Oil, China property stocks and Evergrande

Economists have downgraded Singapore’s 2023 growth forecasts and inflation expectations, according to a survey by the country’s central bank published Wednesday. Spillovers from an external growth slowdown were cited as the top risk.

Singapore’s economy is set to grow 1.0% this year, down from a forecast of 1.4% in June’s survey, according to the median forecast of 22 economists surveyed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. 

Headline consumer prices could rise 4.7% this year, down from 5.0% predicted in June, the median inflation forecast showed. Core inflation, which excludes private road transport and accommodation costs, is expected to rise 4.1%, unchanged from the previous survey.

Both headline inflation and MAS core inflation are expected to ease in 2024, to 3.1% and 2.8% respectively.

For more, read here.

— Clement Tan

Japan’s vice minister of finance for international affairs Masato Kanda warned that the country will not “rule out any options if speculative moves persist” against the yen, Reuters reported.

Kanda was speaking to reporters after the yen slid to a 10-month low against the dollar, breaking past 147 to reach as much as 147.78 on Wednesday.

“We won’t rule out any options if speculative moves persist,” Kanda said, according to Reuters’ report. “Needless to say, it’s important for currency moves to reflect fundamentals.”

Australia’s gross domestic product expanded 2.1% in the second quarter from a year ago, higher than the 1.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

However the figure was lower than the 2.3% year-on-year growth recorded in the first quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP rose 0.4%, marking the seventh consecutive quarterly rise.

Australia’s statistics bureau said that exports and investment were the primary contributors to GDP growth this quarter, partly offset by changes in inventories.

— Lim Hui Jie

HSBC named six Chinese internet stocks it says to buy — predicting that each have upside of at least 27%.

Valuations of Chinese internet stocks fell 5% between mid-June and the start of September, the bank said, adding that its picks offer “opportunities with good value.”

CNBC subscribers can read more here.

— Lucy Handley

RBC has raised its bet on what it calls a “recession resistant’ Canadian company, doubling the weighting of the stock in its “Focus List” bucket to 5%.

Although the bank’s stock list has underperformed over the past six months, it has historically and consistently beaten its benchmark S&P/TSX Index.

The RBC Strategy Canadian Focus List returned 11.3% in compounded annual growth over the past five years. In contrast, the benchmark has risen by 7.8% on the same metric.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

After a volatile month for global stocks, CNBC Pro screened the MSCI World index for major global stocks that are among the most overbought and oversold, based on their 14-day relative strength index.

The relative strength index (RSI), which measures the magnitude and speed of price moves, can be used by investors to determine if shares are overbought or oversold.

The stocks on the screen also have a market value of more than $10 billion.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Fewer companies are discussing recessionary risks with investors, data suggests.

Of S&P 500 companies, 62 used the term “recession” on second-quarter earnings calls between June 15 and Aug. 31, per FactSet data.

That marks a decline for the fourth straight quarter. And it’s about a quarter of the 238 companies that used the word at its peak in the second quarter of 2022.

At 62, the quarter is also below the five-year average of 82. But it’s modestly above the 10-year average of 60.

Recessionary talk was most prominent among financial names within the index, as 22 companies, or 32% of the sector, used the word. That marks both the highest total number and share of companies of any of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, according to FactSet.

— Alex Harring

Oil prices popped on Tuesday morning after Saudi Arabia extended its 1-million-barrels-per-day voluntary oil production cut until the end of the year, according to the state-owned Saudi Press Agency.

Brent crude futures for November were up $1.49, or 1.67%, at $90.49 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October futures edged $1.95 higher, or 2.28%, to $87.50 a barrel.

Riyadh first applied the 1 million-barrels-per-day reduction in July and has since extended it on a monthly basis. This cut adds to another 1.66 million barrels per day of voluntary crude output declines that some other OPEC members have put in place until the end of 2024. Read more here.

— Pia Singh, Ruxandra Iordache

Chip designer Arm filed an updated regulatory filing for a U.S. initial public offering, setting a range between $47 per share and $51 per share. SoftBank, which owns Arm, plans to sell 95.5 million shares. This all implies a valuation of up to $54.5 billion.

— Fred Imbert.