3 March 2008
News and Comments - 03/03/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
3 Comments so far...
Jesse Says:
3 March 2008 at 1:39 am.
SEOUL, South Korea - Most Asian markets tumbled Monday as investors reacted nervously to a steep decline on Wall Street Friday after disappointing economic and corporate news reawakened worries about a U.S. recession.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 4.5 percent to close at 12,992.18. Markets in Hong Kong, South Korea, India and Australia also fell sharply. However, shares in mainland China advanced.
Investors across much of the region dumped shares after a series of depressing economic and corporate reports Friday out of the United States — a vital export market for Asia — sent the Dow Jones industrial average falling 315.79, or 2.51 percent, to 12,266.39.
The bad news included poor quarterly results from American International Group Inc. and Dell Inc. and weaker-than-expected results on the Chicago purchasing managers index, which painted a dreary picture of the manufacturing sector.
“It’s all due to fears of a recession in the U.S.,” said Craig James, chief equities economist at CommSec in Sydney, Australia.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets_5;_ylt=Aq4B46rKPARFHcIgU6d2p04E1vAI
Cameron Says:
3 March 2008 at 6:01 am.
Some more bad economic news:
Credit crisis seen as economic threat
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Mon Mar 3, 3:23 AM ET
WASHINGTON - The cascading fallout from the subprime loan crisis, barely a cloud on the horizon a year ago, is now viewed by experts as the economy’s gravest threat.
In a survey being released Monday, 34 percent of the members of the National Association for Business Economics ranked the financial market turmoil from those loan defaults as the No. 1 threat to the economy over the next two years.
That compares with 18 percent from an August survey, when the most serious threat was seen by 20 percent of the economists as terrorism and the conflicts in the Middle East.
A year ago, the credit crisis did not even register as a chief threat.
The latest survey found that 18 percent of association members listed excessive debt held by households and businesses as the top problem.
The questioning of 259 economists took place during the first two weeks of February. Events since then have underscored the credit crisis problems.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged by 315.79 points. The decline resulted from a combination of grim economic news, including a new estimate from UBS Securities analysts that the financial system losses from securities backed by mortgages and other debt would total $600 billion. That far surpassed the $400 billion that many economists projected until recently.
At the heart of financial institutions’ problems are securities backed by subprime mortgages. They have gone into default at record rates because of the housing market’s steep slump. These loans were extended to borrowers with weak credit histories.
A separate 49-member NABE forecasting panel recently raised its expectations of a recession, with close to half thinking a downturn will start before year’s end.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_bi_ge/economic_threats
Angela Rogin Says:
3 March 2008 at 9:26 am.
I think I would have tried to blind myself to the economy if I didn’t come here but now I think I had better take some precautions. I’m afraid the national debt does not portend well for coming out of this very easily. Foreign countries buying up our banks has me very nervous.
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