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Nickelless
Administrator
USA
5580 Posts |
 Posted - 12/11/2008 : 14:39:35
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Just saw this Associated Press roundup:
BEIJING — China’s inflation fell to its lowest level in nearly two years as sharp increases in food and energy costs eased, giving Beijing more room to spur growth through spending without igniting price rises. Consumer prices rose by 2.4 percent in November over the year-earlier period, the government reported Thursday. That was down from October’s 4 percent increase and well below February’s 12-year high of 8.7 percent. Beijing spent a year trying to cool a surge in inflation but in recent months has been forced to switch to trying to shore up slumping economic growth. The easing in inflation allows authorities leeway to cut interest rates further and inject money into the economy. They announced a half-trillion dollar stimulus package last month that calls for higher spending on construction, tax cuts and aid to farmers and the poor. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.3 percent, or 47.44 points, to 2,031.68 after Chinese leaders ended a top level economic policy meeting without announcing any fresh initiatives to spur growth.
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TORONTO — The largest leveraged buyout in history is dead after a group of buyers of the Canadian telecom company BCE Inc. said an audit found the proposed $35 billion deal to take the company private did not meet solvency requirements. An investment group led by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board and several U.S. partners had expected to complete its deal for BCE, the parent of Bell Canada, on Dec. 11. It also would have been the biggest takeover in Canadian history. But a review by accounting firm KPMG found that BCE would not meet the solvency tests of the privatization agreement, partly due to the amount of debt involved in the transaction and current market conditions.
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FRANKFURT, Germany — Germany will remain in a recession until 2010, an economic research group predicted, adding that gross domestic product will likely shrink 2.2 percent next year as the global economic crisis deepens. The Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research said German exports — the country’s main economic driver — and employment would suffer. The German economy slipped into recession in the third quarter as exports weakened. Ifo said it is likely to stay there for some time. Meanwhile, Germany’s finance minister took a public swipe at Britain’s economic stimulus package, calling it a “crass” plan that would encumber the next generation with more debt than ever before, in an interview with Newsweek magazine. Peer Steinbrueck cast doubt on the effectiveness of Britain’s 20 billion pound ($29.6 billion) package, whose most prominent point is a decision to cut value-added tax from 17.5 percent to 15 percent. The German government has resisted the idea of making similar cuts. The DAX closed down 37.68 points, or 0.8 percent, at 4,767.20
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PARIS — The International Energy Agency said that global oil demand will shrink this year for the first time in a quarter-century as rich nations fall into recession and growth slows in the developing world. The Paris-based agency, which represents the interests of 28 oil-importing nations, also cut its forecast for global demand next year, saying a rebound in demand depends on economic recovery in the second half of 2009. Meanwhile, a French government holding company carried out the 10.5 billion euro ($13.6 billion) capital injection for the country’s six largest banks. In exchange for the aid, the banks have pledged to increase their lending to consumers, businesses and municipalities. The plan was announced in October and approved by the European Commission on Monday. The CAC-40 fell 14.18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,306.13.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s central bank carried out its biggest interest rate cut ever, slashing borrowing costs by a full percentage point to a record low of 3 percent in a bid to stave off recession. The rate cut marked the fourth time the central bank has lowered borrowing costs in the past two months and exceeded the 0.75 percentage point emergency cut on Oct. 27, previously the largest ever. South Korea’s economy slowed in the third quarter, and deteriorating economic data have raised alarm bells that Asia’s fourth-largest economy could contract next year on an annual basis for the first time since 1997, when the country was in the throes of the Asian financial crisis. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 1,154.43.
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ZURICH, Switzerland — The Swiss National Bank cut its key interest rate in half to 0.5 percent, citing the worsening situation in international financial markets and a deterioration of the global economy. The move — the fourth cut by the Swiss bank since October — came a week after European central banks cut their rates in an attempt to ward off a long recession triggered by the financial crisis. The bank said it has revised downwards its forecast for the Swiss economy and that it now expects gross domestic product to shrink all of next year, by between 0.5 percent and 1 percent. As recently as September it had forecast positive growth throughout 2009. Before cutting the rate by 0.25 percent to 2.5 percent in October, the Swiss bank had reduced its rates only once in the last 5 1/2 years. It then cut its rates twice in November to 1 percent.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s Central Bank scaled back its defense of the ruble for a fifth time in a month as sliding oil prices intensify pressure on both the economy and national currency. Russia’s international reserves eroded by a further $17.9 billion last week, bringing them down to $437 billion as of Dec. 5. The government has spent tens of billions of dollars of its cash stockpile to defend the currency, and international reserves are down by more than $150 billion since August. Also, Anglo-Russian oil major TNK-BP said it will slash investment by $1.1 billion next year amid plunging oil prices.
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TOKYO — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average closed 0.7 percent higher at 8,720.55 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.2 percent to 15,613.90. Markets in Australia, Singapore and India fell.
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The Swedish government presented a 28 billion kronor ($3.4 billion) support package to help the nation’s ailing auto industry. The plan offers credit guarantees, emergency loans and research funds to boost companies in the “Swedish automotive cluster,” the center-right government said. Car makers Volvo and Saab have been appealing to the government for support because of the financial woes of their U.S. owners, Ford and General Motors. The Swedish plan still requires approval from lawmakers.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium — The Netherlands won EU approval to give a 750 million euros ($969 million) lifeline to SNS Reaal NV, a Dutch financial services group rocked by the financial crisis. EU regulators said the emergency recapitalization — where the company will issue shares to the government — could be allowed because the group’s collapse would have disrupted the Dutch financial sector and spilled over into the economy as a whole. The bailout followed other Dutch bailouts for ING Groep NV bank and insurer Aegon NV. EU leaders also sought to salvage ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable energy, despite a widening economic slump that has cast doubt on the continent’s groundbreaking commitment to go green.
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LONDON — British consumers’ predictions for inflation in the coming year plummeted in November from a record high three months earlier as the economic downturn worsened, a Bank of England survey showed. The bank’s Inflation Attitudes Survey, conducted with the research group Gfk NOP, revealed that Britons believe the rate of inflation over the next 12 months will be 2.8 percent. In the last quarterly survey released in August, Britons believed inflation would be 4.4 percent in the coming year. The bank said the 36 percent fall in expectations regarding inflation was the largest drop since the survey began in 1999. Britain’s pound fell to a new record low against the euro on for the second consecutive day, but the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 21.41 points, or 0.5 percent, at 4,388.69.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s central bank cut the island’s key lending rate by three quarters of a percentage point, the fifth rate cut in less than three months. The bank cut the rate from 3.125 percent to 2.375 percent. Analysts had expected the bank to cut the rate by half a point. The bank’s statement said the rate cut would stimulate domestic demand.
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MANILA, Philippines — Asia’s emerging economies will slow next year as the global financial crisis saps export demand and capital flows, the Asian Development Bank said in a semiannual report, but swift, decisive action by policy makers will help stem the impact of the crisis. Collective economic growth in developing Asia — a sprawling region that includes 44 economies from the central Asia republics to the Pacific islands — is projected to expand 5.8 percent next year, down from an expected 6.9 percent this year, the report said.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — One hotel in this glitzy tourist spot is offering visitors left jobless by the economic slump a free meal. All unemployed dinner-seekers have to do is show up at the Arabian Park Hotel with their layoff letter in hand. The offer also applies to out-of-towners willing to make the trip to the Gulf Arab sheikdom. Dubai, a fast-growing but debt-heavy city of new skyscrapers, is grappling with its first mass layoffs in years.
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KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian lawmakers backed severe restrictions on public spending and a government-wide hiring freeze to help the economy survive the global financial turmoil. As the Ukrainian currency hit a new low, the parliament gave tentative approval to legislation that would limit spending on renovating government buildings, purchases of automobiles and other public expenses. The law would be the latest in a series of measures to battle the crisis. Ukraine has been one of the hardest-hit emerging markets during the global crisis, its export-oriented economy battered by the drop in world price for steel — the heart of the economy.
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The South African Reserve Bank cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 11.5 percent. Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni says the move is to help South Africa’s economic growth amid the global economic downturn. The cut is the first time in three years that the repurchase rate has been lowered. There have been six rate hikes since June 2007 as the bank governor tried to control inflation and consumer spending. The government now expects inflation to fall back to its 3-6 percent target by the third quarter of next year.
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MUMBAI, India — Lower food prices have eased India’s inflation, the Ministry of Commerce said, giving the government more leeway to stimulate the country’s flagging economy. The wholesale price index — India’s most-watched inflation measure — fell to 8.0 percent for the week ended Nov. 29, down from 8.4 percent for the prior week. This time last year, inflation was just 3.9 percent.
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Cody8404
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
602 Posts |
Posted - 12/12/2008 : 11:36:26
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| LAS VEGAS, USA -- The unemployment rate has hit record highs as no one has enough money to play and, "leave it in Las Vegas. As a measure to lure more people the minimum age for gambling may be lowered to age 18. Just right for a high school graduation trip. |
Awake, O kings of the earth! Come ye, O, come ye, with your gold and your silver, to the help of my people, to the house of the daughters of Zion, to the help of the people of the God of this Land even Jesus Christ. |
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Meltdown effects around the world
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