These developments did not go unnoticed by the local stock market. In the period of Feb 9 to Aug 7, the Straits Times Index tumbled 1.1% to close at 3,340 points. Including dividends, the benchmark index returned only 0.9% during the period.
SINGAPORE (Aug 13): When The Edge Singapore started to put together an annual portfolio of 10 stocks for the Lunar New Year in February, we found ourselves in a quandary. While economies around the world were poised for synchronised growth, global equity markets saw a major correction. At that time, US President Donald Trump had begun his rhetoric on reversing the country’s trade deficit position with its trading partners, especially China. That had sparked fears of a trade war.
Fast forward to August, the trade war has become a reality as the US and China have imposed 25% tariffs on each other’s products worth US$34 billion ($46.4 billion) each. The synchronised global growth, as anticipated by economists, did not quite materialise in the first half of this year. Although strong growth was seen in the US, the same could not be said in Europe and Japan. In Singapore, new cooling measures were recently implemented to curb “euphoria” in the property market.
