In the light of the recent developments in Europe the stability of the Eurozone is under threat. Reforms aimed at euro stabilization will be difficult to implement but the collapse of single currency will lead to a catastrophe, said Tony Blair. Eurozone has to coordinate its tax and spending to sustain euro and recover after recession, he added.
The precious metal for December delivery went up by $1,795.10 an ounce on the Comex division, New York Mercantile Exchange in Asian trading. Lower dollar stimulates purchasing of dollar-priced commodities like gold as they become more profitable investment option for other currency holders. Other metals also gained on weaker dollar, copper rose by 3% to $3.57 a pound and silver was up by 0.4% to
Major consumers of China's exports are exposed to economic problems due to debt crisis in the Eurozone and unemployment in US. China's exports are falling causing decrease in the country's growth pace. China's annual growth rate is likely to be about 8% in the next 10 years as compared to more than 10% in the previous years, said Li Yang, vice president of the
According to Donato Marra, presidency general secretary, economist and former EU commissioner and Mario Monti was appointed to replace ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi as Italian PM on Sunday. Monti in his brief announcement thanked President Napolitano for trust and promised to do as much as possible to help Italy tackle hard economic situation. Monti eventually will receive approval from the Italian law makers.
According to PM Najib Razak, despite global slowdown, Malaysian economy is expected to grow around 5% this year. Malaysia is predicted to accelerate in 3rd and 4th quarter after growing 4.6% in the 1st and 2nd quarter. PM Najib suggested that country is less export dependent on euro-region and slowdown in Europe will not have critical impact on Malaysia.
Shanghai Stock Exchange confirmed it is ready to allow foreign companies to trade stocks. According to Xu Ming, international stocks board's vice president, trading should begin soon. Trading of overseas stocks will aid Shanghai Stock Exchange to become worldwide financial center in 10 years. Listing in China's stock exchange would provide overseas firms with access to Chinese yuan and increase their market value.
On Monday Asian markets advanced as Italy approved the austerity measures and appointed a new government leader Mario Monti lessening investor fears of enduring Eurozone debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 1.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.4% while Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.6%. South Korea's Kospi gained 2.3% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index increased at a slowest pace reaching 0.2%.
Obama in his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized the importance of fair trade. US accuses China for boosting its trade surplus by keeping yuan artificially low thereby creating competitive disadvantage for US companies. Chinese Foreign Ministry in response issued a release claiming that US unemployment and trade deficit is not caused by the undervalued yuan and its appreciation won't solve US difficulties.
Japanese economy experienced growth for the first time since earthquake in March 11. Recovery was mainly boosted by increase in exports. According to Cabinet Office in Tokyo, Gross Domestic Product added annualized 6% from July 1 to September 30. Economic output of ВҐ543 trillion reached pre-earthquake level. Nevertheless, Kiichi Murashima, Citigroup Global Markets chief economist in Japan, predicts GDP to slow down in the 4th
On Sunday Syria was excluded from the Arab League for failing to stop violence against protesters. Syria was abandoned two weeks after Bashar al-Assad's parliament proposed a plan that should end aggression. Syria is the second country after Libya that has been suspended from the Arab League this year. According to Theodore Karasik, the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis executive, the situation follows
On late Saturday Italian premier Berlusconi resigned after dominating in politics for almost twenty years. Former PM submitted his resignation to Greece's President Napolitano, after the Chamber of Deputies approved austerity measures to reduce national debt and stimulate economic growth. Napolitano is going to ask new PM Mario Monti to establish a new government.
US consumer sentiment increased to 64.2 in November as compared to 60.9 in October according to report of the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters. Consumer sentiment is higher than expected 63. Consumers were inspired by higher stock prices and decrease in unemployment rate explain analysts. Economists are sure that it is a positive direction of higher customer spending.
Italy's austerity bill is going to be approved by chamber of deputies in the next two days meaning that Silvio Berlusconi has to resign following his announcement. Austerity measures are aimed at preventing bailout from Italy, the third largest economy in Europe. On Tuesday Italy issued more than 5bn euros debt for one year at 6.087% rate.
US trade deficit decreased by 4% achieving $43.1 billion in September from $44.9 billion in August according to Commerce Department. The drop in trade gap is much larger than predicted $45.6. At the same time imports have been stagnating for four months. Exports rose by 1.4% to $180.4 billion while imports increase only by 0.2 % to $223.5 billion.
The dollar index DXY fell by 0.88%. It was traded at 77.218 on Friday compared to 77.660 Thursday in North American trading. Lower dollar value contributes positively to commodity trade as the price for them is lower for other currency holders.
Situation in Europe started to stabilize as political tensions in Italy and Greece became lower. The prospects of oil demand are positive and crude oil price for December delivery increased by 0.8% approaching to $98.46 a barrel as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Economic problems in Europe and US led to frequent fluctuations in stock market. Although gold-mining shares are gradually rising as they are considered to be more stable. Shares of Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick Gold Corp. went up by 9%. NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index increased by 11%. Gold prices were up by 8% as compared to the end of Q3.
Italian bonds' yield decreased and the government almost accepted austerity measures to rescue country's economy. Economic situation gets better and European shares started to rise. STOXX Europe 600 index increased by 1.3% to 238.31. FTSE MIB index also went up by 2.4%.
US Senate has approved so far the only piece of Obama's jobs bill proposing to increase employer tax credit for hiring long-unemployed veterans. The proposal provides tax allowances of $5,600 for employing veterans who are jobless more than 6 months and tax credit of $9,600 for employing disabled troupers. According to Mitch McConnell, a leader of Senate Minority, veteran job bill currently is best possible contribution
Yields on 10-year Italian bonds achieved 7.28%; rate considered as unsustainable. Concerns about Italy's debt crisis grew impacting the global economy. Asian stock market indexes fell-Japan's Nikkei index dropped by 2.9% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index decreased by 5.3%. European market proved to be more resilient-Germany's DAX index increased by 0.22%, and the French CAC 40 index went up by 0.4%.
Spanish growth rate is only 0.2% in Q3. Domestic spending is falling although demand for Spanish export increased. The unemployment rate hits the record being 22%. It will lead to substantial decrease in income tax revenues and increase in due payments for unemployed. Analysts claim the probability Spain will not meet its debt obligations is high.
Gold analysts and traders express most bullish sentiment since 2004, and investors continue accumulating gold rapidly. Therefore, gold surpassed $1,800 per ounce for the first time in three months. According to Commodity Futures Trading Commission, hedge funds keep holding bet on upward sloping prices since September. Almost all experts surveyed by Bloomberg, expect gold's surge to continue next week.
Preiously world was focused on the developments in Italy and Greece. However, Spain also suffered an essential growth in the cost of borrowings, 10-year bonds yields rose to 5.9% as compared to October's 5%. Financial markets are concerned that the country will not be able to pay its debt because of hardly sustainable economic situation.
New PM of Greece, Lucas Papademos was named on Thursday. He announced that Greece has to survive in Eurozone's turmoil. Greece has been bailed out two times already and still is experiencing financial difficulties. PM claimed that ratification of the 130bn-euro budget provided to Greece to rescue the country from crisis is of paramount importance to overcome economic downturn in Greece.