Copper futures experienced losses decreasing to the month-low after weak demand for German 10-year bonds caused by worries about crisis in the euro-zone. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange copper futures lost 2.15% to USD3.261 a pound. Europe is the second largest consumer of industrial metals so the growing concerns over crisis impact the prices of copper.
Shares of travel company Thomas Cook experienced a dramatic decline yesterday after it started negotiations about increasing the amount of loans. Thomas Cook explained that the company was affected by demonstrations in Egypt and Thailand's floods, thus more loans are required. At the moment the company's share price is 12.65 pounds increasing by 24.02%.
On Wednesday Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index extended its decline and dropped by 2.1% closing at 17,864.43 or 387.16 points down compared to Tuesday. The sharp decline was mainly caused by China's disappointing manufacturing survey. PCCW Ltd was among major losers in index, giving up 3.3% after pricing its telecom trust at lowest level in price range. Resource and banking industry shares also added negatively to
European share markets traded lower on Wednesday; STOXX Europe 600 index lost 0.2% to 222.87 On Tuesday it also decreased by 0.7% because of cut in US growth forecast. Today's decline was caused mainly by report of drastic decrease in China's manufacturing output and IMF's announcement about setting up a credit line aimed at preventing debt crisis in Europe.
China plans to overtake the US becoming the world's largest online market by 2015, reports Boston Consulting Group. China's e-commerce market is expected to increase by 33% and overcome a 2 trillion Yuan threshold in transaction value by 2015 with the number of customers buying online growing to 329 million at the same period. Moreover, e-tailers will contribute 7.4% to the total retail value
Focus Media Holdings Ltd was accused by Muddy Waters of deliberately overpaying for takeovers in order to overvalue its assets. After allegations Nasdaq-listed shares of Focus Media Holdings dropped by 66 cents to $15.43 being 52-week low. However, Focus Media Holdings denies the accusations and plans to take legal action against Muddy Waters.
Despite the reported contraction in manufacturing output China overtakes the US in the smartphones industry. More than 24 million smartphone shipments were performed in China in Q3. The amount exceeds those in the US by one million. However, considering the amount of revenue generated the US still retains the leading position in the sector.
Canada's core retail sales exceeded expectations, according to official sources. Core retail sales excluding automobile sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% while the projected increase was 0.4%. Total retail sales also increased by 1% in September being higher than 0.5% expected, according to report of Statistics Canada.
The Bank of Greece announced that the country's economy is in the worst state since post-war time and Greece may withdraw from the euro zone. Greece has to put all efforts in meeting the targets of October agreement as otherwise it will face severe crisis that would force Greece to get out of the Eurozone, said the Bank of Greece.
Australian government is going to impose a new regulation under which the largest mining companies will be obliged to pay 30% tax. The law has already passed through the lower house and is expected to be approved by upper senate in the beginning of 2012. The tax will come in force in July next year. Under the tax giant companies like Rio Tinto and
China's businesses survived in the global crisis in 2008 hoping that the things will get better. However, economic state has become even worse and now it is a high time for China's companies to restructure their operations and invest essentially in innovation in order to stay competitive in the world markets, said Zhou Haichang, president of Guangdong-based Guoguang Electric Co Ltd.
Thousands of people in Cairo Tahrir Square continue demonstration despite a promise from military to speed up the approval of laws on civil rights. Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Field Marshall announced the next presidential elections in July 2012. However, protesters claimed that it is not enough and wanted Mohamed Hussein to resign. Demonstrations continued even after dark. More than 30 people were killed and hundreds injured
It was taken for granted that US planned deficit reduction by $1.2tn will result in drastic cuts of investment in defense. However, what is called "drastic cut" in Congress means only more moderate growth in security spending than predicted. Recently announced reduction in defense spending actually resulted in increase in investment into national security between 2012 and 2020 by 16%, from $695 billion to $818
Tightening policies resulted in the decrease of CPI, the main indicator of inflation, the index was only 5.5% year-to-year in October as compared to 6.1% in September. The World Bank projects lower inflationary pressure in 2012 with CPI growing by 5.3% for the 2011 and 4.1% in 2012. However, the government's monetary policy came in for criticism as the uncertainty across the developed economies rises
European banks are providing funding to asset management companies in order to fulfil capital requirements demanded by regulators. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is planning to lend about ВЈ600m ($939 m) to aid Blackstone Group LP acquiring portion of ВЈ1.4 bn commercial loans' portfolio from bank after private equity firm did not manage to get outside financing. Deal follows Credit Suisse Group AG's approval to
George Osborne, The British Chancellor next week will submit an autumn report on the outlook of the UK economy. So far the UK managed to escape negative effects of Eurozone debt crisis. However, according to Osborne such situation will not last forever. Growth is smooth, unemployment is surging and exports are fluctuating. Moreover, budget deficit totals 10% of GDP. Osborne predicts that in nearest future
On Wednesday morning trade Euro moved towards six-week record low as economic reports indicated Europe's fiasco to tackle debt crisis harms Eurozone's economic growth. 17-nation currency lost 0.4% against US dollar in London morning trade session and reached $1.3451. Ankita Dudani RBS's strategist claims whole euro area is imprisoned by surging costs of borrowing and absence of growth. Currently EUR/USD is trading at $1.3379.
Industrial orders for European region declined to a 3-year record low, led by France and Germany, indicating debt turmoil is negatively contributing to region's growth. According to EU statistics office, orders in Eurozone region decreased by 6.4% compared to August this year when they added 1.4%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a drop of 2.7%.
FTSE 100 Index closed at 5,206.80 on Wednesday giving up around 0.3% or 15.80 points. On Wednesday morning index opened lower slipping 0.8% to 5,166.4 as China's preliminary manufacturing index dropped to 48, thus indicating contraction. Several UK mining stocks were highly exposed to Chinese report. Fresnillo PLC lost 2% while Rio Tinto PLC fell 2.3%. Stocks of Meggitt PLC declined 3.6% as UBS downgraded lowered
On Tuesday Germany's DAX 30 closed 1.2% or 68.61 points down at 5,537.39 on doubts about Commerzbank's capital reserves. In early Wednesday trading session index fell more reaching 5,515.90. German automakers were among major negative contributors to the index on slower growth expectations in China. BMW AG and Daimler AG each lost 1.2%. However, at the moment of writing DAX 30 has rebounded and trades at
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America are among those banks that might have to delay their plans to buy back stock and increase dividends next year as Fed toughened capital stress tests for largest US banks. Fed's requirements are likely to hamper bank's desire to repay capital to its shareholders. Paul Miller, a former assessor at Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, predicts both banks will struggle
Bank of America Corp. is planning to acquire Allot communications Ltd. Allot increased 2.7% yesterday reaching $15.41 per share. Company has fully recovered from 10-month low on October 3 by advancing about 63%. Allot's shares in S&P 500 are worth 13 times more than earnings. Allot is advancing from developing systems which manage traffic through data networks. Demand for Allot's products benefit from surging demand for smart
Martin Blessing, CEO of Commerzbank, claimed the bank still can recapitalize without state financial aid. Blessing pointed out it is not worthwhile to gamble about the magnitude of capital shortages until European Banking Authority reports stress assessment findings. He also added that Commerzbank's shortfall is about €5 bn which is not a dangerous situation for the company.
IMF accepted several changes to broaden its lending power to counter European debt turmoil. The main goal of proposed reforms is to support troubled countries with cash in hard times and especially to relatively healthy countries with short-term credit crunch or so called crisis-bystanders. According to Christine Lagarde, head of IMF, organization's credit line could be used for insurance or short-term loans to protect