UNITED STATES SHOWING SOME IMPROVEMENT. US stocks closed lower Tuesday, extending a decline amid investors' about financial shares despite signs the economy is improving. Concerns that bank losses will continue pushed down financial shares led by American International Group (AIG), which lost 21 per cent to 36 dollars per share. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 185.68 points, or 2 per cent, to 9,310.60. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 40.17 points, or 2 per cent, ... Read More

SINGAPORE ECONOMIC SLUMP SLOWER THAN MOST Singapore analysts expected the city-state’s economy to shrink 3.6 per cent in 2009, a survey by the central bank said on Wednesday, less than the government forecast of a 4- to 6-per-cent contraction. In the second quarter, the economy rebounded as GDP soared 20.7 per cent compared with the previous quarter, mainly because of strong gains in biomedical manufacturing. In 2008, Singapore’s economy grew 1.1 per cent. Read More

WORLD TRADE TALKS TO BE REVIVED. India is set to host a meeting of the world's trade ministers which aims to revive the stalled Doha round of trade negotiations, officials said Wednesday. Trade ministers from over 35 countries were gathering in the national capital New Delhi for the two-day informal talks beginning Thursday, the Indian commerce ministry said. The Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was launched in 2001 but has been stalled by disagreements between established economies and ... Read More

WORLD BANK LOOKING AT CHINA FOR ENCOURAGEMENT China's efforts to stabilize its economy were paying off and helping to promote a recovery from the global financial crisis, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday. Zoellick praised China's "decisive action" to help stabilize its economy and its persistence in trying to expand domestic demand as exports have fallen. Fuelled by the government's 4-trillion-yuan (590 billion dollars) spending package, China had achieved an initial rebound in economic growth that was driven mainly by domestic ... Read More

. EU DECIDE TO CUT BANKER BONUSES. The European Union's finance ministers said Wednesday they had reached an agreement on the need to curb bankers' bonuses that would place the bloc in a strong negotiating position at this month's Group of 20 meetings in London and Pittsburgh. But ministers, meeting informally in Brussels, conceded that the details of their proposals still needed to be worked out, and that Britain remained sceptical about plans that could weaken the City of London. "We have a strong ... Read More

EUROPE ON ROAD TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY While the European Union (EU)'s statistics office Eurostat confirmed a preliminary estimate that the 16-member eurozone contracted by just 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, it revised marginally upwards the gross domestic product figures for the broader 27-member EU. Instead of contracting by 0.3 per cent, Eurostat said that the EU economy slumped by 0.2 per cent in the three months ... Read More

Stock Markets still trying to find their balance. Stock Markets ended on a slightly sour note today. We need to watch because in most cases drops like we saw today will lead to an increase. We see that in Hong Kong Hang Seng there was a drop of 374.43 that one is likely to raise tomorrow. Some of the below markets saw a partial ... Read More

POLAND’S GDP HIGHER THAN EXPECTED! Some great news came in today. It would appear that the gross domestic product for Poland has already shown some improvement. 1.1 % increase in the second quarter. There was an expectation ... Read More

STOCKS ON THE RISE. Stock Markets the world over are beginning to climb out of their prospective slump. Here is a list of what the markets now look like. August 28 August 27difference New York Dow Jones9,539.51 9,580.63(-41.12) New York NASDAQ Comp.2,030.42 2,027.73(+ 2.69) TokyoNikkei10,534.1410,473.97(+60.17) Sydney All Ordinaries 4,495.90 4,458.10(+37.80) Hongkong Hang Seng 20,098.6220,242.75(- 144.13) London Fin.-Times 4,908.90 4,869.35(+39.55) ParisCAC-40 3,693.14 3,648.53(+44.61) Zurich SMI6,211.58 6,169.19(+42.39) FrankfurtDAX-Index5,517.35 5,470.33(+47.02) FrankfurtEuroStoxx 50 2,803.65 2,777.62(+26.03) With the above looking the way it does, we can ... Read More

Foreign Banks Getting Run Out of Ireland! The Irish Times has quoted Dutch Lender Rabobank as saying its no longer possible for foreign banks to trade in Ireland. This comes on the heals announcing it had set aside € 1 billion to cover losses on the € 4 billion loan book at the Irish subsidiary ACCBank. The Dutch Lender has ... Read More