THE MAIN INDEX barely moved, but with a negative bias, on Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines amid lingering concerns about the US-China trade war.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte had ordered all agencies to reject loans and grants from 41 countries that backed a probe of his deadly war on drugs that has killed thousands, his spokesman said yesterday after denying such memo existed.

THE PHILIPPINE Military Academy (PMA) on Monday said it had relieved officers allegedly responsible for the death of a cadet for hazing.

MANILA criticized China on Monday after a coast guard ship allegedly blocked three Philippine civilian vessels trying to bring supplies to a navy ship that was deliberately run aground at the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS are right for a cut in benchmark interest rates, according to analysts asked last week, most of whom said monetary authorities will probably make their move in their sixth policy review for the year this Thursday with a 25 basis-point reduction.

THE PROPOSED P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 is now comfortably on track for year-end enactment, following advanced approval of the spending plan last Friday at the House of Representatives, a Senate leader said last weekend.

ABQAIQ, SAUDI ARABIA -- Saudi state oil company Aramco said it will bring back by end-September full crude output at Abqaiq and Khurais, the two oil facilities damaged by attacks last weekend that US officials have blamed on Iran.

THE Swiss challenge for the unsolicited proposals of the Metro Pacific group for the Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEx) and the San Miguel group for the extension of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) may not make it within the year.

CEBU-BASED property developer JEG Development Corp. (JDC) is boosting its presence in the Visayan capital with the launch of four projects in the following years, while also looking for more partnerships for the future.

A FARMER organization called on the trade department to crack down on traders and retailers who are “profiteering” with still-high retail prices while also forcing farmers to accept low prices for their harvests.

A UNIT of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) is investing P200 million for a new clearing and settlement system.

SAY HELLO to the 2020 edition of Lexus’ best-selling SUV, the RX -- a pioneer in the luxury SUV segment, not just for Lexus, but for the entire genre, when it made its world debut way back in 1998.