments with David Kuo, Co-founder, The Smart Investor.

While wealth in cryptocurrencies continues to accumulate, the question remains, can there be a meaningful use case for it? Our next guest's mission is to make buying real-life goods using crypto as simple as it is to go to Amazon using traditional currency.  We speak to Julian Chow, CEO & Co-Founder, GM.co more about this and how such a platform can benefit various brands as well. 

The US Supreme Court, in its latest conservative shift, has upended decades of precedent allowing race-based college admission. Diversity is vital for students to create a holistic education environment and this ruling poses a threat to that factor. The Supreme Court has also dealt a fatal blow to US President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans. Former president Donald Trump has been indicted again with the new charges being based on incriminating recordings bragging to associates about top secret military efforts against Iran. We speak to Trisha Craig, Vice President (Engagement) and Senior Lecturer of Social Sciences (Sociology and Political Science), Yale-NUS College more about these headlines.

Today we’re going to talk about one of the world’s largest express transportation companies.  Our guest for today is from FedEx, a company that was founded by Frederick W Smith as the Federal Express Corporation in 1971.  And here’s a fun fact about the company’s name.The word “federal” suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity in the US and was meant to resonate with the US Federal Reserve Bank, which is a potential customer for the logistics player.  But back to FedEx’s business, the firm recently reported fourth quarter earnings of US$4.94 per share, better than the analyst estimate of US$4.86.  Still, revenue came in below expectations. More recently, FedEx is also streamlining its air courier business by removing 29 aircrafts from its fleet to make its logistics network more flexible amid slowing global trade activities in the current economic climate.  So how will such efforts aid FedEx in becoming leaner and more competitive against industry peers and what is the road ahead for the firm? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Audrey Cheong, Vice President, Southeast Asia Operations, FedEx for more.

On 27 June, a nature enthusiast spotted mass oil slicks on the shores of East Coast Park. In Singapore, where shipping is an essential part of economy, this occurrence is not completely avoidable. There are already measures put in place to reduce the chances of this happening but what more can be done? We speak to Kua Kay Yaw, Former chairman of Marine Conservation Group, Nature Society (Singapore) more about this.

The Brewnanza Fest by Brewlander is happening from 3 to 6 August 2023 at the Bayfront Event Space. It looks to bring beer-lovers together, introducing different types of craft beer. It calls in overseas parties for even more diversity, along with music and other sources of entertainment to improve the experience for those who attend the event.  We speak to John Wei, Founder & Yeast Whisperer, Brewlander more about this.