Thailand Future Fund to be IPO-filed this year end. The financial advisors are selecting projects to be included in the funds. The 3 possible projects are Motorway #7, Motorway #9 and Rama III-Dao Kanong-Bangkok outer ring road. (Bangkok Biz, 16/9/16)
Fresh stimulus on the way. The government is poised to launch a fresh round of stimulus measures, targeting agriculture specifically, in an effort to ward off downside risks to economic growth as the recovery sputters along. (Bangkok Post, 22/9/16)
Sino-Thai railwork set for December. The draft contract for the Sino-Thai highspeed railway should be finalised in October, and the first phase of construction is expected to start in December, says Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. (Bangkok Post, 22/9/16)
TOT signs six-month deal for AWN trial roaming on 2.1GHz. TOT and Advanced Wireless Network, a subsidiary of Advanced Info Service (AIS), signed a sixmonth contract on Tuesday that will see AWN trial-roaming on the state agency’s 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, said a TOT source. (The Nation, 22/9/16)
GH Bank asked to put low-income people in homes. DEPUTY Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak yesterday asked the Government Housing (GH) Bank to join the Treasury Department, the National Housing Authority and other agencies to find ways for low-income earners and the elderly to own homes. (The Nati on, 23/9/16)
FOMC leaves rates unchanged in September meeting. Federal Reserve officials lowered their expectations for rate hikes in the years ahead Wednesday but teed up a likely move before the end of 2016. In a statement from the Federal Open Market Committee after this week’s meeting, the central bank expressed confidence in economic growth, but not enough to make a move this month. “The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened but decided, for the time being, to wait for further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives,” the statement said. (CNBC, 22/9/16)
BOJ overhauls policy focus, sets target for government bond yields. The Bank of Japan made an abrupt shift on Wednesday to targeting interest rates on government bonds to achieve its elusive inflation target, after years of massive money printing failed to jolt the economy out of decades-long stagnation. While the BOJ reassured markets it would continue to buy large amounts of bonds and riskier assets, the policy reboot appeared to open the door for an eventual winding down of its huge asset purchases, and tried to repair some of the damage caused by its shock move to negative rates early this year. (Reuters, 22/9/16)
Initial Jobless Claims in U.S. Match Lowest Level Since April. Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped last week to match the lowest level since April, a sign the labor market remains healthy even as hiring moderates. Jobless claims declined by 8,000 to 252,000 in the week ended Sept. 17, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. It was the largest drop since early July. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey called for 261,000. Last week also coincided with the period that the government surveys businesses and households to calculate payrolls and the jobless rate for September. (Bloomberg, 23/9/16)
U.S. existing home sales unexpectedly fall in August. U.S. home resales unexpectedly fell in August, crimped by a shortage of inventory that is boosting home prices faster than the pace of wage growth. The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday existing home sales declined 0.9 percent to an annual rate of 5.33 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales rising 1.1 percent in August to a 5.45 million-unit pace. (Reuters, 23/9/16)
There are too many banks for the industry to be profitable: Draghi. Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, sees overcrowded banking industries in some European countries as one reason for the sector’s low profitability. Speaking at the ECB in Frankfurt opening the first annual conference of the European Systemic Risk Board, Draghi’s remarks come at a time when banking associations across Europe, especially in Germany, complain that the low interest rates are threatening their business models. (Bloomberg, 23/9/16)
