Iggy’s Journal: Singapore Consumer Prices Rose 2.2% in September. The 6-Month T-Bill Cleared at 1.95%Saturday 24 Oct 202…

Iggy’s Journal: Singapore Consumer Prices Rose 2.2% in September. The 6-Month T-Bill Cleared at 1.95%

Saturday 24 Oct 2026 | Morning

The Numbers

STI: Friday’s close was 5,422.16, up 7.02 points or 0.13%, per Trading Economics citing SGX data.

Wall Street on Friday, in a session that ran after SGX had closed: the Dow finished at 52,215.16, down 652.82 points or 1.23%. The S&P 500 finished at 7,623.68, down 39.75 points or 0.52%. The Nasdaq finished at 25,955.34, down 53.52 points or 0.21%. The Associated Press tied the retreat to rising crude oil prices, which raised inflation and interest rate worries, and reported the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.99%. Singapore trades next on Monday at 9am.

Singapore data released on Friday: consumer prices rose 2.2% year on year in September, and 0.2% from August (SingStat). The HDB resale price index fell 0.1% from the second quarter to the third, while resale transactions rose 19.5% over the same period (HDB and SingStat). Private residential prices rose 1.4% on the quarter, and the office and retail space price indices rose 0.8% and 1.1% (URA and SingStat).

For comparison, the MAS 6-month T-bill cut-off yield was 1.95% at Thursday’s auction, and the November Savings Bond pays 1.67% if redeemed after one year (Little Big Red Dot).

My Personal Take

Of everything released on Friday, the 2.2% is the figure I would put next to every savings rate this week. Thursday’s T-bill auction cleared at 1.95%, which is 0.25 percentage points under that inflation rate, and the November Savings Bond’s first-year 1.67% is 0.53 under it. The comparison is rough, because a yield looks forward and a price rise looks back. Even so, the question I now ask of a safe rate is whether it clears 2.2%.

Cheers, Iggy 🦖

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