Business NEWS

The central bank’s auction of term deposit facility (TDF) remained oversubscribed while yields dropped after the Monetary Board’s 25 basis points (bps) policy rate cut last week.

The local stock market fell as foreign funds cash in and leave for greener pastures. The main index dropped 107.16 points or 1.51 percent to close at 7,002.51 although the Mining and Oil counter managed to post a strong gain.Volume continued to grow with 8.03 billion shares worth P14.07 billion changing hands as losers beat gainers 120 to 97 with 40 steady.“Local shares were sold ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, while foreign funds continued to flock back to regions which they believe would be the first ones to receive the vaccine upon mass production,” Regina Capital Development Corporation Managing Director Luis Limlingan.AAA Equities Head of Research Chris Mangun said “The market continued lower today as profit-taking persisted. It ended right at the 7,000 physiological support level. The pullback was expected after the PSEi gained more than 22 percent in the last three weeks.”

 Philippine Airlines Inc. is working on a “comprehensive recovery and restructuring plan,” according to the carrier owned by billionaire Lucio Tan.

The peso closed  higher at  P48.13  to the US dollar Wednesday   from  P48.145  the previous day. The weighted  average rate appreciated  to  P48.11   from P48.177. Total volume amounted to $565.27  million, according to the Bankers Association of the Philippines.

NEW YORK0 (AFP) – Tesla’s market value soared to more than $500 billion Tuesday ahead of its listing on the S&P 500, with its stock finishing up 6.4 percent or by nearly $32 billion in 24 hours.

NEW YORK (AFP) – The Dow surged past 30,000 points for the first time Tuesday as receding US political uncertainty and hopes for coronavirus vaccines offset worries over spiking Covid-19 cases.

With less than two months left for the year, the Philippines’ 2020 total rice imports so far stood at nearly 2 million metric tons (MT), coming from the usual countries like Vietnam and some unusual ones like China.

Insular Life (InLife), the country’s largest Filipino life insurer, has raised its capital requirement ahead of the Insurance Commission’s (IC) deadline.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved and issued 37,817 certificates of compliance (COCs), or the licenses that the qualified industry players would need so they can continually operate their facilities.

The Duterte administration’s budget deficit is nearing the P1 trillion mark in January to October this year as the government continued to struggle in raising revenues due to the coronavirus-induced crisis.

The OOCL Rotterdam recently set a new record within the Port of Melbourne, Australia, for the highest container exchange in a single call – a total of 6,516 containers equating to 11,037 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU).

More than a week since Typhoon Ulysses, the deadliest typhoon to hit the Philippines so far for this year, made landfall in Quezon province, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said it had so far distributed P1.43 billion worth of farm and fishery inputs, farm machinery, livelihood projects, and cash and food aid in the province.

Alcantara-led firm Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) has inked a deal for its programmed P6.0 billion fixed rate corporate notes issuance, the proceeds of which will partly bankroll its renewable energy projects and to refinance existing loans.

The Philippines is cementing its two-decade ‘low carbon’ pathway with 34,000 megawatts of renewable energy (RE) installations that shall be integrated into the power mix.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) last night (November 24) revised its outlook for the airline industry performance to show deeper losses in 2020 and 2021.

ING Philippines will set up a fully-digital loan application early next year and it will be one of the first online-only banks to offer loan products in the country.

Local firm Solar Philippines is prepping up for its planned initial public offering (IPO) at the local bourse, according to company executives.

The Gospel about the widow who gave out of her poverty reminded me of Vice President Leni Robredo.  The Office of the Vice President gets the smallest appropriation in the entire bureaucracy.  Her office proposed a budget of P720 million for 2020, but the DBM only approved P679 million.  The office has no access to the perks that government officials enjoy.   She was heavily criticized for using a military aircraft for her relief operations in Catanduanes—which eventually turned out to be a false information.   She is not invited at all to official functions to which her office is entitled to.  Her office is bereft of all the trimmings that the 2nd highest office in the land deserves—and yet she gives, out of her poverty.  The Gospel says that this is the highest form of giving—“The poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They gave out of their wealth, but she out of poverty, put everything, all she had to live on.”