Iggy's Journal: The Rate Hike That Never Makes The News, But Still Hits Your Portfolio

12 September 2026, PM

Podcast Release

New podcast episode's up today on something that never quite makes it into the headlines the way it should. A Fed rate hike doesn't show up in Singapore as breaking news, it shows up quietly in the financing cost sitting behind your mortgage and your REIT portfolio. The uncomfortable part is that SORA can sit near cycle lows right now while forward rate expectations are already tightening underneath it, and that gap is exactly the kind of thing that gives people a false sense of security until it doesn't.

CapitaLand Ascendas REIT is the name doing the work in this episode. Gearing improved meaningfully, down from 42.0% to 39.7%, genuinely good progress on that front. But interest coverage sits at 3.5 times, below the 4.0 times floor I track. Flagged for caution in my tracking, one metric moving the right way while another stays under the line I look for.

My Personal Take

The question I keep coming back to in this one isn't whether Washington raises rates, it's whether Singapore investors are watching the right number when they think about that risk. Most people check SORA and feel fine because it looks calm. I'm more interested in whether that calm number can hold if funding costs start climbing from here, especially for a REIT that's already running interest coverage below where I'd want it. Improving gearing is real progress and I'm not dismissing it, but progress on one metric doesn't erase a gap on another. Worth the listen if you hold Ascendas or any REIT for CPF or SRS income and haven't stopped to ask which number in your portfolio actually moves when a headline about Washington doesn't seem to touch you at all.

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/50-4_EEQA8Y

📩 Substack: https://investingiguana.com/p/a-fed-rate-hike-doesnt-happen-in

Not financial advice. Iggy's Forensic Compliance Standards apply.

Cheers, Iggy 🦖