February 1st, 2008

A new month, hopefully a continuation of the relative productivity of last month. I will say as we enter this new month the sheer urgency of last month seems to have perhaps faded. Possibly famous last words but in the aftermath of a conciliatory debate last night with the Dems, Asian stock markets being up overnight, the Fed cutting rates and no one leaving work yet, will everything be okay? I'd hope so.



. GIC (Govt Investment Corp of Singapore) acquired a 9.5% stake of Pepsi-Cola Products Phillipins

- Singapore's Q4 jobless rate fell to 1.6%, lowest in a decade

- Qatar Investment Authority signed a contract with Singapore's Keppel corp to join as an investor in Sino-Singapore ecocity Tianjin project

- HKMA moved with Fed and cut rates 50bp to 4.5%. Yam said would boost economy and said decoupling will not be the case

- HK will need to ease rates to follow again but vulnerable to inflationary pressures with low rates, and high CNY making imports more expensive, especially food