Asian markets closed mixed today as they waited for new economic data from the US. That data arrived and it's not good. The unemployment rate is 6.5%, a 14 year high. Add that to terrible October retail sales reports and I'm guessing Monday is not going to dawn on the up side.
Additionally, the New York Times reported today that China's "three engines of growth - exports, investment and consumption - have all slowed down." Not only are real estate and related industries down, but due to poor orders from retailers, factories are laying off workers. The Chinese economy is still expanding, but at a rate of 5.8 percent instead of last year's 11 percent.
The Chinese government, always wary of the restless unemployed, is putting together an economic stimulus package including infrastructure, exporters and aid to real estate, stock markets.
In Japan, Toyota Motors Thursday announcement that they had cut their annual profit forecast in half made a big impact. The Nikkei fell 3.5 percent.
Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/business/worldbusiness/07yuan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/business/08markets.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment