Oil jumps above US$107 as Asia sells off, Fed and BOJ rate decisions now collide with a fresh energy shock Markets are opening the week under renewed pressure. Brent crude has jumped about 3% to above US$107 , Asian equities are falling sharply, and U.S. Treasury yields remain close to 5%. At the same time, investors are preparing for possible rate hikes from both the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan this week . For investors, the central question has become: Can central banks contain inflation without causing a much larger slowdown when energy prices are surging at the same time? 30-second market snapshot Market / Asset Latest 🇺🇸 S&P 500 7,656.98, +0.86% Friday 🇺🇸 Dow Jones +0.98% Friday 🇺🇸 Nasdaq +0.96% Friday 🇲🇾 FBM KLCI 1,686.74, -1.10% Friday 🇯🇵 Nikkei -1.7% Monday morning 🇰🇷 Kospi -3.3% Monday morning 🌏 MSCI Asia ex-Japan -0.8% 🛢️ Brent crude ~US$107.36, +2.6% 🛢️ WTI crude ~US$102.48, +2.4% 🇺🇸 U.S. 10Y Treasury ~4.97% 🥇 Gold ~US$4,336...
For the past few weeks, I was not able to up blog more in this blog, mainly is the slow Internet connectivity that I'm facing in my house in Kulim, because I was using Celcom 3G, which sucks, although there are many complain about Maxis 3G. When I go back home town, I was too lazy to blog as I have always stressed on Work Life Effectiveness, which means that although I earn a living by working as Engineer, but I want to dedicate the time to myself and family as well during the weekends. When I come to think of it, most of us will be sweating throughout our lifetime earning barely enough to support whole family. I actually think, is it possible that we can be out of our working life as early as possible - especially for those from the average income family background? The answer is yes and no. No is because we lack of discipline and financial planning and management . Without discipline, most of us will just spend as it is. In fact, without discipline, most of us will hardly have a...