Author: Press Room

By Ronnie Harui SINGAPORE–Singapore’s economy grew at a slower pace in the first quarter of 2023, mainly owing to contraction in goods-producing industries. Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in the quarter ended March from a year earlier, according to advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday. That was slower than the revised 2.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2022, and missed the 0.6% growth expected by nine economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. Goods-producing industries shrank 4.1% in the first quarter, sharper than the 1.1% contraction recorded in the fourth quarter, while services-producing…

It will likely be several weeks before we know the Supreme Court justices’ view on mass student debt cancellation. But last week, the court allowed at least $6 billion in student-debt relief for roughly 290,000 borrowers to move forward. The court declined a petition Thursday from three schools to stop a settlement between a class of student loan borrowers, who say they were scammed by their schools, and the Department of Education. The borrowers had sued the Department of Education in San Francisco’s federal court in 2019, alleging the agency was improperly ignoring the borrowers’ applications for relief. Under Department of…

India became the world’s most populous country on Friday, ending China’s reign as No. 1, according to an analysis of United Nations population projections. The analysis shows that India’s population reached 1,425,782,975 on Friday. India has overwhelming economic potential, not only due of its population size, but also because of its demographic makeup. This enormous competitive advantage can be seen in India’s dependency ratio. The dependency ratio is a metric that compares a nation’s youth and elderly, who do not work, to its working population. The lower the ratio, the fewer non-workers a country needs to support. So for example,…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks outside the Catalent plant where millions of doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine were reportedly found, in Anagni, Italy, March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi (Reuters) – Contract drug manufacturer Catalent (NYSE:) Inc on Friday warned that slow production at three of its facilities will impact its fiscal 2023 results and said CFO Thomas Castellano has stepped down, sending its shares down more than 20%. The company said it experienced “productivity issues” at its gene therapy manufacturing site in Harmans, Maryland after a slower-than-expected ramp up in production capacity and that it…

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan World markets have surged this week on renewed hopes of disinflation, peak interest rates and a soft economic landing – and earnings from Wall Street’s biggest banks now test the thesis. Friday sees first-quarter updates from JP Morgan, Wells Fargo (NYSE:) and Citigroup (NYSE:) as investors assess the fallout from last month’s U.S. regional banking crisis. Although annual profit growth for the financial sector at large is expected to be positive, earnings for the top six banks are forecast to have dropped 10% over the year…

(Reuters) – France’s Constitutional Council is due to deliver its verdict on Friday on a deeply unpopular bill which will delay retirement by two years to 64, and on plans for a referendum to challenge it. Here is why this matters and what could happen: VERDICT ON THE PENSION BILL * The Council can strike down the bill altogether if it considers it breaches the Constitution. Opposition parties have asked it to do so, for choosing to tack the pension reform onto a social security budget bill, setting a tight deadline on debates and then bypassing a final vote in…

No matter how far you got in your education, or what you studied, chances are you never had a primer on how to manage aging parents in failing health. The exceptions are those who specifically pursued healthcare, geriatrics or a related field. For everyone else, it may feel like you are totally lost when it comes to dealing with aging parents’ health, behavior, cognitive decline and finances. It can be scary! At AgingParents.com, where we consult with families of elders who are facing various difficulties, we hear over and over the refrain: “I don’t know how to even start with…

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about whether people living outside the US can still collect their Social Security benefits, how payments are made when eligible for two benefits at once and survivor’s benefits before retirement benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask Larry answers here. Have Social Security questions of your own you’d like answered? Ask Larry about Social Security here. Can We Still Collect Social Security If We Move Abroad? Hi Larry, Both I and my spouse are citizens of India…

From the headlines, car buyers might think the most important force driving down the cost of electric vehicles is the $7,500 tax credit that was expanded last summer, followed by Tesla’s recent aggressive cost-cutting to gain more market share.Look closer, and the work auto companies are doing themselves to refine EV technology — and, crucially, new manufacturing processes — loom as an even bigger deal. And that’s resulting in a series of newly-announced and coming-soon models that will make EVs much cheaper, and more mainstream, highlighted by Tesla’s first detailed public explanation of how its next-generation car due next year…

The “best by” and expiration dates on the box of cookies or jar of peanut butter in your pantry may not seem like a big deal, but is the same true for the medications in your bathroom cabinets?You’ve likely used shampoo or sunscreen days — or even months — beyond their expiration dates and that is probably OK. But it’s a different story for medications, says Erin Burton, a pharmacy manager at CVS Health.”It’s important to check out the expiration dates on medications because once we’re past that date, they become less effective,” Burton tells CNBC Make It.You don’t want…