Archive for category Trading Markets

Americans are regaining their lost wealth

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on March 19th, 2010

Americans are recovering their shrunken wealth - gradually. Household net worth rose last quarter, mainly because the healing economy boosted stock portfolios. But the gain was slight. And it was less than in the previous two quarters.

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that net worth rose 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter to $54.2 trillion. It marked the third straight quarter of gains. But economists say consumers would need a stronger and more prolonged increase in their wealth to persuade them to ratchet up spending.

Net worth had risen by a more robust 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2009 and an even faster 5.5 percent in the third quarter. Net worth is the value of assets such as homes, checking accounts and investments minus debts like mortgages and credit cards.

Even with the gain, Americans’ net worth would have to rise an additional 21 percent just to get back to its pre-recession peak of $65.9 trillion. That illustrates Americans’ vast loss of wealth from the worst downturn since the 1930s. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sarkozy Says EU Must Back Greece

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Trading Markets on March 8th, 2010

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the European Union must support Greece or risk destroying the euro as Prime Minister George Papandreou heads for Paris to lobby support for the debt-laden country.

“If we created the euro, we cannot let a country fall that is in the eurozone,” said Sarkozy, who hosts Papandreou in Paris tomorrow. “Otherwise there was no point in creating the euro. We must support Greece because they are making an effort.”

EU leaders have so far refused to give financial aid to Greece and have ordered the government to cut its budget deficit, the EU’s highest, on its own. While Papandreou says steps taken this past week to slash the shortfall warrant more help from the EU, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said today that his country is “not going to write a blank check.”

Papandreou is touring Luxembourg, Berlin, Paris and Washington after his government passed a 4.8 billion euro ($6.5 billion) austerity package yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met him yesterday, said the question of a bailout “absolutely doesn’t arise” and the steps taken to cut the deficit make her optimistic that a rescue won’t be needed. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Greek Tragedy That Changed Europe

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on February 16th, 2010

Plutus, the Greek god of wealth, did not have an easy life. As the myth goes, Plutus wanted to grant riches only to the “the just, the wise, the men of ordered life.” Zeus blinded him out of jealousy of mankind (and envy of the good), leaving Plutus to indiscriminately distribute his favors.

Modern-day Greece may be just and wise, but it certainly has not had an ordered life. As a result, the great opportunity and wealth bestowed by European integration has been largely squandered. And lower interest rates over the past decade—brought down to German levels through Greece being allowed, rather generously, into the euro zone—led to little more than further deficits and a dangerous buildup of government debt.

Now Plutus wants his money back. Europe is entering unprepared into a serious economic crisis—and the nascent global recovery could easily collapse due to the unsustainable and Ponzi-like buildup of government debt in weaker countries.

At the end of the G7 meeting in Canada last weekend, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told reporters, “I just want to underscore they made it clear to us—they, the European authorities—that they will manage this [Greek debt crisis] with great care.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Afflictions of liberty

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Trading Markets on February 8th, 2010

Obama may have grasped that the ideal of freedom Americans so fiercely cling to is fracturing their society.

After a year of setback and struggle, Barack Obama last week sought to revive his programme, to reboot the American Dream. A generally solemn State of the Union address culminated in a rousing call to the nation “to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more”.

Commentary focused on the president’s efforts to connect with the needs of middle-class America, those blue-collar workers whose lives are profoundly affected by the jobs market, taxation and interest rates.

But another feature of this address is just as remarkable – for its absence. The word “liberty” was entirely missing, and the term “freedom” was used only once.

Prior to Obama’s election, these terms had been liberally sprinkled over every address for the last 25 years. They represent a mission statement for America that has become hardwired into its logic circuitry. Read the rest of this entry »

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US Economy Likely Grew 4.6% in Fourth Quarter

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on February 3rd, 2010

The U.S. economy likely grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the fourth quarter as businesses made less-aggressive cutbacks on inventories, a government report showed on Friday.

A Reuters survey predicted that gross domestic product, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, expanded at a 4.6 percent annual rate, up from 2.2 percent in the third quarter.

Analysts reckon the change in inventories could constitute as much as three-quarters of the GDP figure and overstate the strength of the recovery from the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression 70 years ago.

“We shouldn’t dismiss it (GDP number), but the problem is the inventory cycle really doesn’t last that long. It’s not what we call self-sustaining growth,” said Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

Getting the economy on a sustainable growth track remains one of the key challenges facing President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday outlined a raft of measures to create jobs and nurture the recovery. Read the rest of this entry »

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Iran budgets for $60 price for crude oil

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on January 29th, 2010

Iran planned next year’s budget based on an oil price of $60 per barrel, nearly double the price from the last year, the official news agency reported on Sunday, indicating rising optimism over energy prices.

Last year, the parliament approved a budget based on $37.5 per barrel for the fiscal year ending in March, reflecting the steep drop in prices that severly impacted the economy. About 80 percent of Iran’s foreign revenue comes from oil exports.

Earlier on Sunday President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad submitted the budget to the Iranian parliament for approval, saying more money would be allocated to agriculture, education and research, as well as to the poor.

He did not give the size of the budget only saying there was “nothing complicated or untransparent” in it.

Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani said the amount would be revealed later, according to IRNA. The budget requires approval of the parliament and a constitutional watchdog. Read the rest of this entry »

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Obama to Announce $38 Billion Business Tax Break

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on January 28th, 2010

President Barack Obama will propose extending through 2010 a temporary tax incentive that encourages businesses to accelerate purchases of equipment, an administration official said.

The president will call for renewal of the 50 percent “bonus depreciation” in his State of the Union address tonight, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Extending the break, which expired Dec. 31, would save companies that make qualified purchases of equipment such as tractors, wind turbines, solar panels and computers a total of $38 billion over this year and next, the official said.

Bonus depreciation was a tax element of the $787 billion economic recovery legislation adopted last February. It also has been a feature of earlier economic stimulus measures, including one adopted in 2003 under President George W. Bush. Read the rest of this entry »

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The U.S. Isn’t as Free as It Used to Be

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on January 26th, 2010

The United States is losing ground to its major competitors in the global marketplace, according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. This year, of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. suffered the largest drop in overall economic freedom. Its score declined to 78 from 80.7 on the 0 to 100 Index scale.

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China’s boom to end soon

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Trading Markets on January 25th, 2010

After more than a quarter century of rapid growth, China’s factory-to-the-world economy could now be set for a major slowdown, even as it tries to spend its way to strength, according to an expert on the causes of the global financial crisis.

Noted economist and author Richard Duncan said that, faced with sluggish global growth and a tapped out U.S. consumer, there’s little hope that China can keep its factory-geared economy in motion much longer.

“China has followed an export-led growth model for the last 25 years, and it has just hit a brick wall when the U.S. economy went into crisis,” Bangkok-based Duncan said in an interview with MarketWatch.

Duncan is the former London-based head of global investment strategy at ABN Amro. In 2003 he authored “The Dollar Crisis,” which warned that imbalances in global trade would lead to a meltdown of the financial system.

Duncan now believes China is caught in a jam created by excessive credit. Years of easy lending and booming investment inflows have saddled its economy with surplus industrial capacity to the point where China out-produces what it consumes. Read the rest of this entry »

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China results for November: crude production down 9% and exports up 5%

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on December 17th, 2009

Chinese crude steel production dropped 9% from 51.8 million metric tonnes in October to 47.3 million tonnes in November. This is still 34% higher than November 2008 crude steel production.

Finished steel exports rose 5% to 2.85 million tonnes, continuing the climb started in June 2009 when exports were 1.43 million tonnes. November 2009 exports were 3% lower than November 2008’s, and 30% lower than November 2007’s. Net finished steel exports grew to 1.56 million tonnes and apparent domestic consumption fell 10% to 43.4 million tonnes.

Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports dropped 7% from 429,000 short tons in October (according to preliminary census figures) to 398,000 short tons in November. This can be compared to 641,000 tons of imports in November 2008.

Hot rolled and cold rolled imports both grew at 1% between October and November. Cut plate imports, however, dropped 42% to 23,000 tons mainly due to lower imports from Canada. Hot dip galvanized imports also dropped significantly by 21% to 70,000 tons due to reduced imports from Canada, Korea, and Taiwan. Read the rest of this entry »

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