The labor market still under strain?

With the economy barely staggering along one would have hoped that things would at least look a little bit brighter in the labor market but that does not seem to be the case as the number of jobless has not decreased as per the expectations of the markets.

In reality, one can say that the labor market is stagnating and that is not good news, which ever way you swing it. All that it indicates is that the companies in general do not want to over spread themselves and that they are all bracing for more bad news. One can counter that by saying that corporate america is being pessimistic but then again none of us can really agree as to whether a glass is half full or half empty. Lets hope that the labor market shows some signs of revival soon!

Recession inevitable, says Goldman Sachs

With all the indications of a meltdown at Wall street and the unemployment rate growing by the day, it seems that the chances of a recession hitting the United states has grown from 25% to that of 50%. With record numbers of defaulters on Mortgage payments, the banks are tightening the strings on all loans and other forms of credit. With the Dollar taking the plunge to new lows against a whole range of currencies, it is no wonder that most of the economists worldwide are predicting that the Recession has indeed began in the United states.Goldman Sachs believes the recession to be inevitable.

The question that everyone is asking themselves is as whether the U.S economy is strong enough to withstand the cold weather than seems to be ahead. The one thing that the president and his board of advisers are hoping to do is to reduce the taxes with the hope that this will rejuvenate the economy. By itself, it may not, but coupled with the Fed cut that is expected to happen by the end of this month, it may well give that much needed boost to the economy at large.

The Fed is hoping that a cut, even as much as 50 basis points may be what the doctor has ordered. But the Fed should also take care to remember that reducing the interest rates by a large margin could have a very negative impact on the whole. The days ahead will surely tell us if the recession has set in or not. It is no longer a question of 'will it happen' but rather a question of 'when will it happen'.

The DOW goes down by 210 points!

The Stock markets all over the world have seen dramatic movements both ways all over the year but none have seen the consistent negative reading that the Dow has been giving off late. Of course, it is not the Dow that is to blame but rather the investors are fast losing their faith on the US economy. Today saw the Dow Jones decline by about 210 points and according to many analysts, we should expect more of the same in the near future. The Freddie mac news of losing nearly 2 billion$ has hit the markets very hard and on top of that we had Countrywide declare some major losses as well and to make matters worse, we had the analysts downgrade Freddie mac which by the way has also led to its counterpart Frannie mae reporting huge losses as well. The stocks of both Freddie mac and Countrywide has taken quite a beating especially with the news that there may be some liquidity problems in Countrywide in the very near future.
Things are bound to get worse before they get better but the million dollar question is 'how much worse are things going to get to?'. Well, according to most economic analysts, they are going to get a whole lot worse and that what we are seeing now is nothing much compared to what is yet to happen. Of course, no one is a Nostradamus here and as such anything can happen in the future, but the fact of the matter is that as day by day goes and we keep hearing more and more bad news, we are all losing our confidence in the American economy!

economy,united states,share markets,dollar,

Fed forecasts a gloomy year ahead!

Well the markets were waiting for the Fed minutes and they are out now, the Fed forecasts a gloomy period ahead and with the unemployment bound to shoot up in the first quarter of the next year. This is not exactly an unexpected news but everyone were hoping that the Fed would do a magicians trick and wave its wand and make the whole Subprime and Housing disaster go away!
That is easier said than done, it is not all gloomy with the consumer index showing some signs of life.But come on, with such huge crisis like the Subprime and the Housing markets, there is bound to be some sort of a long term impact on the economy as a whole. It is going to be a tough road to walk on for the next few quarters and there is no going around this, this is one road that we all have to just grit our teeth and walk. After all, it is only when the things start getting tough, the tough starts going, so lets do that.

finance,economy,subprime,housing,Fed,

Dollar hitting new lows against the yen!

Today the Dollar is trading at new lows against the Yen, currently trading in the 110 margin. Just a few months back the Dollar was at 118 to the Yen but with the subprime and the housing market the Dollar is fast heading to new slumps and it seems that it is pulling the Gold with it. Many of you know that before the 1980's the Dollar was pegged to the Gold but that has since then been de linked.

But the sentimental factor along with a really cold beary market is fast sending the Gold in the direction of the Dollar. But that is good news for the consumers in the sense that they can now get the gold jewellery at a much lower rate. But the problem is that there are not that many consumers who want to purchase anything right now and all the purses and the wallets are busy tightening and the consumer spending is getting lower. Which is why the festival season could not hae come at a much better time and with X'mas right around the corner perhaps with increased spending by way of gift purchases by the consumer and better news in the market, thew Dollar can start looking up!

FM passes comments,the markets react!

By early afternoon after opening on a rather weak note,it looked like the markets may recover the lost momentum of yesterday.but the Indian finance minister soon put an end to that.he commented on the surge in the markets with all the foreign investors pumping their money into the Indian stock markets and said that he was a bit worried about the sudden surge and implied that there should be greater control on the foreign funds flowing into the markets.
On hearing this,the markets which were already down by 200 basis points reacted predictably with the down slide continuing till the last call of the day.at the end of the day,the markets slided down to the range of 18,336-18,844 before ending the day at 18,419 level.the banking sector was the one that was the worst hit today if you compare the loss in scrip value against the other sectors like agri,IT or manufacturing.of course this does not mean that the Bull has had enough and is ready t allow the bears in.so lets hope tomorrow will bring back some of he lost momentum of the market,in the right direction this time around!

share market,finance minister,rupee,foreign investors,

The Indian stocks soar to new heights!

Today saw the Indian stocks soar above the 16,000 mark.this cannot all be attributed to the fed slashing the interest rates in the United States.that said,it seems that the bears as far as the Indian stock markets,have gone into hibernaiton and the bulls are getting more and more frisky.with the political situation in India still at catch 22 i wonder if the 16,000 level will be sustained in the days to come,especially if the elections are just round the corner.either way,the exporters are in the seventh heaven,let's hope that this good feel lasts for some time to come!

Trying to reach the 16K mark!

The Indian sensex is making rapid movements towards the 16000 mark and going by all realistic reviews it may just do that within 3 days time.it is moving at a rapid click and is fast becoming the cynosure of almost every financial corp.of course with the Indian economy booming the way it has been,it is only right that the 'bulls' should have a hey day at the markets.
What is surprising many economic commentators is the way the market is reacting to the world economic news.any negative comments on the U.S economy always has a kind of a 'domino' effect on pretty much all the world markets.it is true that the Indian sensex does gt effected like all the other Asian counterparts as well.but what has thrown off many economists off the track is the way the market has recovered all of its losses and is now fast chugging along to the 16K mark.many economic pundits from all over the world had predicted that the sensex would bottom out at 14-15 K and that would be the peak for quite a while.well,it seems that the Indian senses has not heard that report and now is on its way to new heights!

india,economy,sensex,mumbai,asian,

Markets swayed to the music of recovery!

Markets today staged a smart recovery and i have to say that this has impressed even the most jaded traders on the floor.first of all the bad news coming out of the U.S markets had the predicted impact on all of the Asian markets and India was no exception to the rule of the day,or so we had all thought.what promised to be a blue monday soon turned to be a bright red one.with the markets swaying to the music of public sentiment,they managed to recover all that they lost and even some of the poorly preforming scrips did more than they usually do and set up records of sorts.either way at the end of the session the market had managed to gain all that was lost and some more.we can only look to tomorrow with expectant eyes!

Choppy week ahead for asian stocks!

With thew Fed rumored to cut rates soon at its meeting sometime on September 18th,all expectations are high that this will ease the credit worries in the market.this subprime scare is kind of like dropping a rock in the middle of the pond and to see the waves continuously washing over the market.that is what is happening,the markets are yet to settle down and the U.S payroll data is nit helping matters any bit yet.but all of that has made sure that the Fed will take action but to what extent is the question on every traders lips.
With the Asian markets bound to feel the impact of the dollar surges,the current season looks to be very volatile.with the current scenario,investors should be wary of making any sudden changes and wait for the markets to settle down a bit and see how they react after the Fed cuts rates on the 18th.

united states,fed,markets,asia,currency,

Oil price hikes?

With the oil prices soaring new heights is it any wonder that the crunch is being felt in all the world markets?India is no exception to this and today many of the oil companies were clamoring to the PM's office for a hike in the oil and other fuels that they provide to the common man.they have often taken the brunt of the rising oil prices and the common man for whom such essential fuel is subsidised,hardly feels the punch.but as the oil companies in India have pointed out,this sort of situation cannot go on forever and that sooner or later,the Indian public would have top be exposed to the Oil tango that is felt all over the world.so sooner or later the government of India like all the other governments all over the world will hike the prices up,it is just a matter of time.probably this may happen sooner than later!

The Fed will cut rates and soon at that!

With the subprime mortages tidal wave at last relenting most of the banks and financial institutions at last began to regain their confidence.some of the European banks were the worst hit in the credit crisis but even they are going about business as usual.the reason for this 'happy to be okay' mood is the surety that the U.S Fed will cut rates and soon at that.this was only a rumor to begin with but with weak U.S fiscal data,this is becoming more and more of a surety.
Of course as a result to the last turmoil,banks are no longer willing to help those who cannot repay.that is the bitter truth that has come out of all this.there will no longer be a 'come one,come all,take the money' policy of any bank as regards the credit issue even amongst themselves.the credit policies of various banks and central banks are being streamlined even as i post this.but come on,that is only to be expected.this credit policy would in all reality stay around for some time to come.there is indeed a liquidity crunch going on,all that matters is whether you are an orange or a lemon or just plain old sour grapes!

finance,united states,europe,fed,subprime,

calm before the storm??

The following week will in all probability see a much more calmer trading in the asian stocks but traders are aware that it may not be as calm as it is predicted to be.after all any more bad news on the U.S market is bound to send shock waves all over the asian continent.that is just the least of worries for the traders.
With more and more financial institutions coming forward with their assett exposure to the U.S subprimes,the asian traders are well aware that the calm could be very well before the storm.as it is,traders are depending more on just sheer luck than informatin.the last two weeks has not helped matters any bit.but any more U.S market upheavals may well start the bear run on the asian stocks!

Gold may hit the 700$ range soon!

With the recent market volatility bought on by the U.S sub prime affair,all the world metals became volatile as the traders sold off most of the metals in a bid to cover their loses to the sub prime massacre.gold has generally been seen as a safe haven,which is why the U.S dollar was pegged to the gold in the first place.anyway most experts agree that although the gold like other metals have been volatile of late,there are strong trends to show that there is going to be a very strong rally in gold very soon.
Let us not forget India,the largest consumer of the yellow metal in the world.as the festival season begins to start in India,the gold will surge ahead once again.there are also trends to indicate that the gold may soon 'decouple' from all the other economic swings thus reaffirming once again the safe haven that gold once was.as it is now,Spot gold hit a one-week high of $668.90 an ounce on Friday, up from its previous close of $659.20 in New York.gold may soon go all the way to the 700$ range and much much more in the weeks to come.this is indeed good news and some of the trading houses have already started buying gold with their eye on the Indian market and the Indian festival season!

The U.S markets in a bear hug??

The sub prime mortages are having an all around effect on all of the world markets with the U.S markets riding the wave.no one knows when the wave of the 'sub primes' will crest over and that one should just grit one's teeth and ride it all out.with the sub primes pushing the U.S stock markets down the impact on the Euro markets has been worse than anticipated.this even led to the BNP Paribas freezing off three of its debts funds right away.
According to some of the experts,BNP Paribas may even take more hits in the days to come.on top of this,there seems to be an apperance of a liquidity crunch appearing ion the European markets with banks reluctant to lend to each other!still the next week may even throw further googlies at the world markets.as such besides the U.S markets it is the European markets which are impacted the most by the 'sub primes'.the Asian markets on the whole are insulated from this as their banks are not that vulnerable to mortgage foreclosures in the United States.however,as the U.S markets get into even a more of a bear hug,it is only reasonable to expect the world markets all over to react to this with some sentiment even as far away as the BSE sensex!

mortage,united states,markets,economy,

America spends more!

The U.S stocks went up as a result of buoyed consumer spending.the consumers were spending more and more and as a result of that the Retails reported good profits.and as a result of the retail reports,the U.S stocks got quite a boost and saw the stocks react quite well to the news that Americans were spending more and more.in spite of the pressure on the U.S dollar against the Euro and the Yen,the American economy seems to be recovering quite well.this may also well account for the high price ranges for the Dollar-Yen trades trading around 122 to 123.
And the weakness that is perceived in the U.S economy still persists but it is the very fact of over spending by the U.S retail consumers that seems to have given the U.S economy a breather of sorts.of course the critics are calling it the 'calm before the storm' but i would much rather go by the saying 'do not look a gift horse in the mouth'.but the overwhelming opinion is that the current mood of optimism may not stay around for long especially with the housing market in the slumps and the economy burping along.so lets take a wait and see attitude as regards the U.S economy but if the consumers were to continue their spending spree well,the future for the U.S economy may well be bright!

united states,retail,market,economy,