The Pulse：Year in Finance & 2019 Economic Outlook

Happy new year! Hello and welcome to the first edition of The Pulse for 2019.
Well the year opened with a sharp downturn in global stock markets which followed a pretty dismal year for investors in 2018, the S&P 500 registered its worst downturn since the financial crisis of 2008. On the first trading of the year U.S. stocks plunged. They dropped even further on Thursday, largely due to Apple’s warnings of reduced revenue caused by lower-than-expected iPhone sales, particularly in China. Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets were also hit hard. Indeed the Hang Seng Index reflected the worst first trading day of a new year in over two decades.
The U.S. Federal Reserve ended 2018 with a fourth interest rate hike in mid-December. Faced by a trade war between the United States and China, a U.S government shut down, Brexit, and a myriad of other business concerns, many market analysts are predicting a global economic slowdown in 2019. With us to talk about that are Tara Joseph, President of American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Felix Chung, leader of the Liberal Party.