DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 21 December 2021 (Tue)

Singapore Real Estate

Should more Singapore property groups venture to the US?
Singapore property groups are adventurous. Perhaps because of a small domestic market, many are active abroad. There may be fresh impetus to grow overseas as residential development at home could slow down due to property cooling measures that kicked in last week.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/should-more-singapore-property-groups-venture-to-the-us

Singapore Economy

Jump in cost of foreign labour in Singapore amid VTL curbs
Singapore – The costs of bringing in foreign workers have shot up dramatically for construction companies. In some cases, the firms end up paying almost five times what they paid a few months ago, when these workers could fly in via quarantine-free vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs).
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/jump-in-cost-of-foreign-labour-amid-vtl-curbs

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Wonking out: What would a hard landing look like?
On Wednesday (Dec 15), the Federal Reserve announced that it plans to make monetary policy a bit less easy out of concerns over inflation. Some of the media coverage made it seem like a road-to-Damascus moment, a sudden repudiation of everything Jerome Powell and associates have been saying.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/wonking-out-what-would-a-hard-landing-look-like

US must act on regional economic ties
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s tour of South-east Asia, abbreviated by the identification of a Covid-19-positive case in his entourage that led him to skip Thailand, bookended a busy year for American diplomacy in the heart of Asia.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/us-must-act-on-regional-economic-ties

The big market questions for 2022
The numbers verge on the incomprehensible. Since the pandemic began, central banks have injected US$32 trillion into markets around the world, equivalent to buying US$800 million of financial assets every hour of the past 20 months, according to Bank of America (BOA).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/wealth-investing/the-big-market-questions-for-2022

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

Suspected Omicron cluster at gym in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre
A suspected Omicron cluster has been detected at the Anytime Fitness gym in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. Two Covid-19 cases linked to the gym have tested preliminary positive for the Omicron variant while the test result of a third case is still pending, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement issued early today.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/suspected-omicron-cluster-at-gym-in-bukit-timah-shopping-centre
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/suspected-omicron-cluster-found-at-anytime-fitness-in-bukit-timah-shopping-centre

No increase in frequency of side effects after booster shots: HSA
There has been no increase in the frequency of side effects among people who got their Covid-19 vaccine booster shots, said the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) yesterday.cIt has received 304 adverse event reports linked to booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech/ Comirnaty vaccine, and another 87 reports linked to the Moderna/Spikevax vaccine.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/no-increase-in-frequency-of-side-effects-after-booster-shots-hsa-0

*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation