Me and My Money: Being down to her last dollar gave finance exec a lasting budgeting lesson
SINGAPORE – Realising that there is no money to even buy food is a nightmare – one that Ms Daphne Tan faced when she was an undergraduate in Australia.
She says she had poor saving habits then, even though she was making some money with part-time gigs at a cafe, Italian restaurant and bakery.
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Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Investors revive interest in CK Hutchison despite deal delay
[HONG KONG] Investors are regaining enthusiasm for CK Hutchison Holdings despite a delay in the company's plan to sell 43 ports, with optimism fuelled by news that a Chinese shipping behemoth is finding its way into the global deal. Shares of CK Hutchison, which oscillated between gains and losses since the company first announced the deal on Mar 4, reached its highest this year on Friday (Jul 25) after state-owned China Cosco Shipping emerged as a potential new member of the buyer consortium that includes American asset manager BlackRock. Although a 145-day exclusivity window for talks between CK Hutchison and the buyers' group lapsed on Sunday, the possible involvement of China Cosco is boosting expectations that it would nudge the transaction forward. Beijing has so far viewed the deal as a threat to its interests because it would transfer two ports along the strategically important Panama Canal to the BlackRock-backed group, which China sees as a proxy for American influence. 'Ongoing negotiations and the reported inclusion of Cosco Shipping in the consortium have likely eased concerns over Chinese regulatory hurdles, strengthening investor confidence in the deal's viability,' according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Denise Wong. China separately warned the parties involved not to bypass antitrust reviews, so as to prevent them from rushing into a deal. As at last week, the buyers' group was considering China Cosco's demand for veto rights to secure Beijing's interests, Bloomberg News reported. CK Hutchison's shares, which shot up 37 per cent in the days following the sale announcement in March, saw political pressure wipe out all the gains in the space of a month. The stock started rallying again last month as investors flocked back after China Cosco came into play. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The share price recovery shows investors are increasingly betting on Li Ka-shing, the 96-year-old founder of CK Hutchison, to seal the deal of his lifetime. If it goes through, the sale will net the group more than US$19 billion in cash. The renewed optimism is largely due to China Cosco's interest in playing a role in the buying consortium, alongside BlackRock and Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte's Terminal Investment. Smart move Initially hailed as a smart move by Li to exit a business caught up in global trade tensions, the deal quickly drew the ire of Beijing. With US President Donald Trump billing the transaction as the return of Panama Canal back to American influence, that did not help. Challenges remain even as Cosco enters the discussions, David Blennerhassett, an analyst at Quiddity Advisors, wrote on financial analysis platform SmartKarma. That could reverse the current rhetoric and upset Trump, who has a handful of issues already on his plate, he said. CK Hutchison's share price could also be under pressure should talks on the sale drag on, he added. Even with an extended timeline, revised terms or a partial agreement, uncertainty around the deal's value and timing would increase, said Bloomberg Intelligence's Wong. The delay may also fuel concerns about regulatory and policy challenges, she said. Investors will be watching out for more answers to questions surrounding the deal, including what role the Chinese side will play in the consortium, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis. The controversial deal has also weighed on Li and his family's other businesses. Younger son Richard's talks to expand his insurance business into mainland China have stalled after the ports deal upset Beijing, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. That followed another Bloomberg report in March that China told its state-owned firms to hold off on any new collaboration with businesses linked to the Li family. The original structure of the buyer consortium was designed to give the Aponte family-controlled Terminal Investment ownership of all the ports except the two in Panama, whose control will go to BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners unit. BLOOMBERG
Business Times
3 hours ago
- Business Times
EU reaches broad tariff deal with US to avert painful trade blow
[LONDON/WASHINGTON] The US and European Union agreed on a hard-fought deal that will see the bloc face 15 per cent tariffs on most of its exports, including automobiles, staving off a trade war that could have delivered a hammer blow to the global economy. The pact was concluded less than a week before a Friday (Aug 1) deadline for US President Donald Trump's higher tariffs to take effect and was quickly praised by several European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who called it 'sustainable'. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal on Sunday at his golf club in Turnberry, Scotland, although they did not disclose the full details of the pact or release any written materials. 'It's the biggest of all the deals,' Trump said, while von der Leyen added it would bring 'stability' and 'predictability'. The euro advanced over all Group of 10 peers in early Sydney trading, with the spot up 0.3 per cent to 1.1773 after closing up 1 per cent last week. The deal would leave EU exports facing much higher tariffs than the bloc would charge for imports from the US, with von der Leyen saying the aim is to rebalance a trade surplus with the US. But those kinds of tradeoffs in the agreement angered some European industry groups, with Germany's main lobby saying it 'sends a fatal signal to the closely intertwined economies on both sides of the Atlantic'. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Von der Leyen and Trump also differed on some of the key terms of the deal they announced. The US president said the tariff level would apply to 'automobiles and everything else,' but not pharmaceuticals and metals. Steel and aluminium 'stays the way it is', the US president added, and drugs are 'unrelated to this deal'. The chief of the EU's executive arm said later at a news conference that the 15 per cent rate would be all inclusive, would not stack on top of industry-specific tariffs and would cover drugs, chips and cars. Metals duties 'will be cut and a quota system will be put in place,' she said. 'We have 15 per cent for pharmaceuticals. Whatever the decisions later on is, of the president of the US, how to deal with pharmaceuticals in general globally, that's on a different sheet of paper,' von der Leyen said, adding that the overall rate 'is not to be underestimated but it was the best we could get.' The EU agreed to purchase US$750 billion in American energy products, invest US$600 billion in the US on top of existing expenditures, open up countries' markets to trade with the US at zero tariffs and purchase 'vast amounts' of military equipment, Trump said. Von der Leyen said no decisions have been made on European wine and spirits, but the matter would be sorted out soon. Key to getting the 15 per cent rate to apply to pharmaceuticals and semiconductors was the bloc's promise to make US investments, according to sources familiar with the matter. Ahead of the meeting, the EU was expecting a 15 per cent charge on its imports to also apply to most pharmaceuticals. The products had been one of the negotiation's main sticking points. Without a deal, Bloomberg Economics estimated that the total US average effective tariff rate would rise to nearly 18 per cent on Aug 1 from 13.5 per cent under current policies. The new deal brings that number down to 16 per cent. For months, Trump has threatened most of the world with high tariffs with the goal of shrinking the US trade deficits. But the prospect of those duties, and Trump's unpredictable nature, put world capitals on edge. In May, he threatened to impose a 50 per cent duty on nearly all EU goods, adding pressure that accelerated negotiations, before lowering that to 30 per cent. The transatlantic pact removes a major risk for markets and the global economy, a trade war involving US$1.7 trillion worth of cross-border commerce, even though it means European shipments to the US are getting hit with a higher tax at the border. The goals, Trump said, were more production in the US and wider access for American exporters to the European market. Von der Leyen acknowledged part of the drive behind the talks was a reordering of trade, but cast it as beneficial for both sides. 'The starting point was an imbalance,' von der Leyen said. 'We wanted to rebalance the trade we made, and we wanted to do it in a way that trade goes on between the two of us across the Atlantic, because the two biggest economies should have a good trade flow.' The announcement capped off months of often tense shuttle diplomacy between Brussels and Washington. The two sides appeared close to a deal earlier this month when Trump made his 30 per cent threat. The EU had prepared to put levies on about 100 billion euros (S$151 billion), about a third of American exports to the bloc, if a deal was not reached and Trump followed through on his warning. US and European negotiators had been zeroing in on an agreement this past week, and the decision for von der Leyen to meet Trump at his signature golf property brought the standoff to a dramatic conclusion. Officials had discussed terms for a quota system for steel and aluminium imports, which would face a lower import tax below a certain threshold and would be charged the regular 50 per cent rate above it. The EU had also been seeking quotas and a cap on future industry-specific tariffs. The EU for weeks, indicated a willingness to accept an unbalanced pact involving a reduced rate of around 15 per cent, while seeking relief from levies on industries critical to the European economy. The US president has also imposed 25 per cent duties on cars and double that rate on steel and aluminium, as well as copper. Several exporters in Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan, have negotiated reciprocal rates between 15 to 20 per cent, and the EU saw Japan's deal for 15 per cent on autos as a breakthrough worth seeking as well. Washington's talks also continue with Switzerland, South Korea and Taiwan. Trump said he is 'looking at deals with three or four other countries', but 'for the most part', others with smaller economies or less significant trading relationships with the US would receive letters simply setting tariff rates. Trump announced a range of tariffs on almost all US trading partners in April, declaring his intent to revive domestic manufacturing, help pay for a massive tax cut and address economic imbalances he has said are detrimental to US workers. He put them on pause a week later when investors panicked. Trump's decades-old complaints about the global trading system heap particularly sharp scorn on the EU, which he has accused of being formed to 'screw' the US. The bloc was established in the years following World War II in order to establish economic stability on the continent. The president has lashed out at non-tariff barriers for American companies to do business across the 27-nation bloc. Those include the EU's value-added tax, levies on digital services, and safety and environmental regulations. Weeks of negotiations tested the EU's willingness to digest what is seen as an asymmetrical outcome, a senior EU diplomat said, but one that offers an opportunity to continue the talks without escalating further. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
Italy's Meloni says it's a 'positive' trade deal was reached but needs to see details
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks to the media with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker (not pictured) at Chigi Palace in Rome, Italy, July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo ROME - Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday it is "positive" a trade deal has been reached between the European Union and the United States, adding, however, that she needs to see the details. Washington struck a framework trade deal with the EU imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods. "I consider it positive that there is an agreement, but if I don't see the details I am not able to judge it in the best way," Meloni told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting in Addis Ababa. Italy is one of the biggest European exporters to the U.S., with a trade surplus of more than 40 billion euros. The Italian government, led by a nationalist coalition, had urged its European partners to avoid a direct clash between the two sides of the Atlantic. In a statement, Meloni said that the agreement "ensures stability", adding that the 15% "is sustainable, especially if this percentage is not added to previous duties, as was originally planned." "We are ready to activate support measures at the national level, but we ask that they also be activated at the European level for sectors that will be particularly affected by US tariff measures," she added. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Sewage shaft failure linked to sinkhole; PUB calling safety time-out on similar works islandwide Singapore Tanjong Katong Road sinkhole did not happen overnight: Experts Singapore Workers used nylon rope to rescue driver of car that fell into Tanjong Katong Road sinkhole Asia Singapore-only car washes will get business licences revoked, says Johor govt World Food airdropped into Gaza as Israel opens aid routes Sport Arsenal beat Newcastle in five-goal thriller to bring Singapore Festival of Football to a close Singapore Benchmark barrier: Six of her homeschooled kids had to retake the PSLE Asia S'porean trainee doctor in Melbourne arrested for allegedly filming colleagues in toilets since 2021 The statement was also signed by the leaders of the other two coalition parties: Antonio Tajani of Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini of the League. REUTERS
