Malaysian shares and ringgit boosted by upbeat economic assessmentPETALING JAYA: An upbeat assessment by Bank Negara’s Monetary Policy Committee on the economy in the second half of the year coupled with a strong performance on Wall Street and today in Asia is giving shares and the ringgit a boost Thursday.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/30/business/20090430123953&sec=businessNew Zealand Cuts Benchmark Interest Rate by Half Point to Record-Low 2.5% New Zealand’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to a record 2.5 percent and said borrowing costs will stay low until late next year to help the economy recover from a recession.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aHzK98IkIEyQ&refer=australiaNew Zealand Dollar Drops After Bollard Says Rates Will Stay Low Until 2010 New Zealand’s dollar and swap rates dropped after the central bank cut borrowing costs to a record and said the benchmark will stay low till late 2010, reducing the appeal of the nation’s assets. Australia’s currency fell.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aNL1rEMoGJMk&refer=australiaGuardian: A Florida condo for less than the price of a new carInteresting because some Real Estate pundits were calling a bottom in this 'epicenter' of the property downturn earlier this year. This article suggests that optimism might be misplaced.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2009/apr/28/us-house-pricesCitywire: Signs of Life: Eight graphs to help you spot the market bottom(1) The Baltic Dry Shipping Index: A key measure of the health of world trade
(2) Vix Index: A measure of volatility in equity markets
(3) Gold & Copper prices: Copper has traditionally proved more accurate than gold in measuring turning points in global industrial demand (4)Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities: A key indicator of investors' desire to hedge against inflation
(5) Banking shares in the UK and US: These shares have proven the key thermomotor of investor confidence
(6) S&P 500: The world's most followed equity market
(7) Halifax Property Seasonally-Adjusted Index: House prices still remain one of the biggest drivers of consumer confidence
(8) US Investment Grade Bonds: History suggests these bonds rally on average two months ahead of equity prices
http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/news/market-and-shares/content.aspx?ID=339058&re=5365&ea=118560Times: US economy shrinks faster than forecast - 6.1% in first quarterThe US economy contracted at a sharper-than-expected rate between January and March, revealing that the world's largest economy is still mired in deep recession.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6192178.eceMail: Father returns home to find house boarded up after 'incompetent' bailiffs repossess wrong propertyA semi-retired father-of-two returned home to find 'incompetent' court bailiffs had repossessed his house by mistake. Ian Parrott, 62, discovered his locks had been changed, the letterbox boarded up, and a repossession order hanging in his window. The notice said his detached home in Eynesbury, Cambridgeshire, had been repossessed and that he had seven days to reclaim his belongings.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1175016/Father-returns-home-house-boarded-incompetent-bailiffs-repossess-wrong-property.htmlBBC News: Lithuania's economy shrinks 12%I remember spending many hours reading about property investment in the new EU emerging markets. Subscribed to the websites and read the books, but felt I missed the boat by the time I was in a position to get involved. Friends told me stories of flats in regal builings in Vilnius going for £8k. Looks like the Baltics are going to be a horror story even before the rest of the EU. Bulgaria is another market I'm watching with interest....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8022961.stmTelegraph: UK wages collapse at fastest rate in 60 yearsAverage weekly earnings fell 5.8pc compared with the same month last year. The private sector took the full force of the fall in weekly earnings, down sharply by 7.7pc; while average weekly earnings in the public sector actually rose by 3.2pc. "We certainly haven't seen anything like this in the last 60 years, and probably not in peacetime since the 1930s," said Michael Saunders, chief UK economist at Citigroup. According to the ONS data, it is only the second month of falls during the current downturn, after weekly wages fell 1.9pc in January compared with a year earlier. The falls partly reflect moves by some private sector employees to freeze wages and even cut pay as they struggle to keep jobs and stay afloat during the recession.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5245729/UK-wages-collapse-at-fastest-rate-in-60-years.htmlTimes: Celtic Tiger ready to pounce on treaty as recession bitesIreland, the former 'Celtic Tiger', is gripped by the worst recession of any developed country. The projections are startling - unemployment to hit 17% this year, GDP to fall by 12% by 2010 (worst in the developed world,) house prices to fall a third from their 2007 peak, government budget deficit to hit four times the EU limit, despite an emergency budget earlier this month slashing spending and hiking taxes. The consequences of Ireland’s dependence on the property boom have been laid clear. It's the worst performance by an industrialized nation since the Great Depression. Ireland halted EU expansion last year by voting No on the Lisbon Treaty. The perceived value of the ECB's support has helped changed minds
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article6194828.ece
Topic: April 2009 World economic and property articles (Read 1683 times)
February 28, 2009, 01:33:08 PM