Overseas news
Atlanta Federal Reserve (the Fed) President Raphael Bostic expects 2 rate cuts beginning in the 3rd quarter of 2024. However, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee echoed New York Fed President John Williams’ comments that it is too early to discuss rate cuts while inflation remains above 2%.
With the mixed signals from these Fed officials, US stocks and Treasury yields ended rising.
US homebuilder confidence via the National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose to a score of 37 in December vs. a forecast of 36 and 34 in November.
This came as easing mortgage rates due to lower Treasury yields are likely helping improve sales conditions for builders. The average 30-year fixed mortgage hit a 2-decade high of 7.9% in October before falling to 7.07% last week.
The HMI gauges builder opinion on the relative level of current and future single-family home sales. It ranges from 0 to 100.
Local developments
A bill seeking to remove the 100% Filipino requirement for board members of investment companies has been filed at the House of Representatives.
The measure would amend Section 15 of Republic Act No. 2629 (Investment Company Act), which is said to discourage the formation of foreign-owned funds in the country, such as venture capital funds, private equity funds, and hedge funds.
Foreign investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) already exceeded the full-year target of P154.77 billion and will likely reach P172 billion by the end of the year.
It is estimated that 37% of these investments are from the electronics sector despite sluggish global demand, while 15% comes from information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO).
Measures to bring in more money from overseas, such as the proposed bill and PEZA efforts, can help the domestic economy grow if successful.
Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC), the parent company of listed Citicore Energy REIT Corp. (CREIT), has sought regulatory approval for an initial public offering (IPO) to develop its pipeline of projects.
The company intends to offer up to 2.9 billion shares at an indicative price of P3.88 each from March 4 to 8, 2024.
An IPO is the first time a company publicly offers shares of its ownership for sale to individuals or other institutions. Companies usually decide to go public when they are looking for capital to pay for additional operations or expansion.
With 2024 just a couple of weeks away, there aren’t any news items hinting at big market changes. You might want to maintain your strategy and wait for developments in the new year.
