Singapore stocks finish weaker on US rate hike worries

FIRST we had "Reaganomics" then came the "Greenspan put" which was then followed by the "Bernanke put". Now we have "Trumponomics" that is sometimes used interchangeably with the "Trump put" which means essentially the same thing as all its predecessors - official pronouncements about stimulus that prompt frenzied buying of Wall Street stocks.

The difference of course, is that in the case of Trumponomics there are still no details on what exactly will be done.

Whatever the case, the impact here was a five point rise for the Straits Times Index to 3,122.34 notwithstanding a 14.14 points loss on Friday, the latter perhaps as players reacted to strong warnings from the US Federal Reserve that interest rates will have to be raised soon. In the federal funds futures market the implied probability of a rate hike in two weeks is now 90 per cent.