The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

The philanthropic arm of the SM group, SM Foundation, has added more scholars under its wings as it sponsors 20 Grades 7 to 12 students at the Sisters of Mary School Girlstown in Bo. Biga, Silang Cavite, one of the campuses of the Sisters of Mary Schools in the Philippines, while SM Foundation chairman Harley Sy added 20 more students …

Arbitrage happens when rates of return in an economy conflict with one another across sectors and markets. While not necessarily a bad thing, it feeds on itself and is self-perpetuating. It thrives on divergence and disparities. It is nourished by volatility. When there is volatility, investors tend to fly from market to market, cherry-picking and taking their investments where yields …

True or not, a YouTube/Kusala (source) post that I stumbled upon on Yahoo! News resonated with a crowd of voices and flash of images in me; it’s about a voicemail that a grandmother left in her granddaughter’s phone regarding a “box of donuts she found.”

In his final State of the Nation Address (Sona) last year, exiting President Noynoy Aquino bravely announced that this year’s elections were “a referendum” on his presidency.

The research group IBON said 15 years of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) only strengthened the monopoly of corporations on the Philippine power industry and burdened consumers with high power rates. The group, a member of the POWER alliance, said Epira must, therefore, be repealed.

Asia-Pacific real-estate investment trust (REITs) have built up strong credit foundations that will stand them in good stead to withstand a market shock, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings said in a report.

By Riza Lozada The overall balance-of-payments (BOP) surplus in 2016 is expected to taper off to $2.0 billion from $2.2 billion in the December 2015 projection, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported. 

Sen. Cynthia Villar is appealing to the incoming Duterte administration to not pursue the proposed reclamation of Manila Bay as a site for a new international airport. 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Germany-based Munich Re have signed an agreement on a $250-million cover to help the ADB’s Trade Finance Program expand support for trade in developing Asia. 

The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) approved the listing application of Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc., a developer of memorial parks and columbarium facilities.