Wall street hung to dry on Credit worries!

The Wall street got hung to dry today on the fears of a Credit crunch happening all over again. Whoever coined the term 'Black Friday' must have a sense of foreboding if he or she had walked into the treading hall today. On the normal days the trading hall is a mess, today it went way beyond that. With the crunch slamming the markets down, the investors were sent scurrying for cover.
Most of the worries stemmed from a fear of more debt write offs to come, as some of the major banks have already started to do that. And lets not forget the 'Countrywide episode', with that in mind, what started like a normal trading day soon escalated into a sell off! Will the situation improve, yes, it will, but not in the near future!

Oil jumps again , this time because of Turkey!

The oil prices seem more and more exposed to the world politics than it is to the basic economics. These days, anytime there is a strike in any of the middle eastern countries, the immediate perception is that there is going to be a oil supply problem and that the 'Black gold' is going to get more rarer.
All of this is rubbish, of course. It is the case of the man who has too much, he only has too much as long as the rest of the humans want it, so consistent problems on the supply front will cause the demand to drop in the long rum and may also result in the demand disappearing altogether. Of course, this need not be the same in the Oil front, but it is high time that OPEC realises that they should make the necessary corrections to compensate for any such strikes that may take place on any of the middle eastern countries. If they want to consider themselves as a professional organisation, then it is high time that they start acting like it!

Recession knockin' on the door of Lady Liberty!

The Government is falling over itself with trying to do its best to prevent any financial crisis, but it is too late to shut the doors after all the horses have bolted.

The beginning of the sub prime crisis should have put the government on notice, but now, it is just too late to prevent anything from taking place. What has been put into motion cannot be stopped now, all one can do is to go with the flow. Both Martin Feldstein and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan are urging the government to do more to prevent any further escalation. Lets not forget that this is the same Greenspan who said that the sub prime crisis would 'blow away'.

Anyway, this is not the time to point fingers, but the time to do a reassessment and see what can be done to prevent anything like this from happening again.
No government is going to hand out money from the treasury to the citizens, but instead what the president can do is to waive the taxes for the affected people and that is just a small step in the right direction. Lets all hope that we do not get into any other war, any time soon, our economy cannot take any more pressure!

money,
george bush,
alan greenspan,
economy,
sub prime crisis,
finance

Arizona Big brother jumps on the Immigration bandwagon!

Arizona often touted as the IIEC[illegal immigration employment capital] of the United states may well soon lost that title altogether to Florida. With the recent law and the corresponding lawsuit filed against it, it has brought the issue of the Illegal immigration back into focus.

Of course, the question as to whether it is legal to hire an Illegal immigrant knowing that he/she is one, is currently illegal in Arizona the ex IIEC of the United states. But the recent suit against that very law that declares this to be illegal, seems to be far from over. The judge did not throw out the case because he considered it to be frivolous, but rather that it was filed against the wrong people and since it is a state law, it should be the state authorities in the dock and not the federal authorities, well as far as I could make out, that seems to be the reason.

All indications are that this law is already running into some problems and they are just bound to get a whole lot worse in the next couple of weeks. The question of whether it is right to hire illegal immigrants is one that has been bought in sharp focus by all this. There are those who will say that this law is the right one and that once the Illegal immigrants see that Arizona no longer has jobs for them, they will stop coming into Arizona. Then again, there are those who will argue that since the immigrants are already here, this law will deprive them of livelihood and so it is against human decency to do so. The employers will be on the side of the illegal immigrants since they will be losing a very valuable workforce. All in all, it is one dilemma that the state authorities would have to address very soon in a court of law!

illegal immigration,Arizona,employment,work,

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,

Turkey and Iran are pushing Oil to 100$ !

The middle east which it seems has never known a peaceful period in the recent past has started having an impact on the Oil prices which by the last trade of the day was up to 92$. This is nothing as most of the economists are predicting that the world demand and the middle east tensions are bound to push up the Oil even further.

With Turkey amassing its troops in a move that could very well destabilise the entire Middle East region, and with Iran being shackled under economic sanctions, the tension factor alone would push up the Oil stocks through the roof. If either Turkey was to invade Iraq or Iran was attacked by the United states under some alleged pretext, the Middle East would be thrown into turmoil and we can pretty much kiss away any hopes of any recession in the Oil rates. As such, things have not taken a turn for the worse but the potential to do so is very much there. Will the Oil ever come down to the 80-90$ margin, lets wait and hope that it does so!
oil,turkey,iran,middle east,

Lead poisoning feeding the U.S consumers fear!

We all have heard by now as to what the lead poisoning can lead to, thanks to the publiocity blitz lead by the commerce dept of the United states. The facts are that Lead was found to be in impermissible levels in the products that were mqanufactured in China which gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Made in China'. But inspite of the recall of the millions of consumer products, a recent study has found that the consumers in the United states are still attracted to the 'Made in China' goods mainly due to their quite low prices.
But at the same time, the consumers now have a new thing to worry about everytime they purchase a 'Made in China' article. Whether it is okay for humans to handle them or not. The whole controversy is getting blown out opf proportion and India which by way to trade agreement with China is now being told unofficially by the United states to reevaluate the whole agreement as a result of harmful chemicals being used in the manufacture of these products. The United states would like nothing better than to contain China and if economic pressures are used to acheive that, well so much the better.
As for India, the issue of the recall of the Chinese goods and articles is slowly gathering momentum here and it is only a matter of time before the government has to take action on this one. Whether India does follow the U.S lead on this[no pun intended] or not, the damage to the 'Made in China' label has already been done and no amount of damge control by the red dragon can stop the flow of more bad news!

china,united states,india,made in china,goods,lead poisoning,

Oil aiming for the 100$ mark?

Oil these days seem to be much more costly than they were just a few months back and all of the blame cannot be just laid at the door of the 'War on terrorism'.as things stand the OPEC could have done so much more to stabilise the prices of the oil by increasing demand but they have not yet done that,at least not enough by any standards.Oil,the black gold that is so essential to all of us in one way or the other,costs an arm and a leg these days.
The rising value of oil is causing havoc on all of the world economies including that of the United states.and since most of the world currencies are pegged to the U.S dollar and since moist of their central banks hold their reserve in Dollars,the impact of these oil prices will be worldwide.as it is,we have just had the liquidity crunch and on top of this,the oil surge? we surely do not need news like this.when will the oil go down,or rather the question should be,will it ever go down??since the rising oil prices has such a worldwide impact,if the OPEC cannot control the price surge,then the United nations or rather the security council should take over the OPEC.the OPEC has a responsibility here which they are failing by a large milestone since the oil has already surged to 90$ a barrel.if they cannot control the prices any further then the United nations should step in along with a monetary agency to regulate the flow of oil in a way that does not entail any further price hike in it!

oil,united states,economy,opec,libya,

The indian stock market heats up!

With most of the world markets not showing much momentum,the Indian stock markets have gone beyond even the most optimistic expectations in the last few days.it actually zoomed past 17,000 levels to touch the 18K mark.the market now seems to be searching for a base to make its rise further.most of the Economic pundits here are already cautioning the investors from investing too much ion the current market scenario as it is quite volatile.and what is more the market is supposed to have undergone some sort of a correction as regard the new levels that it has reached in such a short time,but that has not yet happened and there are no indications that will happen,at least not for now.
Today saw a flat market as it is trying to search for a new base and in all probability it will find a new base and the Bull run is all set to continue into next week.this news has been quite a bit of fantastic windfall for the middle class which of late has been investing more and more in the Sensex.even the Finance minister has cautioned the public from investing in large numbers at this volatile stage.it seems that the market has got on a whole new life of its own and the 'Bull play' is all set to open up round two come Monday!

stock markets,united states,india,economy,

Rupee appreciates further!

With the Rupee appreciating further the exporters woe's only seems to be getting bigger as the Rupee is eating into their profits.as a result of this resurgent economy,the service sector has now started to look steadily at the European markets as the Euro seems to be the perfect answer to the rising rupee.
The currency dances apart,economic data of the Europe is much more promising than the United states and most of the Indian companies that have thought of diversification and asset and portfolio management are now choosing Europe over the United states!is this a state of things to come,a stronger Euro with all currencies pegged to it?

U.S senators want Protectionism for domestic farmers!

To take up from the last post the U.S senators want the president Bush to protect the cotton farmers and not make any deep cuts to U.S. cotton subsidies in world trade talks.this may e what they want but they should me more realistic and understand that the world does not only comprise of the U.S cotton farmers but that there are also cotton farmers in most of the other countries and that all these countries together make the WTO.if the U.S senators had their way then then the Doha debacle will remain as it is with no movement either way.it is high time that the developed world took a very hard look at itself and realise that it is high time to allow the other countries to grow as well.after all it is only by making concessions on both sides that the Doha issue can be settled once and for all.if there are going to be no concessions to be made,then we all can pretty much pack our bags and say goodbye to WTO once and for all.

senators,george bush,india,doha,

The Doha shakedown starts!

With the latest round of the WTO-Doha situation due to figure soon in the World Trade arena,the two trade giants each representing the developed and the developing world are meeting today.ladies and gentlemen,i am talking about United states and India.each have their own take on the Doha standoff with India and China clamoring for more leeway from the developed world,and this is with good reason.what makes this latest meeting between the capitalist and the democratic giants is that recently the United states had made a comment in public that they are willing to look into the farm subsidies and that is a big announcement form them considering that it was this very question of farm subsidies that has brought the trade talks to a sort of catch-22 situation with no movements seen on either side of the spectrum.but with this latest move the United states has indicated to the world that it is indeed serious about the trade talks and that they want the Doha issue to be resolved.now all eyes are on the BRIC countries and as to what will be their collective strategy!

united states,india,doha,wto,

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!

Aussie economy to be at 4.4%

Down under has escaped the 'subprime' massacre.the only hedge funds that we re exposed to that disaster were small to start off with so the impact on the Aussie economy was small.anyway accrding the latest IMF report on Australia,they have said that the GDP should be around 4.4% but this may come down next year to 4%.
Be that as it may,the problems for John Howard only seems to be increasing.with the dr.haneef case still pending and there will be a showdown of sorts on that and on top of this the common consensus In Australia is that they want their troops back from Iraq and Howard seems to think that they should stay there.either way in spite of the rosy picture for the Aussie economy,with the political situation worsening day by day,this rosy picture will not last for long.

australia,economy,gdp,down under,

The best E-wallet ever!

This is the age of information technology and as such it is only right that we should expect everything to be faster.but that is so often not the case especially when we travel.most often the problem is related to money transactions.i had recently travelled to Brazil and the money problems that i faced there was just too much and it ended up spoiling the whole vacation.i had money in my bank account but was not able to withdraw.then i had to make a few international calls and the problem got solved only during my last day there.all in all i most certainly do not want to go through all that again.
Say you are a foreign worker and you want to send money urgently to home,well,you may run into a few problems there as well.this company has come out with the best solution of sorts.EPAY has introduced debit cards that pretty much acts as a wallet,well,e-wallet anyway,for your money.with this card it is very easy to withdraw cash from almost any ATM anywhere in the world.as a matter of fact,i would say that they perform even better than credit cards.not only that,these cards work almost like a credit card and can be used in similar transactions as well.
These cards can be funded by e-gold,bank wire transfer and pecunix.they can also be funded by MasterCard's and visa cards as well,this option is due to come out in a few days time.now you can use these cards to send money to anyone anywhere in the world with ease.you no longer have to run from bank to bank worrying about whether you can send the money or not.these cards,in my opinion,are the best.so take this opportunity and get these cards ASAP!

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,

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,

The orlando experience!

We all love to travel and generally when we do we often end up moaning of the high costs of the hotel rooms,our plane tickets and the lousy cars that we had to rent.how often have we wished that we could get the best rooms,best flights and the best in car rentals?a lot of the times that we had travelled.normally when we travel to an unknown place to travel to,we may not face problems.but can you imagine travelling to a place that sees thousands of tourists every single day.if you have not made any arrangements prior to travelling to such a place,well,your trip may turn out to be a complete nightmare.
With this site,we can get the best hotels,best airline tickets available and even get the best in our car rentals.and all of this can be booked ahead of your trip to Orlando.Orlando,the tourist capital of the Unites States,sees so many tourists every single day that we need sites like these to make sure that we are not left high and dry but can actually enjoy our hotels orlando with total pleasure and contentment.so if you are planning to travel to Orlando,come to this site and book everything ahead.and the best part is that all of this comes at very affordable rates.this is one fantastic deal that you do not want to miss out on!

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,