Sweden's retail sales surprisingly surged for a second straight month as nation's unemployment level fell. Seasonally adjusted sales added 0.8% in November after growing 0.4% in previous month. Economists questioned by Bloomberg predicted a decline of 0.3%. On annual basis retail sales in Sweden have gained 0.7%.
Thai GDP is likely to shrink by 5% in Q4 as flooding impacted manufacturing and dampened exports, according to the Ministry of Finance's Fiscal Policy Office. However, measures aimed at faster recovery after natural disaster are expected to push the economic expansion to 5% in 2012, reported Somchai Sujjapongse, head of the FPO.
Barclays experiences losses of millions of the USD on copper and aluminium trades. The bank denies any rumours about losses; however, LME reports that Barclays is losing money. Barclays had taken long-term positions in copper but the copper price fell dramatically from $10000/tonne to $8000/tonne causing huge losses to the bank. Aluminum trade also weighted up on losses.
The PBOC announced it will ban the creation of new gold exchanges as well as any setting up of gold trading platforms on the already existing exchanges. The move aims combating with illegal practices involved in the gold trading as the number of gold exchanges has increased dramatically in recent years on the surging yellow metal's prices with soaring malpractice on the gold exchanges.
The ECB announced it has received a record high cash deposits from banks totaling 412bn euros. The growing interest to the deposit facility of the ECB signals the unwillingness to perform interbank lending among the EU banks amid uncertainty over the Euro Zone debt crisis. The cash deposits came from the funds lent by the ECB to the banks last week to ease financial difficulties
US gun sales hit the record, measured on the basis of background checks conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation, reported CNN. The number of checks approached 1.5 million in November; however, the gun sales may be even higher as people who passed background check can buy more than one gun.
Governmental policies aimed at cooling the real estate sector have to be continued until house prices tumble by 25%, reported Agricultural Bank of China. The bank claims the prices must first fall to the level that the majority of the resident can afford and after that rise to stable level. Home price should slide by 10%-25% in large cities and by 5%-15% in the
Gold prices declined as investors turned to US assets amid stronger than expected US consumer confidence. Gold futures for delivery in February traded at USD1,589.15 a troy ounce during the morning Asian trading hours, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, tumbling 0.4%.
China's commercial lenders are under growing pressure of capital shortage and are likely seek for refinancing channels next year, predict analysts. China's floated lenders plan to rise circa 100 billion Yuan via equity financing to meet stricter capital requirements. The CBRC announced it considers more rigid criteria for lenders by setting core capital adequacy ratio at 9.5%.
Sears and Kmart announced they plan to close down about 120 stores due to the low amount of sales. In pre-Christmas period the sales of Kmart and Sears dropped by 4.4% and 6% respectively. The closures of 120 stores will help raise additional $170m. Following the announcement, the shares of Kmart lost 27%.
Chinese airline industry is likely to have lower growth of profits next year as residents tend to switch to rail service. Profit for the industry is expected to climb 5.1% to 45.6 billion yuan in 2011 as compared to 300% surge a year before, reported the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Crude oil futures fell after strong gains on the Iranian and Syrian supply threat and stronger consumer confidence in the US. Syrian oil production already dropped by 35% on sanctions imposed due to country's crackdown of the protestors. Crude oil futures for February delivery traded at USD101.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, easing down 0.17%.
Tepco shares tumbled on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on the worries that company may be nationalized. The company applied to the government for provision of additional 690bn Yen to pay compensation to the victims of disaster at Fukushima plant. The country plans to take temporary control over Tepco to ease company's financial problems. Following the news, shares of the company fell by 15% to 180
Japan and China have reached an agreement that stipulates Japan to hold China's bonds as a part of the country's foreign-exchange reserves. Japan will buy about $500 million worth China's sovereign bonds in 2012 thus adding to the Yuan status of reserve currency, reported Societe Generale. The move will diversify foreign-exchange reserves away from the USD, the French bank added.
Natural gas futures increased on the colder weather forecasts for the next week in the US. Colder than normal winter weather increases heating fuel's demand. Natural gas futures for delivery in February traded at USD3.171 per million British thermal units during the early US trade on Tuesday, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, soaring 1.05%.
UK's unemployment is expected to rise next year to 2.85m and reach a record in 2013, according to CIPD. The private businesses will not be able to provide enough jobs to offset 120,000 unemployed from the public sector next year. However, the labour market started to show signs of stability as government's reforms have had a positive impact. The number of jobless claims was falling
President Obama is going to call Congress to enlarge the debt cap by $1.2 trillion. According to Treasury official, Obama claimed the additional debt would help the country to survive most of the 2012. This request would enlarge US debt limit from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion. Obama still must submit the new proposal to Congress. It can be rejected if both Senate and House
Japan's leading party suggested to increase twofold the sales tax by 2015. Democratic Party of Japan proposes to increase the sales tax from 5% to 8% in October 2013 and further to 10% in April 2015, said lawmakers Motoyuki Odachi and Takeshi Miyazaki. After party's meeting 9 members quit. Japan is struggling to recover from March earthquake while suffering from drop in exports. Proposed increase
Treasury Department issuing the semi-annual report announced China should be pressed for implementing greater flexibility in its exchange rate. Treasury declares the Chinese Yuan to be undervalued and calls for appreciation. US suggest Chinese undervalued currency gives unfair advantage to the nation's exporters. Japan also received critics from Treasury for selling Yen in October and August despite US objections.
The Euro maintained decline against Japanese Yen for a third consecutive day amid worries, European debt crisis will add to bond yields and hinder region's economic growth. The common currency weakened against 15 of 16 its major peers ahead of Italian bond auction due today. Euro depreciated from ВҐ101.80 to ВҐ101.62 in yesterday's New York trade. The 17-nation currency fell from $1.3071 to $1.3067. EUR/JPY currently
US stocks traded almost flat on Tuesday. Dow Jones Industrial Average finished slightly down giving up 0.02% or 2.65 points at 12,291.35. Gains from surge in consumer confidence did not outweigh losses from fall in housing prices and climbing Italian borrowing costs. S&P 500 Index finished 0.01% or 0.1 point higher at 1,265.43, while Nadaq traded 0.3% or 6.56 points up at 2,625.20.
Asian stocks declined on Wednesday amid news about bigger than expected drop in house prices and rising Italian borrowing costs. Increase in US consumer confidence did not manage to offset losses. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gave up 1.1%, and South Korea's Kospi fell 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 0.1% while Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%.
Japan's recovery from March tsunami and earthquake, was harmed by drop both in retail sales and production in November. Industrial production lost 2.6% compared to October while retail sales gave up 2.1%. As result, consumer prices excepting fresh food, tumbled 0.2% on a yearly basis. Japanese economy faces a downward path as exports are declining, said, Yoshimasa Maruyama, Itochu Corp. chief economist.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which already advanced in November, extended its progress also in December. Index for December reached 64.5 compared to 55.2 in November. Analysts previously predicted a reading to reach 58.5. The index measuring present situation increased from 38.3 to 46.7 while expectations index jumped from 66.4 to 76.4.