Good tidings for christmas

After a spate of bad news in recent weeks, the holiday season brings good tidings for Christmas.

- WILSON SY

The Trump-induced turmoil that pummeled emerging market stocks, currencies and investor confidence appears to be easing off. This leaves room for cautious optimism as the year draws to a close.

A tumultuous quarter to end the year

The past quarter has been a rollercoaster for the Philippines. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) traded as high as 7,600 in early October. It was up by 17.8 percent for the year before global headwinds dragged it lower. Trump's Make America Great Again policies, tariffs and threats rattled emerging markets. Philippine stocks declined sharply while the peso weakened and tested its all-time lows.

Meanwhile, natural calamities compounded the situation. Six major typhoons in less than a month between October and November affected millions of people, caused widespread flooding and damaged homes, agriculture and infrastructure. The recent eruption of Kanlaon Volcano in Negros has affected nearly 12,000 families across 25 barangays.

China's stimulus sparks optimism

China's Politburo announced it is implementing "more proactive" fiscal tools and "moderately loose" monetary policies to address its economic problems. The budget deficit is set to expand to four percent, the widest in three decades. It also plans a massive 10 trillion yuan (or $1.4 trillion) stimulus package to address local government debt and support infrastructure projects. These measures aimed to boost China's economy which has been plagued by deflationary pressures, weak consumption, property sector crisis and the potential impact of punitive US tariffs.