The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.03 percent, or 6.38 points, to close at 25,058.12, the S&P 500 shed 0.09 percent to end at 2,801.83 and the Nasdaq Composite inched lower by 0.07 percent to 7,820.20. The 30-year Treasury bond broke above 3 percent and hit its highest level since late June, on news of Trump’s criticism of the Fed’s monetary policy-making decisions. The short-term two-year note yield climbed to 2.595 percent, while the benchmark 10-year note yield rose to 2.891 percent.

Trade war escalations get riled up again, with Trump tweeting that "China, the European Union and others have been manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower." Trump mentioned in a recent interview that he was prepared to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US if he had to.

KEPPEL Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) has secured two contracts with a combined value of about S$70 million, for respective work in Brazil and in Singapore. Dozens of Apple customers have had hundreds of dollars each drained from their bank accounts, after being billed for purchases they did not make on their iTunes accounts. The victims that Channel NewsAsia spoke to said the charges were deducted from their accounts at DBS and OCBC.

GOLDEN Springs Group (GSG) has sold a 75 per cent stake in Gold Coin Management Holdings to Pilmico International, a subsidiary of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), in a deal which values the livestock feed producer at US$550 million.

CROWN Group is considering listing its Indonesia business on the Singapore bourse. A listing of its Australian operations also on the local bourse could be on the cards in the future.

Source: CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, Business Times, SingStat, MTI, Phillip Securities Research