• Singapore and Mexico signed a series of new cooperation agreements on Tuesday (Nov 19) that underscored the multi-faceted nature of ties between the two countries and pledged to conclude a region-wide trade deal by this year.
• Five Singapore agencies inked agreements with their respective Mexican counterparts following a meeting between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the National Palace, where the two leaders welcomed the growing trade and investment cooperation between Mexico and Singapore.
• Among these were agreements to promote greater cooperation in water resource management, closer partnership in science and technology cooperation, and a renewed deal to team up on international development and tackle transboundary issues such as pandemic outbreaks.

(Source: Strait Times)

•  In the first live television debate between opposition leaders, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson just edged out a lead over Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, according to a poll.
•  But that’s being seen as a win for Corbyn, who was expected to be beaten more comprehensively. 
•  Corbyn received applause and landed verbal punches on Johnson, who struggled to win over an audience that laughed and groaned as he tried to steer the topic back to Brexit.
• The pound edged lower following the spectacle.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Washington angered Beijing by passing a bill aimed at supporting protesters in Hong Kong and warning China against a violent suppression of the demonstrations.
• That’s as protesters sought to ramp-up disruption on transport networks, while this week’s university siege is still not completely over. 
• China responded to the U.S. by threatening to impose unspecified retaliation if the bill becomes law. That rebuke could hardly be more untimely for investors hoping a U.S.-China trade deal is nearing. 

(Source: Bloomberg)

• A tumble for crude oil futures on Tuesday could impact broader markets. Futures in New York slumped as much as 3.5% for their biggest drop since the end of September on a report saying American Petroleum Institute stockpiles rose by 5.95 million barrels last week, ahead of government figures due later today.
• A lack of progress on the trade war has also stoked concern around growth and the demand for energy, with the European benchmark, Brent crude, now down about 18% since April. 

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Dolphin Cove reported a 28.0% year-on-year decline in net profit to USD$2.12Mn (EPS: $0.54) for the nine-month period ended in September 2019. 
• Revenues increased marginally by 0.1% (or USD$16.89K) while direct expenses were up 21.0% (or USD$218.96K) over the period.  The performance was also affected by a US$508.82K increase in selling, administrative and other operational expenses , and higher corporate taxes.  
• The stock has declined 33.94% YTD and closed yesterday’s trading session at $10.90 per share. At this price, the stock trades at a P/E of 21.0x which is below the Junior Market average of 26.1x. 

 (Source: DCove Financials)

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed a two-week visit to Barbados. The IMF team, which was headed by Bert van Selm, was in the island from November 5-15 to complete its 2019 Article IV mission to Barbados and the second review under the Enhanced Fund Facility (EFF).
• At the end of the visit, the team issued a statement in which it confirmed that “The authorities’ BERT [Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation] programme, supported by the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility, is on track.”
• The IMF elaborated that all program targets for the end of September 2019 under the EFF have been met. The program target for primary surplus was met by a comfortable margin, which bodes well for reaching the FY2019/20 primary surplus target of 6 percent of GDP. The Barbadian authorities also continue to make good progress in implementing structural benchmarks under the EFF.
• At the conclusion of the visit, the IMF team and the government reached a staff-level agreement related to Barbados’ performance under the EFF arrangement. Barbados will receive another drawdown of approximately USD$48Mn.

(Source: Barbados GIS)

• Hurricane Dorian left almost 3,000 homes “uninhabitable”, a newly-released report has revealed, as it inflicted $1.487bn worth of damage on the housing sector in Abaco and Grand Bahama.
• The long-awaited assessment of the category five storm’s financial impact, produced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other multilateral agencies, projected that the nation has taken a total $3.438bn hit through physical damage, economic/revenue losses and “additional costs” related to issues such as the Grand Bahama oil spill and environmental damage.

(Source: Tribune242)

• U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, go head to head in their first pre-election television debate on ITV tonight.
• Corbyn spent part of Tuesday confirming plans to nationalize parts of industries like water and the railways, while the PM scrapped a tax cut for businesses due in 2020, leaving British companies facing an agonizing choice.
• With bookies’ odds pointing to a Conservative majority, the pound is at a six-month high against the euro — but here’s a reminder of just how wrong odds makers can be.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• The Trump administration’s trade war is ravaging exports to China across the U.S. and well beyond the farm belt, new data from the U.S. Commerce Department show.
• More than 30 states stretching from Florida to Alaska suffered double-digit drops in merchandise exports to China through September of this year.
• Sales to the Asian nation fell 39% in Texas, where oil and gas products comprise the largest export to that country. Exports to China support more than a million U.S. jobs, according to the U.S.-China Business Council, which represents American companies doing business in China.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• With some of the cheapest funding costs of the year on offer, it’s no wonder the floodgates have opened in the corporate bond market. 
• Credit risk premiums have been tightening as investors pour money into corporate bond funds.
• That’s encouraging companies to borrow, with AbbVie looking to price the year’s largest sale Tuesday, and at least 10 new deals in the junk-bond market.
• It all adds to a bullish outlook as recession fears have abated amid stronger economic data and progress in U.S.-China trade talks, Bank of America strategists said in a report Friday.
• Investors expect spreads to tighten further in the next three months, but could widen over the longer-term, the strategists said. With that in mind, issuers are looking to get in now while the getting’s good. 

(Source: Bloomberg)