T-bill yield dips while stocks and fixed deposit rates rise: Weekly Market Recap

The final month of the year is here, and it’s easy to notice with Christmas music in the malls and everyone sharing their Spotify Wrapped.

I’ve also started wrapping up for the year and getting ready for what’s ahead. One year-end thing I do? Making SRS contributions for tax savings. To help you plan, check out our guide and SRS tax savings calculator, along a few ideas on how to make the most of your SRS funds.

As always, we’ve reviewed the latest fixed deposit and savings account rates this month, and it’s a mixed bag. 

The good news? Some banks have raised fixed deposit rates, with the best fixed deposit rate at 3.20% p.a. . The latest SSB also offers a higher 10-year average interest rate of 2.86%. 

However, some banks have lowered savings account interest rates, including Trust Bank and GXS.  The cut-off yield for the latest 6-month T-bill also dropped to 3.0%.

As we approach the last weeks of 2024, I hope you find time to reflect and prepare for the year ahead. Let us know if there’s anything you’d like us to cover more of in the new year—we’d love to hear from you.

Happy growing! 

Gerald, Founder of Beansprout

⏰ This Week In Markets

🤓 Rising confidence towards another interest rate cut 

What happened? 

The US added 227,000 jobs in November, which was slightly above market expectations, and rebounding strongly from October's weak data

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also noted that "the US economy is in very good shape, and there’s no reason for that not to continue.”

What does this mean?

With little surprises in the last key labour market data before the next Federal Reserve meeting, investors grew in confidence that the Fed will cut interest rates further. 

According to the CME Fedwatch Tool, investors are assigning a 86% probability that the Fed will cut interest rates by another 0.25% at its meeting on 18th December. 

Why should I care? 

US government bond yields fell as investors gained confidence on another interest rate cut in December. 

The S&P closed at another record high, boosted further by data suggesting strength in the US economy. Gains were led by tech stocks, with the Nasdaq also reaching another record high.

The STI surpassed 3,800 points briefly in the week, buoyed by more positive investor sentiment. 

🚗  Moving This Week

• Keppel DC REIT has launched its preferential offering which offers entitled unitholders the right to buy 86 new preferential units at S$2.03 each for every 1,000 existing units held. Read our analysis here.
• Gordon and Celine Tang, through their vehicle Aelios, have made a mandatory conditional offer of $1.16 per unit for all the issued and outstanding units in Suntec REIT.Read more about Suntec REIT here.
• SingPost plans to sell Freight Management Holdings, one of its Australia-based units, for A$1.02 billion (S$897.6 million). The company will recognise a gain on disposal of S$312.1 million, which will be used to repay its Australian Dollar-denominated debt. Read more about SingPost here.
• Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has secured shipbuilding contracts for 21 vessels, with a total contract value of US$2.63 billion ($3.54 billion). Following its new contract wins, the group has secured new orders worth US$14.27 billion year-to-date. Read more about Yangzijiang Shipbuilding here.
• Hongkong Land is considering selling its closely held property developer arm MCL Land, according to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter. Deliberations are ongoing and Hongkong Land could still opt to keep the assets, according to the report. Read more about Hongkong Land here.

Source: Bloomberg, CNBC, Business Times, Edge Singapore

💡 The Big Important Story

T-bill yield falls to 3.0%. Why the decline?

The cut-off yield on the latest Singapore T-bill auction on 5 December fell to 3.0%.

🤓 What we're looking out for next week

• Tuesday, 10 Dec: Keppel DC REIT preferential offering closing date. Read our analysis here.
• Wednesday, 11 Dec: US CPI data

Check out the full list of Singapore stocks, REITs and ETFs with upcoming dividend payments with our dividend calendar.

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv

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