Economy & Business News

Today the stock market and the Dow Industrial average took another hit as it was reported that
the powers that be are not in a big hurry to bail out the auto industry. it did not help that
representatives from Detroit who were pleading povery arrived in a lavish provate jet. In any case,
a collapse of any of the Big Three automakers could obviously have a profound effect on the US economy.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today defended his part in the handling of the current financial crisis yet at the same time has
 refused up untill now to say whether or not additional aid will be offered to the struggling bank Citigroup (is that the one that just gave immense bonuses to it’s Executives?).
In any case, he has attacked critics who claimed that allowing Lehman Brothers fail in September made the situation much worse.
In addition, he stated that authorities had had actually assisted in averting a major financial collapse, according to the Reuters news network online.
On the global level of the crises, meanwhile, developed countries continue to have differences over the various specifics of a common strategy.
These differences are even more profound when the views of underdeveloped or ‘Third World’ countries are added to the mix.
By the way if you going through your own personal financial crises then by all means you should seek debt advice from a professional.
Whether you need credit card debt help or some other form of debt assistance you really should look into getting the help of a competent, qualified financial professional.

Every single one of us is quite aware of the fact that an unexpected accident can happen at any given moment, and it can happen no matter where we are or what we happen to be doing. However, there is one place that most generally we do not think for a second of an accident occurring, and that is when we are in an elevator. It is true that riding in an elevator is as much as 20 times safer for a person than riding on an escalator can be, and there are as many as 20 times more elevators than there are escalators, but for individuals that are riding in elevators there are only 1/3 more accidents.

Although every savvy white-collar in America has a LinkedIn account, most users don’t really know the value of it or what it can do for them.

In today’s economy we are starting to find out. LinkedIn is a mainstay for job hunting.  One of LinkedIn’s main revenue streams, accounting for about 30% of its take is with recruiters and job seekers. That’s a good business these days as the economy slides into a deeper recession and more Americans turn to social networks to find employment.

Job searches on LinkedIn increased 19% from August to September 2008. As is unemployment expected to reach double digits next year, it’s expected those numbers will continue to increase.

This month, LinkedIn  announced it was opening its network for  to partners, such as Google and Amazon, and offering business-focused applications to members.  Eight  new applications have been added with the expectation of more to follow.

LinkedIn’s plan is to carefully and slowly build its platform emphasizing quality applications, not quantity. Unlike Facebook, or MySpace, there will not be applications such as  Zombies, or Werewolves.   LinkedIn’s vice president of platform development, Jamie Templeton ,said the key to opening the network to outside developers is making sure every application provides value to a business user. LinkedIn’s members, he said, “are professionally oriented. They want to come in and get the job done. They don’t have tolerance for a signal-to-noise ratio that other populations do.”

Reid Hoffman is the man behind LinkedIn. He founded the company in May 2003 and  is known for a counter-conventional wisdom and smart strategy. It is this wisdom that drives continued growth and change of LinkedIn to weather the economic storm. Over a year ago, Hoffman began searching for funding to ensure that LinkedIn would be able to thrive during the recession. The company has raised $100 million, has a $1 billion valuation. This kind of capital will allow LinkedIn to purchase other companies up to support it’s ever growing population.  This past month, LinkedIn signed up its 30 millionth member-it currently has a sign up rate or one new member per second! This volume alone gives the avaerage job seeker reason to pause and consider joining.

Home prices have fallen by about 20% from their mid-2006 highs. Falling prices mean more Americans cannot refinance their mortgages, prompting foreclosures to surge. This  may then cause prices to fall further. This is a vicious cycle in the new-home market. New homes in the US have declined 67% since the peak in July of 2005.

 With all of these problems you may see an upspike in the need for a Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer

In twenty-six years, the US market has not seen this kind of decline in the permitting and building of new homes. Declines in construction will continue to hurt the nation’s economy.

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders continues to plummet. At least a dozen homebuilders have sought bankruptcy protection since June 2007.

The third-largest U.S. builder, Pulte Homes Inc., reported a net loss of $280.4 million for the third quarter.  Pulte said, “The industry continues to be plagued by tighter mortgage availability, a growing number of foreclosures, and a historically high supply of unsold homes.”

The median price of a new home decreased 9.1% from last year, to $218,400, the lowest since September 2004. Sales were down 33 percent from September 2007.

Builders have cut inventories at a record pace. The number of homes for sale fell to just 394,000, the fewest since June 2004. The 7.3 percent decline from August was the largest ever since 1963.

Shrinking inventories of surplus homes should help stabilize prices according to the chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. It is predicted that there will be an additional decrease in home sales in the future, in light of the nation’s tighter financial conditions and greatly reduced economic growth prospects.

A 23 percent drop in the number of homes purchased in the West set the nations pace. Sales dropped 21 percent in the Northeast and 5.8 percent in the Midwest.

Home re-sales rose a more than 5.5 percent in September, the highest level in a year. The gain was driven by sales of distressed properties, which comprised up to 40% of the total. All of this could increase the need for a quality Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer The median price fell 9 percent.

The biggest housing recession in a generation was showing signs of reaching a basement in sales, when financial markets began to implode in September.  The government takeover of mortgage finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and a $700 billion rescue plan followed.

Rich and poor countries alike must expand global trade.

O’Sullivan, director general for trade at the European Commission, shared his hope that leaders of the Group of 20 will press for a WT O agreement in Washington on Nov. 15. The WTO talks failed in July due to the inability of the U.S. and India to agree over how poor nations could raise farm tariffs when imports surge.

Success in the realm of global trading is crucial in facing this world’s financial crisis.

Worldwide policy makers are seeking to coordinate efforts following bank failures, sinking stock prices, and the weak currencies that stoked fears the world is headed for a extended economic decline.

Reaching an agreement l at the Geneva-based WTO to reduce tariffs and subsidies for manufactured and agricultural goods will become no easier in the next year.  A new U.S. administration, elections in India and Germany, European Parliament elections and the appointment of a new team of EU commissioners will all factor greatly.

A World Trade Organization agreement would offer many benefits for both the west and for the developing countries.  An important, and positive message would be sent to the global economy.

A new European Commission report found that in a highly competitive environment, the European Union has broadly maintained its world market share, while the U.S. and Japan have not. The EU remains the world’s biggest exporter of manufactured goods, and dominates markets for high-quality products.

The EU’s strong performance is due to upgrading the quality of its products, combined with European companies to sell products at premium price based on quality, branding and related services. The EU accounts for a third of high quality goods in the global market. These products represent half of all EU exports of manufactured goods. Building on the ability to sell products at premium price is the way the  EU will uphold levels of employment, wages and social protection.

The European Union is the leading exporter of services, with 26.9 percent of the world market. The U.S. holds 19.7 percent and Japan only 6.1 percent.

The European Union’s trade balance for manufactured products has improved sharply, thanks to some of its key assets such as chemicals, pharmacy products, motor vehicles and non-electrical machinery, reached a surplus of 162bn euros in 2007. The steady increase of trade surplus since 2000 has helped to offset the rise in the EU’s energy bill, for which the deficit increased over the same period of time.

The EU accounts for 19.5 percent of global markets for merchandise trade, excluding energy. Share losses are much greater in the U.S. and Japan, falling by 4.4 and 4.1 percentage points respectively. These nations now respectively account for 13.0 percent and 9.5 percent of the world market.

Two thirds of EU imports are ‘inputs’ in manufacturing processes. The EU relies heavily on open markets for inputs for its manufacturing and that open supply chains are integral to its manufacturing strength.

Sales of new houses in the U.S. market were unexpectedly rising before credit markets froze this month.

In September we saw purchases increase 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 464,000 from 452,000 the prior month. The median sales price decreased to a four-year low.

Sales increases may be short-lived due to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Inc. last month. This collapse led to a stall in lending among banks, making it harder to get a mortgage. Plummeting stock prices and increased nation  job losses signal some prospective buyers may walk away.

Stocks fell as a result of the nation’s increasing concern the economic slump is worsening. The S&P 500 Index slipped 3.2 percent to 848.92, the lowest close in more than five years.

Economists forecasted new home sales would drop to a 450,000 annual pace from 460,000 rate the prior month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 59 economists. You may end up needing a top rated Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer

The Central Bank has repeatedly over the past decade, moved to sell yen on the international markets in an effort to bring the exchange rate down and prevent the yen’s gains from hurting Japan’s export giants.

Part 1

On October 29, 2008, The Group of Seven rich nations warned that the Japanese yen is emerging as a new threat to the global economy.
For places like Kenya, the strengthening of the yen is already taking a real toll.

It’s been said the Japanese yen threatened  exports and could further push the world’s second-largest economy towards recession.The yen traded near an all-time high against the Australian dollar and at a 13-year peak against the US dollar.The yen is an currency both in debt servicing and imports for Kenya.

A number of firms have reported slower profits as a result of the skyrocketing financing costs on yen dominated loans. Currently, the costs of imports from Japan are continuing to become far more costly for Kenyan consumers and producers.

Kenya is a net importer from Japan, buying far more imports than it sells exports. Japanese exports to Kenya were valued at $576.6 million last year. Kenya imports industrial goods and machinery from Japan, while Tokyo mostly buys Kenyan agricultural produce.

The financial crisis in the west, is driving the world economy into a deep recession. As a result investors everywhere are pulling investments from risky markets, lending, and investments.