The death of Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, may have spurred an unusual side effect: the city-state’s consumers now feel more confident about the future.
“Consumer confidence rose in April despite what we considered to be the considerable uncertainty over the impact on the Singaporean psyche,” Glenn Maguire, chief economist for Southeast Asia at ANZ, said in a note Wednesday. “The passing of Mr. Lee has given Singaporeans an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved in the past fifty years.”
The bank’s ANZ-Roy Morgan Singapore consumer confidence index rose 1.2 points to 125.7 in April, above the long-term average of 121.7, mainly on greater confidence in the economic outlook for the year ahead, the note said.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
AUD/USD: Uptrend remains capped by 0.6650
AUD/USD could not sustain the multi-session march north and faltered once again ahead of the 0.6650 region on the back of the strong rebound in the Greenback and the prevailing risk-off mood.
EUR/USD meets a tough barrier around 1.0800
The resurgence of the bid bias in the Greenback weighed on the risk-linked assets and motivated EUR/USD to retreat to the 1.0750 region after another failed attempt to retest the 1.0800 zone.
Gold eases toward $2,310 amid a better market mood
After falling to $2,310 in the early European session, Gold recovered to the $2,310 area in the second half of the day. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield stays in negative territory below 4.5% and helps XAU/USD find support.
Bitcoin price coils up for 20% climb, Standard Chartered forecasts more gains for BTC
Bitcoin (BTC) price remains devoid of directional bias, trading sideways as part of a horizontal chop. However, this may be short-lived as BTC price action consolidates in a bullish reversal pattern on the one-day time frame.
What does stagflation mean for commodity prices?
What a difference a quarter makes. The Federal Reserve rang in 2024 with a bout of optimism that inflation was coming down to their 2% target. But that optimism has now evaporated as the reality of stickier-than-expected inflation becomes more evident.