Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Could the yuan start quietly gaining ground against the dollar over the next five years?  China’s latest Two Sessions suggest the country is serious about its ambition to become a financial superpower, codifying rules that could boost the yuan’s international standing. From economic growth to trade surpluses and monetary policy, there are multiple forces at play. On Wealth Tracker, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Abbas Keshvani, Director (Asia Macro Strategy) at RBC Capital Markets, to find out more.

People in Los Angeles are getting paid to film themselves doing housework, wearing cameras while doing chores to help train robots and AI systems to understand human movements. Meanwhile, photos of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s oversized shoes have gone viral, with reports suggesting they may be part of an unusual White House habit where Donald Trump buys shoes for staff. On What’s Trending, Hongbin Jeong and Alexandra Parada dive into these stories where robots learn housework and politics involves very big shoes to fill.

Singapore shares registered gains today as investors continue to set their sights on a flurry of central bank decisions from major economies around the world. The Straits Times Index was up 1.05% at 4,919.83 points at 2.29pm Singapore time, with a value turnover of S$1.19B seen in the broader market. In terms of counters to watch today, we have Singapore Airlines, after its low-cost arm Scoot posted a 17.4 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic for February, of three billion revenue passenger-kilometres. Elsewhere, from how Singapore’s key exports rose 4 per cent year on year in February, easing from the preceding month’s downwards revision of 9.2 per cent growth, to developments out of Nvidia’s annual flagship event or the GTC in San Jose, more economic and corporate headlines remain in focus.   On Market View, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments with Dan Chang, Investment Specialist and Trading Representative, PhillipCapital.

Sudden job losses can hit hard, leaving employees with little time to process the news or plan next steps. Recent cases, like the Providore Group retrenchments, highlight how confusing and stressful the experience can be for workers. How much notice should workers get before retrenchment and would earlier notification make a meaningful difference for workers? Beyond when layoffs happen, how can employees be supported in the first moments after losing their job? On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Amarjit Kaur, Partner and Head of Employment Law at Withers KhattarWong, to find out more.

Gold and Silver are back in the spotlight, surging as global tensions heat up, while Bitcoin tumbles to one of its worst months on record. What’s driving this flight to safety, and where should investors turn next? On Wealth Tracker, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Richard Wang, Country Manager, J. Rotbart & Co., to find out more.

On What's Trending, Hongbin Jeong and Nadiah Koh find out if you could really win a S$3 million apartment… for just 85 cents a month. A South Korean YouTuber with over 17 million subscribers says yes. His latest giveaway promises a fully furnished luxury apartment, complete with a massive TV, high-end gaming setup, and designer interiors, to one lucky paid subscriber. Genius marketing, or just too good to be true?  Then, we shift from influencer giveaways to the red carpet, where a Chinese actress recently went viral for carrying… a yellow plastic bag to a glamorous film festival. At first, people thought it was another outrageous luxury fashion stunt, but the real reason behind the bag tells a very different story.

Wall Street is looking to start the week on a firmer footing as markets attempt to recover from a three-week slide. Dow futures are currently in the green, while Asian markets have begun the week on a mixed note. The big driver for markets right now is the escalating U.S.-Iran conflict, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively choked off, oil prices have been extremely volatile. Brent crude surged past US$100 for the first time since 2022 last week, briefly pulled back, and has since climbed again. On Market View, Alexandra Parada speaks to David Kuo, Co-Founder of The Smart Investor, to discuss the latest market movements.

Surprises galore this Singapore Premier League weekend  - with Geylang snapping a 4-game winless streak, coaches opting to be experimental in their team selections and a refereeing decision that left fans scratching their heads We unpack it all, plus cast our eye on potential nominees for season-ending awards on Sports Minutes. Got a story to tell? Get in touch! raushan@sph.com.sg

Today we’re going to take you through the company behind the GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Ozempic that are used to treat obesity and diabetes.  Founded in 1923 and headquartered just outside Copenhagen in Denmark, Novo Nordisk prides itself as a global healthcare company that aims to drive change to defeat serious chronic disease and build on its heritage in diabetes.  The Danish drugmaker said it seeks to do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to its medicines and working to prevent and ultimately cure the diseases it treats.  Fast forward to today, Novo Nordisk’s global footprint spans across 170 countries, with production facilities in 13 of them, and 10 research and development centres in key markets China, Denmark, India, the UK and the US.  Novo Nordisk is a company to watch because of its breakthrough GLP-1 injectable medications for diabetes and obesity care in recent years. But what are the key drivers of growth for the firm right now? Meanwhile, concerns surrounding competition against other industry peers such as Eli Lilly continue to weigh on investors’ minds as they mull what the next battleground for the big pharmaceutical players will be.  That’s especially so with the expiry of the firm’s patents in key markets nearing. But it seems like oral pills are the next chapter for pharmaceutical firms targeting the obesity market, with Novo Nordisk rolling out its first GLP-1 pill for weight loss in the US earlier in January. With Goldman Sachs in 2025 forecasting the daily oral pills will capture about a quarter of the anti-obesity medication market by 2030, how will Novo Nordisk’s oral GLP-1 medications augment its growth trajectory? On Under the Radar, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Jay Thyagarajan, Senior Vice President, Region APAC, Novo Nordisk.

Fuel shortages across Asia are prompting governments to take drastic steps, from four-day work weeks to school closures, all aimed at reducing energy consumption. But how effective are these measures really? And could Singapore ever consider similar policies if the crisis worsens? On The Big Story, Nadiah Koh speaks with June Goh, Senior Oil Market Analyst, Sparta Commodities,to find out more.