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Thread: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

  1. #121
    Bloomberg Guest

    Default Worst Of Wall Street Crisis Is Over, Says Warren Buffett


    Worst Of Wall Street Crisis Is Over, Says Warren Buffett
    Josh P. Hamilton and Betty Liu
    Bloomberg
    Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
    Saturday, 3 May 2008, 5.43pm U.S. CDT


    Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., speaks to the media during the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 3, 2008. Photo: Chris Machian, Bloomberg

    Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said the global credit crunch has eased for bankers, and the Federal Reserve probably averted more failures by helping to rescue Bear Stearns Cos.

    "The worst of the crisis in Wall Street is over," Buffett said today on Bloomberg Television. "In terms of people with individual mortgages, there's a lot of pain left to come." Buffett was interviewed before the Omaha, Nebraska-based company's annual meeting, attended by about 31,000 people.

    Buffett, the world's richest man according to Forbes magazine, said the Fed acted properly when it arranged a $2.4 billion buyout in March of New York-based Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The billionaire said he turned down the opportunity because he lacked enough capital and time to craft a solution. More failures and wider panic may have resulted if the regulators didn't halt the run on Bear Stearns, he said.

    "The worry was that there would be contagion; it was a very real worry," Buffett said. "If Bear Stearns had gone, the next day, somebody else would have gone. It could've been a very, very, very chaotic situation."

    Buffett, 77, said he was contacted in March before JPMorgan, the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets, agreed to buy Bear Stearns. The person calling him, whom he wouldn't identify, was "someone responsible" and wasn't from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury. The call lasted about half an hour, Buffett said.

    Too Big for Buffett

    "As I understand it, Bear Stearns had $65 billion due on Monday and I didn't have $65 billion," Buffett said. "I couldn't get my mind around that situation in the required time." New York-based JPMorgan was the right buyer for Bear Stearns, he added.

    Berkshire had about $35 billion in cash as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.

    JPMorgan agreed in mid-March to acquire Bear Stearns, once the fifth-biggest U.S. securities firm, after customers grew concerned about the company's health and pulled out their money, leaving Bear Stearns short on cash. JPMorgan, which got financial support from the Federal Reserve, raised the purchase price a week later to $10 a share from $2 to mollify Bear Stearns shareholders who said they weren't getting enough.

    The 24-company KBW Bank Index has advanced 14% since the Bear Stearns bailout was announced in March, and the 11- company Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index has climbed 30%.

    Credit Losses

    In a question-and-answer session at the shareholder meeting, Buffett said that from a risk perspective, some banks got "too big to manage."

    The world's largest banks and investment firms have recorded more than $300 billion of losses and writedowns tied to mortgages, bonds and loans.

    Berkshire's own investment in derivative contracts recovered $500 million to $600 million of lost value since the end of March, Buffett said. The company will make "significant money" on the derivatives over the long term, he said at the meeting. Berkshire said yesterday the value of the investments had declined by $1.7 billion in the first quarter. The entire company's quarterly profit plunged 64% to $940 million.

    Buffett is scheduled to embark on a 4-city European trip this month to scout potential acquisitions, including family-owned companies. He has been investing in China, Israel and the U.K. to spur profit growth after saying that U.S. investments meeting his criteria have become scarce.

    International Earnings

    "Over time we'd like to develop more international earnings," Buffett said. "If it's a $2 billion deal, fine; if it's a $20 billion dollar deal, fine."

    Buffett, who made his first non-U.S. acquisition in 2006, paying $4 billion for 80% of Israel-based Iscar Metalworking Cos., said he can't predict the location of the next company Berkshire will acquire.

    "They can come from Europe, they can come from the United States, you just never know," he said. "Somebody, someplace is going to have a situation where we fit. They're going to call me; I want to make sure I'm on their radar screen."

    Buffett said during the meeting he'd like to buy businesses in India and China, and that he wanted to acquire one or two non-U.S. companies in the next three years. He is looking as competition forces down insurance rates in the U.S. for Berkshire, which typically gets about half its profit from insurance units including National Indemnity, General Re Corp. and Geico Corp.

    The U.S. dollar will keep weakening and Buffett feels "no need to hedge" against currency risk when buying large companies outside the U.S., he said.

    Landing From Mars

    "If I landed from Mars today with a billion of Mars dollars, or whatever they call them on Mars, and I was thinking about where to put my money," he said. "I don't think I'd put the entire billion in U.S. dollars."

    Berkshire Hathaway has spent $4 billion investing in the municipal auction-rate bond market, taking advantage of payouts that topped 10% after regular bidders fled the market. Markets were so disrupted, Buffett said, that bonds from the same issue were selling simultaneously from the same broker with yields of 6% and 11%.

    Berkshire has risen about 22% in New York Stock Exchange composite trading during the past 12 months and gained about 4,700 percent in 20 years through Dec. 31, about six times more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index including dividends.

  2. #122
    Rice eater Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Asia Fears Lost Decade, Unrest from Food Price Shock
    By Reuters | 04 May 2008 | 11:09 PM
    Soaring food prices may throw millions of Asians back into poverty, undo a decade of gains and stoke civil unrest, regional leaders said as they urged a boost to agricultural production to meet rising demand.

    Asia -- home to two thirds of the world's poor -- risks rising social tension as a doubling of wheat and rice prices in the last year has slammed people who spend more than half their income on food, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said during the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting.

    If food prices rise 20 percent, 100 million poor people across Asia could be forced back into extreme poverty, warned Indian Finance Secretary D. Subba Rao.

    "In many countries that will mean the undoing of gains in poverty reduction achieved in the past decade of growth," Rao told the ADB's meeting in Madrid.

    The ADB estimates that about 20 percent of people in Asia are presently living on less than $1 a day -- the international definition of extreme poverty -- compared to more than 60 percent who did so in the mid-1960s.

    A 43 percent rise in global food prices in the year to March sparked violent protests in Cameroon and Burkina Faso as well as rallies in Indonesia following reports of starvation deaths.

    Many governments have introduced food subsidies or export restrictions to counter rising costs, but they have only exacerbated price rises on global markets, Nukaga said. "Those hardest hit are the poorest segments of the population, especially the urban poor," Nukaga told delegates.

    "It will have a negative impact on their living standards and their nutrition, a situation that may lead to social unrest and distrust," he added.

    The ADB estimates the very poorest people in the Asia Pacific region spend 60 percent of their income on food and a further 15 percent on fuel -- the key basic commodities of life which have seen their prices rise relentlessly in the last year.

    Poverty Time Bomb

    Japan is one of 67 ADB member economies gathered in Spain to discuss measures to counter severe weather and rising demand that have ended decades of cheap food in developing nations.

    The Asia-Pacific has three times the population of Europe -- around 1.5 billion people -- living on less than $2 a day.

    Rice is a staple food in most Asian nations and any shortage threatens instability, making governments extremely sensitive to its price.

    But the steadily rising cost of providing fuel and food subsidies harms budget finances, puts at risk the macroeconomic stability international investors demand in return for buying government bonds and, in some cases, curbs the access nations have to global financial markets.

    Latest Business News from Asia

    Indonesia, for example, has pledged to reduce its budget deficit by cutting fuel subsidies ahead of planned global bond sales this year worth around $12 billion.

    "We have to reduce the budget deficit for investor confidence," Anggito Abimanyu, a senior Indonesian fiscal policy official told ADB delegates on Sunday, saying that fuel and electricity subsidies of $20.5 billion this year hampered efforts to raise money on international capital markets.

    Decade-high inflation, driven by food and raw materials costs, has topped the agenda of the ADB's annual meeting.

    The Manila-based multilateral lender has had to defend itself from U.S. criticism it is focused on middle income countries and has neglected Asia's rural and urban poor.

    Smaller countries such as Cambodia urged the ADB to focus its lending on the poorest Asian states.

    The Bank on Saturday called for immediate action from global governments to combat soaring food prices and twinned it with a pledge of fresh financial aid to help feed the Asia Pacific region's poorest nations.

    Leading members Japan, China and India backed long-term ADB strategy to provide low-cost credit and technical assistance to raise agricultural productivity.

    The United Nations said the rural poor represented a political time-bomb for Asia that could only be defused by higher agricultural investment and better technology.

    "Unless you can look at the plight of the poorest farmers in the region and how they are going to add to the numbers of very poor, very deprived people, we are unnecessarily going to create a problem that will erupt into a political crisis," said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. panel on climate change.

  3. #123
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: Jobs Data Lifts U.S. Blue Chips

    Quote Originally Posted by Reuters

    Jobs data lifts U.S. blue chips
    Jennifer Coogan
    Reuters
    New York, New York, U.S.
    Friday, 2 May 2008, 4:49 PM U.S. EDT


    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, 29 April 2008. - Photo: Brendan MeDermid, Reuters

    Stocks made modest gains on Friday after jobs data that offered fresh evidence the economic slowdown is not as severe as feared, but technology shares faded on a surprise loss from Sun Microsystems Inc.

    The government's stronger-than-expected April payrolls report helped oil stocks rebound sharply by easing fears about weaker U.S. demand for energy. Adding to the energy rally were higher-than-expected profit from Marathon Oil Corp and Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil company.

    "People are willing to accept the fact that we may have a very slow, stagnant economy, but the prospect of a sharp downturn seems to be less and less likely, hence the sigh of relief," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.

    The Dow Jones industrial average was up 48.20 points, or 0.37%, at 13,058.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 4.56 points, or 0.32%, at 1,413.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.72 points, or 0.15%, at 2,476.99.

    For the week, the Dow gained 1.3%, the S&P rose 1.2% and the Nasdaq advanced 2.2%.

    Sun, one of the biggest makers of computers used by businesses, sank 22.6% to close at $12.64 after the company late on Thursday blamed the slowing economy for its dismal earnings forecast.

    Yahoo Inc's shares helped stem the Nasdaq's losses. Shares of the Internet company rose nearly 7% to $28.67. The company has intensified talks with Microsoft Corp in a last-minute effort to reach a friendly agreement on Microsoft's buyout offer, now worth $42 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. Microsoft slipped 16 cents to $29.24.

    The Labor Department said 20,000 jobs were shed last month, marking a fourth straight monthly decline, but the cuts were fewer than the 80,000 which economists surveyed by Reuters had anticipated. The unemployment rate fell to 5.0% from 5.1%.

    Oil shares were higher after U.S. crude futures rose $3.80 to settle at $116.32 a barrel.

    Marathon shares rose 6% to $50.80 and Chevron rose 38 cents to $95.32. A big gainer in the oil patch was offshore driller Transocean Inc, which rose 4.2% to $151.92.
    Wasted! Should have bought on Thursday.

  4. #124
    Badly burnt Speculator Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Quote Originally Posted by unregisterb
    Slowdown may stretch into next year

    SINGAPORE - To the eternal optimists who think that the Singapore economy will rebound from its lean patch in the months to come, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong offered a sobering projection: he expects the slowdown to continue into next year.

    While the economy is on track to hit 4-6 per cent growth this year, Mr Lee sees its momentum slowing in the next few quarters as the United States economy limps along, dragged down by still-unfixed sub-prime mortgage problems.

    And whether it's a V-shaped or U-shaped downturn in the US, it could extend the slowdown in Singapore's economy into 2009, Mr Lee told some 1,500 unionists yesterday at a National Trades Union Congress May Day Rally.

    'The first quarter is good,' he said. 'Second, third, fourth quarters - prepare ourselves that it will slow down. And the slowdown may last into next year.'

    It could be worse if the US falls into an L-shaped economic trajectory - the gloomiest scenario, when there is a severe and extended downturn in the US, like the decade-long recession Japan went into in the 1990s.

    'If that happens, then America is in trouble,' Mr Lee said. 'So too Europe, so too Japan. And Singapore will be caught up in this and we will be in serious difficulties too.'

    But he noted that most analysts don't think this is on the cards.

    The best scenario for the US is a V-shaped downturn - a quick recession followed by a quick rebound - which is also the best scenario for Singapore, Mr Lee said. 'But it is hoping for the best'.

    He said the US could easily slip into a U-shaped downturn because its underlying housing problems remain unsolved. The actions taken so far have only postponed the problems into the future.

    'The property prices have to go down further,' Mr Lee said. 'When they go down, the banks will have more problems. When the banks have problems, they shrink. That will cause the economy to have more problems.'

    In a U-shaped downturn, the bottoming will last longer and the US economy will take some time to sort itself out - perhaps until 2009, according to him.

    'This could well happen and then Singapore too will be slowed down significantly,' Mr Lee warned.


    'But whatever it is, we have to stay on our guard and stay prepared,' he said. 'Overall, I would expect V-shaped if we are lucky (or a) U-shaped downturn in the US - better plan on that.'

    Whatever shape the US downturn takes, Mr Lee said the impact on the Singapore economy will be uneven. Construction, marine engineering, ports and shipyards will be 'all right', according to him.

    'Construction will be okay because we have so many things building in Singapore,' Mr Lee said.

    'Marine engineering will be okay because the shipyards are doing well. Ports will be okay because the port is highly competitive and bringing in a lot of business.'

    But tourism, financial services and perhaps information technology will feel at least some pain.

    All this suggests that Singapore's year-on-year economic growth in the coming quarters will fall below the surprisingly strong 7.2 per cent gain estimated for Q1.

    'Essentially, Singapore has to be prepared for fairly rough weather ahead,' said Manu Bhaskaran of Centennial Group, a US-based economic consultancy.

    He sees a prolonged period of 'meagre' economic growth in the US - and Europe and Japan are not going to take up the slack, because the leading indicators for these two large economies also point to a slowdown, according to him.

    Mr Bhaskaran said Singapore has built up some resiliency in its services sector, which puts it in a better position than before to absorb the impact of a US recession. But even then, it remains an open economy and a downturn in the US, Europe and Japan at the same time will hit Singapore.

    This article was first published in The Business Times on May 2, 2008.
    Oh should have sold in November! Have to write off 40% atleast now.

  5. #125
    Twinkle Star Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Quote Originally Posted by Badly burnt Speculator
    Oh should have sold in November! Have to write off 40% atleast now.
    Agreed. I would take the words of our PM seriously than follow Buffet. Slowdown could be a prolonged one. I see property falling badly. You better sell right away.

  6. #126
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Quote Originally Posted by Badly burnt Speculator
    Oh should have sold in November! Have to write off 40% atleast now.
    Quote Originally Posted by Twinkle Star
    Agreed. I would take the words of our PM seriously than follow Buffet. Slowdown could be a prolonged one. I see property falling badly. You better sell right away.
    Badly burnt Speculator (aka Twinkle Star / Maddog):

    Don't worry so much about the property prices in the US.
    You have no money to own any property in the US.

    The Singapore property, following the HongKong footsteps, is on its uptrend again.
    Again, don't worry about it too. You can't afford any.

  7. #127
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: With Modest Job Losses, US Economy Defies Doomsayers

    Quote Originally Posted by AFP

    With modest job losses, U.S. economy defies doomsayers
    Rob Lever
    Agence France-Presse
    Washington, D.C., U.S.
    Friday, 2 May 2008, 3:18 PM U.S. EDT


    A job seeker searches for employment opportunities in Arlington Heights, Illinois in 2004. The US labor market held up better than expected in April despite fears of an economic slump, with 20,000 jobs cut in the month, the Labor Department reported Friday. - Photo: Tim Boyle, AFP

    The US labor market held up better than expected in April, with 20,000 jobs cut in the month, according to data Friday that analysts said signaled a mild economic downturn but not a calamity.

    The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey, rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5.0%, the Labor Department said.

    The report was better than expected by private economists, who on average had forecast a loss of 75,000 jobs and a jobless rate of 5.2%.

    "Job losses are way below the recession norm for this point of the business cycle, if this is recession," said Robert Brusca at FAO Economics. "Many things do not really add up for the recession forecasters."

    The payrolls report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, comes amid fears that the world's largest economy may be headed for recession after being battered by a horrific decline in housing and a related credit squeeze. Yet the first-quarter report on US gross domestic product showed a small increase of 0.6%.

    Avery Shenfeld at CIBC World Markets said the data still points to economic turmoil, with job declines in key areas such as manufacturing, construction and retailing.

    "The report was milder than we thought but some of the details were not quite as encouraging," he said.

    "If you isolate the cyclical industries, employment is dropping quite quickly. It's still not a sign the labor market is healthy."

    The report showed the economy still hurting from the housing crisis. Construction shed 61,000 jobs and manufacturing lost 46,000.

    That was offset in part by a gain of 37,000 in health care, and 27,000 in professional and technical services. The retail sector however lost 27,000 jobs.

    Shenfeld said that the sector details show problems: "When you are trying to take the temperature of the economy and where it stands in the business cycle, you look at the cyclical industries like manufacturing, construction and retail."

    President George W. Bush said the report was disappointing but expressed confidence in an economic recovery.

    "That's not good enough for America. It's positive growth, but we can do better than that," he said of the report during a visit to St. Louis, Missouri.

    Bush said the stimulus package anchored on tax rebates will help mitigate economic weakness.

    "The good news is, is that we anticipated this. You know, last fall we started to get indications that the economy was going to, you know, slow down," he said.

    Stephen Gallagher, economist at Societe Generale in New York, argued that the report suggests a decline for the overall economy but not a meltdown.

    "Overall, the modest pullback supports a mild recession or downturn for the US economy," he said. "That is not good news, but the evidence lessens the fears of a deep or prolonged downturn."

    On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut its base lending rate by a quarter-point to 2.0% in a move seen as further insurance against a deep downturn after a series of aggressive rate cuts since September.

    Many analysts say the Fed is likely to pause in its rate-cutting cycle to assess the impact of its earlier actions as well as the 168-billion-dollar economic stimulus package.

    Peter Kretzmer, senior economist at Bank of America, said Friday's employment report "will encourage the Fed to pause in its rate cycle, allowing the aggressive easing to date to impact the economy."

    Paul Ferley, economist at RBC Capital Markets, said the Fed is still cautious about a soft economy and tight credit conditions.

    "Although today's report did not show as great a drop in employment as feared, it is still indicative of labor markets shedding workers during the first four months of the year," he said.

    "To help sustain growth beyond this and through 2009, we are assuming that the Fed will lower Fed funds by a further 50 basis points, sending this rate to a near-term trough of 1.50% later this year."
    Yes, that's the way! Defy these doomsayers and their bullshits.

  8. #128
    Unregistereb Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Quote Originally Posted by UnregĄstered
    Badly burnt Speculator (aka Twinkle Star / Maddog):

    Don't worry so much about the property prices in the US.
    You have no money to own any property in the US.

    The Singapore property, following the HongKong footsteps, is on its uptrend again.
    Again, don't worry about it too. You can't afford any.
    Wah someone knows more than our PM.

  9. #129
    Unregistereb Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    UBS May Cut 8,000 Jobs After 12 Billion-Franc Loss

    By Elena Logutenkova

    May 5 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG may cut as many as 8,000 jobs as it grapples with the biggest credit writedowns of any European bank and a 12 billion-franc ($11.4 billion) first-quarter loss.

    Switzerland's biggest bank, which had a 3 billion-franc profit a year earlier, is set to spell out plans for layoffs when it reports detailed results tomorrow. The company will probably say it's eliminating between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs in its investment bank, more than 10 percent of the division, two people familiar with the matter said May 2.

    ``UBS is scaling down investment banking,'' including reducing trading bets and giving up off-balance sheet units, said Frankfurt-based Landsbanki Kepler analyst Dirk Becker, who advises clients to ``reduce'' holdings of UBS. It is ``realistic'' to estimate that the company will fire one tenth of its 83,000 employees overall, he said.


    Writedowns at the Zurich-based bank after the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown have swelled to $38 billion over the past three quarters, a result of building a debt securities business at the peak of the market. Chairman Marcel Ospel, who replaced half of the executive board since losses began in 2007, stepped down last month. UBS already cut 1,500 jobs late last year.

    UBS rose 20 centimes, or 0.5 percent, to 37 francs by 9:01 a.m. in Swiss trading. It has lost 50 percent in the past 12 months, making it the fifth-worst performer in the Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index of 59 stocks.

    The Swiss bank got shareholder approval last month to raise 15 billion francs in a rights offer after receiving 13 billion francs from investors in Singapore and the Middle East in March.

    Winning Back Trust

    ``They've got to do something to win back the trust of shareholders,'' said Peter Thorne, an analyst at Helvea in London with an ``accumulate'' recommendation on the shares. ``I wouldn't be surprised if it's more'' than 8,000 layoffs, he said.

    New York-based spokesman Doug Morris declined to comment.

    The world's biggest financial companies have announced more than $319 billion of writedowns and loan losses, with UBS in second place behind New York-based Citigroup Inc., which has written down $41 billion. Banks and securities firms have cut about 48,000 jobs in the past 10 months, including 15,200 positions at Citigroup and 5,220 at Merrill Lynch & Co.

    Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, and Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest, reported quarterly losses for the first time in five years for the three months ended in March. Credit Suisse had a 2.15 billion-franc loss after 5.3 billion francs in writedowns, while Deutsche Bank lost 131 million euros ($204 million) after a 2.7 billion-euro markdown.

    `High Price'

    UBS Chief Executive Officer Marcel Rohner, 43, and newly elected Chairman Peter Kurer, 58, told shareholders at the annual meeting last month that they plan to slim down the securities unit while focusing on maintaining the ``core'' wealth management franchise after Swiss clients pulled money in the first quarter.

    Investment bank head Jerker Johansson, 51, a former Morgan Stanley banker who started in mid-March, inherited a division that contributed about 40 percent of UBS's profit in 2006 before the credit-market freeze.

    ``UBS was among the last to participate in debt and they've had to pay a rather high price,'' said Jan Leroy, a Brussels- based fund manager at Petercam Asset Management with more than $29 billion in holdings. ``They should now focus on preventing collateral damage to their asset management and private banking business.''

    Investors, including Luqman Arnold, a former UBS president whose London-based investment group holds more than 1.1 percent of the bank's shares, are demanding a split of the investment bank from other units.

    Integrated Model

    While UBS has maintained a commitment to its so-called integrated bank model, Kurer told shareholders that he will examine its risks and rewards.

    The investment bank ``will no longer aim to offer everything to everyone,'' Rohner said at the meeting. The unit will have to earn capital for future growth and ``surpluses from the wealth management business will be returned to shareholders through dividends or share buybacks,'' he said.

    UBS was among the first stung by the subprime contagion when its Dillon Read Capital Management LP hedge fund, run by former investment banking chief John Costas, lost 150 million francs in the first quarter of last year. By May that year, UBS decided to close it.

    Hedge Fund Losses

    Losses at the hedge fund, which accounted for 16 percent of about $19 billion in writedowns last year, are dwarfed by markdowns that the bank had to make on collateralized debt obligations that its CDO desk accumulated instead of selling the bonds, UBS's report to shareholders released last month shows. The CDO desk was responsible for two-thirds of 2007's writedowns.

    The report, sent to the Swiss Federal Banking Commission, says top management was too slow to realize the severity of UBS's subprime problem and didn't distinguish in compensation between ``return generated by skill'' and ``returns made from exploiting UBS's comparatively low cost of funding.''

    ``UBS will scale back investment banking and hire in asset management,'' said Florian Esterer, a senior portfolio manager at Swisscanto Asset Management, which oversees $63 billion in Zurich. The investment banking unit ``should consider developing a niche strategy,'' he said.

  10. #130
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: Economy Shows Resilience; Jobless Rate Falls As Dollar Rises

    Quote Originally Posted by AP

    Economy shows resilience; jobless rate falls as dollar rises
    Economy shows unexpected bounce: Jobless rate declines, dollar shows a bit of muscle

    Jeannine Aversa
    Economics Writer
    Associated Press
    Washington, D.C., U.S.
    Saturday, 3 May 2008, 2:30 am U.S. EDT


    A shopper walks past a business in downtown Blue Island, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2008 with a window sign courting customers. - Photo: AP

    The economy showed off unexpected signs of resilience Friday as job losses slowed, the dollar gained a bit of muscle for a change and there were even indications that food prices may be easing. The unemployment rate dipped, though that may not last.

    The latest barometers flashed encouraging signs that the economic slowdown may not be as pronounced as some had feared. Still, there's much caution -- about housing, credit and other problems.

    "Economic or financial conditions could take an unexpected stumble at any time," warned Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

    Employers eliminated 20,000 jobs in April -- not nearly as many as the 81,000 in March, and the fewest monthly losses so far this year, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate dropped to 5%, from 5.1%.

    Stresses were still evident. It was the fourth straight month that employers cut jobs -- bringing total losses to 260,000.

    Many analysts were bracing for much more carnage. Yet, the new figures "can't be taken as a signal that the economy is out of the recession woods," said Nigel Gault, of Global Insight.

    On Wall Street, investors initially responded enthusiastically to the employment news, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising more than 100 points, but the market gave back part of that gain and closed up 48.20 points. Investors were keeping their euphoria in check, especially since stocks had already shot nearly 190 points higher on Thursday.

    Still, the tone in the market was clearly more upbeat. Thursday's advance came on a growing sense that the economy isn't as wounded from the credit crisis as many people have feared.

    Investors were also reassured by the dollar's show of strength this week. The greenback's latest gains have come on expectations that the Federal Reserve is likely to hold interest rates steady -- a trend that makes U.S. assets more attractive to overseas buyers. The U.S. currency rose this week to a five-week high against the euro.

    In turn, the dollar's advance has had an impact in the commodities market. Food prices -- such as for wheat and soybeans -- eased. And while oil did rise Friday, that was because of supply concerns rather than moves in the dollar.

    "Things are a little brighter," Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics, said of all the developments. "The economy is seen as doing a little bit better" and that's contributing to the stronger dollar and calmer food prices, he said.

    Another report out Friday showed orders to U.S. factories rose a bigger-than-expected 1.4% in March after two straight months of declines. Higher prices, though, accounted for part of the gain.

    Businesses are handing out pink slips as they cope with an economy that is teetering on the edge of a recession, or possibly in one already. A severe housing slump, harder-to-get credit and financial turmoil have forced people and businesses to be more cautious in their spending. And that has hurt the economy.

    To help relieve credit problems, the Federal Reserve announced Friday it would boost the availability of short-term loans to commercial banks to $150 billion in May from the $100 billion supplied in April. The goal is to supply a source of cash to squeezed banks so that they'll keep lending.

    On the employment front, construction companies, manufacturers, retailers, mortgage brokers and temporary help firms were among those shedding jobs in April. Those losses eclipsed gains elsewhere, including education, health, hotels and motels, bars and restaurants, and the government.

    All told, there were 7.6 million people unemployed as of April, up from 6.8 million a year earlier.

    Voters are keenly worried about the country's economic problems and so are politicians -- in Congress, in the White House and on the campaign trail.

    President Bush expressed hope Friday that the economic-stimulus rebates beginning to reach taxpayers this week will help lift activity. "This economy is going to come on. I'm confident it will," Bush said.

    Workers with jobs saw scant wage gains.

    Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.88 in April, a tiny 0.1% rise from the previous month. Over the past 12 months, wages have grown by 3.4%. If the job market weakens in the months ahead, wage growth probably will slow, too, making people even less inclined to spend. That would spell further trouble for the economy.

    The new jobs figures come from two different statistical surveys, which can provide -- as in Friday's case -- a somewhat conflicting picture.

    The seasonally adjusted overall civilian unemployment rate -- 5% in April -- is based on a survey of 60,000 households. It showed that 362,000 people said they found employment last month, outpacing the number of new people who couldn't find work. Economists tend to put more stock, however, in the much broader business survey of 400,000 work sites that was used to calculate the job loss figure.

    To help bolster the economy, the Fed lowered interest rates on Wednesday, but signaled that its rate-cutting campaign could be drawing to a close.

    Fed officials and the Bush administration are hoping that the Fed's aggressive rate cuts since September plus the government's $168 billion stimulus package will lift the country out of its slump in the second half of the year.

    Even if that happens, economists predict the unemployment rate will climb higher, hitting 6% early next year.

    Employers often are reluctant to beef up hiring until they feel certain that a recovery has staying power.

    The economy advanced at a snail's pace of just 0.6% in the first three months of this year as people and businesses clamped down on their spending. That marked the second quarter in a row of such feeble growth.

    "I think we are in a recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. Even thought the employment news was "encouraging ... it is much too premature to signal that the economic coast is clear."
    Yes, show them the muscles.

  11. #131
    Unregisterd Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistereb
    UBS May Cut 8,000 Jobs After 12 Billion-Franc Loss

    By Elena Logutenkova

    May 5 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG may cut as many as 8,000 jobs as it grapples with the biggest credit writedowns of any European bank and a 12 billion-franc ($11.4 billion) first-quarter loss.

    Switzerland's biggest bank, which had a 3 billion-franc profit a year earlier, is set to spell out plans for layoffs when it reports detailed results tomorrow. The company will probably say it's eliminating between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs in its investment bank, more than 10 percent of the division, two people familiar with the matter said May 2.

    ``UBS is scaling down investment banking,'' including reducing trading bets and giving up off-balance sheet units, said Frankfurt-based Landsbanki Kepler analyst Dirk Becker, who advises clients to ``reduce'' holdings of UBS. It is ``realistic'' to estimate that the company will fire one tenth of its 83,000 employees overall, he said.


    Writedowns at the Zurich-based bank after the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown have swelled to $38 billion over the past three quarters, a result of building a debt securities business at the peak of the market. Chairman Marcel Ospel, who replaced half of the executive board since losses began in 2007, stepped down last month. UBS already cut 1,500 jobs late last year.

    UBS rose 20 centimes, or 0.5 percent, to 37 francs by 9:01 a.m. in Swiss trading. It has lost 50 percent in the past 12 months, making it the fifth-worst performer in the Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index of 59 stocks.

    The Swiss bank got shareholder approval last month to raise 15 billion francs in a rights offer after receiving 13 billion francs from investors in Singapore and the Middle East in March.

    Winning Back Trust

    ``They've got to do something to win back the trust of shareholders,'' said Peter Thorne, an analyst at Helvea in London with an ``accumulate'' recommendation on the shares. ``I wouldn't be surprised if it's more'' than 8,000 layoffs, he said.

    New York-based spokesman Doug Morris declined to comment.

    The world's biggest financial companies have announced more than $319 billion of writedowns and loan losses, with UBS in second place behind New York-based Citigroup Inc., which has written down $41 billion. Banks and securities firms have cut about 48,000 jobs in the past 10 months, including 15,200 positions at Citigroup and 5,220 at Merrill Lynch & Co.

    Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, and Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest, reported quarterly losses for the first time in five years for the three months ended in March. Credit Suisse had a 2.15 billion-franc loss after 5.3 billion francs in writedowns, while Deutsche Bank lost 131 million euros ($204 million) after a 2.7 billion-euro markdown.

    `High Price'

    UBS Chief Executive Officer Marcel Rohner, 43, and newly elected Chairman Peter Kurer, 58, told shareholders at the annual meeting last month that they plan to slim down the securities unit while focusing on maintaining the ``core'' wealth management franchise after Swiss clients pulled money in the first quarter.

    Investment bank head Jerker Johansson, 51, a former Morgan Stanley banker who started in mid-March, inherited a division that contributed about 40 percent of UBS's profit in 2006 before the credit-market freeze.

    ``UBS was among the last to participate in debt and they've had to pay a rather high price,'' said Jan Leroy, a Brussels- based fund manager at Petercam Asset Management with more than $29 billion in holdings. ``They should now focus on preventing collateral damage to their asset management and private banking business.''

    Investors, including Luqman Arnold, a former UBS president whose London-based investment group holds more than 1.1 percent of the bank's shares, are demanding a split of the investment bank from other units.

    Integrated Model

    While UBS has maintained a commitment to its so-called integrated bank model, Kurer told shareholders that he will examine its risks and rewards.

    The investment bank ``will no longer aim to offer everything to everyone,'' Rohner said at the meeting. The unit will have to earn capital for future growth and ``surpluses from the wealth management business will be returned to shareholders through dividends or share buybacks,'' he said.

    UBS was among the first stung by the subprime contagion when its Dillon Read Capital Management LP hedge fund, run by former investment banking chief John Costas, lost 150 million francs in the first quarter of last year. By May that year, UBS decided to close it.

    Hedge Fund Losses

    Losses at the hedge fund, which accounted for 16 percent of about $19 billion in writedowns last year, are dwarfed by markdowns that the bank had to make on collateralized debt obligations that its CDO desk accumulated instead of selling the bonds, UBS's report to shareholders released last month shows. The CDO desk was responsible for two-thirds of 2007's writedowns.

    The report, sent to the Swiss Federal Banking Commission, says top management was too slow to realize the severity of UBS's subprime problem and didn't distinguish in compensation between ``return generated by skill'' and ``returns made from exploiting UBS's comparatively low cost of funding.''

    ``UBS will scale back investment banking and hire in asset management,'' said Florian Esterer, a senior portfolio manager at Swisscanto Asset Management, which oversees $63 billion in Zurich. The investment banking unit ``should consider developing a niche strategy,'' he said.
    More pain huh??? When will it end???

  12. #132
    Seng Guest

    Default Re: Stocks Jump After Better-than-expected Payroll Report, Fed's Move To Boost Liquidity

    Quote Originally Posted by UnregĄstered
    Getting desperate and frustrated?
    Can't read the words properly?

    ... the unemployment rate dropped to 5% ...
    Quote Originally Posted by Job analyst
    Oh poor guys fighting over US jobless rate. First save your jobs guys. Discuss Singapore here.
    ..........
    Wah! Change here, change there .. from US to Singapore, then Singapore to US, then ..... So desperate meh?

  13. #133
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: Economy Shows Resilience; Jobless Rate Falls As Dollar Rises

    Quote Originally Posted by AP

    Economy shows resilience; jobless rate falls as dollar rises
    Economy shows unexpected bounce: Jobless rate declines, dollar shows a bit of muscle

    Jeannine Aversa
    Economics Writer
    Associated Press
    Washington, D.C., U.S.
    Saturday, 3 May 2008, 2:30 am U.S. EDT


    A shopper walks past a business in downtown Blue Island, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2008 with a window sign courting customers. - Photo: AP

    The economy showed off unexpected signs of resilience Friday as job losses slowed, the dollar gained a bit of muscle for a change and there were even indications that food prices may be easing. The unemployment rate dipped, though that may not last.

    The latest barometers flashed encouraging signs that the economic slowdown may not be as pronounced as some had feared. Still, there's much caution -- about housing, credit and other problems.

    "Economic or financial conditions could take an unexpected stumble at any time," warned Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

    Employers eliminated 20,000 jobs in April -- not nearly as many as the 81,000 in March, and the fewest monthly losses so far this year, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate dropped to 5%, from 5.1%.

    Stresses were still evident. It was the fourth straight month that employers cut jobs -- bringing total losses to 260,000.

    Many analysts were bracing for much more carnage. Yet, the new figures "can't be taken as a signal that the economy is out of the recession woods," said Nigel Gault, of Global Insight.

    On Wall Street, investors initially responded enthusiastically to the employment news, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising more than 100 points, but the market gave back part of that gain and closed up 48.20 points. Investors were keeping their euphoria in check, especially since stocks had already shot nearly 190 points higher on Thursday.

    Still, the tone in the market was clearly more upbeat. Thursday's advance came on a growing sense that the economy isn't as wounded from the credit crisis as many people have feared.

    Investors were also reassured by the dollar's show of strength this week. The greenback's latest gains have come on expectations that the Federal Reserve is likely to hold interest rates steady -- a trend that makes U.S. assets more attractive to overseas buyers. The U.S. currency rose this week to a five-week high against the euro.

    In turn, the dollar's advance has had an impact in the commodities market. Food prices -- such as for wheat and soybeans -- eased. And while oil did rise Friday, that was because of supply concerns rather than moves in the dollar.

    "Things are a little brighter," Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics, said of all the developments. "The economy is seen as doing a little bit better" and that's contributing to the stronger dollar and calmer food prices, he said.

    Another report out Friday showed orders to U.S. factories rose a bigger-than-expected 1.4% in March after two straight months of declines. Higher prices, though, accounted for part of the gain.

    Businesses are handing out pink slips as they cope with an economy that is teetering on the edge of a recession, or possibly in one already. A severe housing slump, harder-to-get credit and financial turmoil have forced people and businesses to be more cautious in their spending. And that has hurt the economy.

    To help relieve credit problems, the Federal Reserve announced Friday it would boost the availability of short-term loans to commercial banks to $150 billion in May from the $100 billion supplied in April. The goal is to supply a source of cash to squeezed banks so that they'll keep lending.

    On the employment front, construction companies, manufacturers, retailers, mortgage brokers and temporary help firms were among those shedding jobs in April. Those losses eclipsed gains elsewhere, including education, health, hotels and motels, bars and restaurants, and the government.

    All told, there were 7.6 million people unemployed as of April, up from 6.8 million a year earlier.

    Voters are keenly worried about the country's economic problems and so are politicians -- in Congress, in the White House and on the campaign trail.

    President Bush expressed hope Friday that the economic-stimulus rebates beginning to reach taxpayers this week will help lift activity. "This economy is going to come on. I'm confident it will," Bush said.

    Workers with jobs saw scant wage gains.

    Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.88 in April, a tiny 0.1% rise from the previous month. Over the past 12 months, wages have grown by 3.4%. If the job market weakens in the months ahead, wage growth probably will slow, too, making people even less inclined to spend. That would spell further trouble for the economy.

    The new jobs figures come from two different statistical surveys, which can provide -- as in Friday's case -- a somewhat conflicting picture.

    The seasonally adjusted overall civilian unemployment rate -- 5% in April -- is based on a survey of 60,000 households. It showed that 362,000 people said they found employment last month, outpacing the number of new people who couldn't find work. Economists tend to put more stock, however, in the much broader business survey of 400,000 work sites that was used to calculate the job loss figure.

    To help bolster the economy, the Fed lowered interest rates on Wednesday, but signaled that its rate-cutting campaign could be drawing to a close.

    Fed officials and the Bush administration are hoping that the Fed's aggressive rate cuts since September plus the government's $168 billion stimulus package will lift the country out of its slump in the second half of the year.

    Even if that happens, economists predict the unemployment rate will climb higher, hitting 6% early next year.

    Employers often are reluctant to beef up hiring until they feel certain that a recovery has staying power.

    The economy advanced at a snail's pace of just 0.6% in the first three months of this year as people and businesses clamped down on their spending. That marked the second quarter in a row of such feeble growth.

    "I think we are in a recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. Even thought the employment news was "encouraging ... it is much too premature to signal that the economic coast is clear."
    Yes, stay resilience. That's the way!

  14. #134
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: Jobs Data Lifts U.S. Blue Chips

    Quote Originally Posted by Reuters

    Jobs data lifts U.S. blue chips
    Jennifer Coogan
    Reuters
    New York, New York, U.S.
    Friday, 2 May 2008, 4:49 PM U.S. EDT


    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, 29 April 2008. - Photo: Brendan MeDermid, Reuters

    Stocks made modest gains on Friday after jobs data that offered fresh evidence the economic slowdown is not as severe as feared, but technology shares faded on a surprise loss from Sun Microsystems Inc.

    The government's stronger-than-expected April payrolls report helped oil stocks rebound sharply by easing fears about weaker U.S. demand for energy. Adding to the energy rally were higher-than-expected profit from Marathon Oil Corp and Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil company.

    "People are willing to accept the fact that we may have a very slow, stagnant economy, but the prospect of a sharp downturn seems to be less and less likely, hence the sigh of relief," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.

    The Dow Jones industrial average was up 48.20 points, or 0.37%, at 13,058.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 4.56 points, or 0.32%, at 1,413.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.72 points, or 0.15%, at 2,476.99.

    For the week, the Dow gained 1.3%, the S&P rose 1.2% and the Nasdaq advanced 2.2%.

    Sun, one of the biggest makers of computers used by businesses, sank 22.6% to close at $12.64 after the company late on Thursday blamed the slowing economy for its dismal earnings forecast.

    Yahoo Inc's shares helped stem the Nasdaq's losses. Shares of the Internet company rose nearly 7% to $28.67. The company has intensified talks with Microsoft Corp in a last-minute effort to reach a friendly agreement on Microsoft's buyout offer, now worth $42 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. Microsoft slipped 16 cents to $29.24.

    The Labor Department said 20,000 jobs were shed last month, marking a fourth straight monthly decline, but the cuts were fewer than the 80,000 which economists surveyed by Reuters had anticipated. The unemployment rate fell to 5.0% from 5.1%.

    Oil shares were higher after U.S. crude futures rose $3.80 to settle at $116.32 a barrel.

    Marathon shares rose 6% to $50.80 and Chevron rose 38 cents to $95.32. A big gainer in the oil patch was offshore driller Transocean Inc, which rose 4.2% to $151.92.
    DJI already above 13,000 because of the strength of the economy and the declining unemployment? This is good news!

  15. #135
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: 3M Investing US$200m In New Facility In Tuas

    Quote Originally Posted by CNA

    3M investing US$200m in new facility in Tuas
    Channel NewsAsia
    Friday, 2 May 2008, 2138 hrs



    3M is expanding its operations in Singapore. It is investing about US$200 million in a new manufacturing plant at Tuas.

    The new facility will manufacture coatings for film-based products used in commercial, electronic and automotive applications.

    3M already has a presence in Singapore - helping to augment its worldwide offering of 50,000 products, including post-it pads and scotch tapes.

    The new facility in Tuas will focus on the production of a wide variety of specialty films.

    These advanced coatings, which are designed to keep out heat, will help reduce air-conditioning loads for both cars and buildings.

    Lee YiShyan, Minister of State, Trade and Industry, said: "3M told me that this is the largest overseas plant they (have) ever built, so we are very proud of this partnership.

    "When completed in 12 months, it will be one of the superhub plants. It'll also bring in a lot of very high-tech quality, high value-added jobs for Singaporeans."

    The new facility will also serve to boost 3M's research and development capability.

    Jay Ihlenfeld, Senior VP, Asia Pacific, 3M, said: "We'll develop prototypes ... (for) our customers and then scale those new products up into full production on this site.

    "We also see, as the future goes forward, expanding the capabilities and the different technologies that we practise on this site to create the innovative products that the customer expects from us."

    The new facility will create about 250 jobs. 3M currently employs more than 900 employees in Singapore. Apart from the plant in Woodlands, it also has a customer innovation centre here.
    EDB is doing a good job of bringing more MNCs into Singapore or expanding their investment in Singapore.

  16. #136
    Reuters Guest

    Default Global Stocks Hit 4-month Highs, Cheered By US Data


    Global stocks hit 4-month highs, cheered by US data
    Anshuman Daga
    Reuters
    Singapore
    Monday, 5 May 2008, Singapore Time

    Asian shares rose to their strongest in nearly four months on Monday and the dollar held on to most of last week's gains after jobs data suggested the U.S. economic slowdown may not be as severe as investors had expected.

    Commodities extended Friday's advance, with gold and grains higher, while Treasuries were flat.

    Stock markets in Australia and Singapore gained 0.5%, while Hong Kong was steady. Volumes were thin as Japan and Korea were closed for national holidays. UK markets are also shut on Monday.

    European equities were set for a weaker start, with Germany's DAX futures FDXc1 down 0.2% and France's CAC futures FCEc1 off 0.4%.

    By 0600 GMT, MSCI's measure of Asian stocks outside Japan was up 0.2% at 498.9 after rising 1.7% on Friday. The index hit its highest level since Jan 17.

    It jumped 8% last month, led by battered financials on expectations the global credit crisis may have reached a turning point. Still the index is still down 6% this year.

    U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday after data showed the world's largest economy shedding jobs at a slower pace than expected, easing concerns about the risk of a deep recession.

    The U.S. lost 20,000 jobs last month, fewer than the 80,000 that economists had anticipated.

    Still, investor Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, said on Sunday the U.S. economy was in recession and banks would face more pain.

    In Asian markets, shares in China's top e-commerce firm Alibaba.com Ltd were high profile losers, down 4% after Microsoft Corp abandoned its bid to buy for Alibaba's major investor Yahoo Inc.

    Microsoft's move could be positive for U.S. stocks on Monday as it is expected to drive up the software company's heavily weighted shares.

    U.S. Rate Cuts Almost Over

    Markets will focus on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on Monday on mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures.

    The U.S. dollar was a shade softer but held on to most of last week's gains, supported by expectations the Federal Reserve will not need to cut interest rates again to cushion the economy from the credit crisis.

    "The drop in the unemployment rate has strengthened the market's conviction that the Fed is done," said Darren Gibbs, an economist at Deutsche Bank.

    The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark federal funds rate on April 30 by one-quarter point to 2% in what may be the last in a series of cuts to help the economy cope with a housing slump and credit market turmoil.

    The euro rose to $1.5465, nearly 0.3% above Friday's late level of $1.5424 but still well below April's record highs around $1.6018.

    The yen remained weak as returning risk appetite encouraged traders to borrow yen at low interest rates to invest in high yielding currencies, such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars. One U.S. dollar bought 105.22 yen, above a 13-year low of 95.71, hit in March.

    The European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England are expected keep rates on hold this week. In Australia, markets see little chance of an increase in the cash rate at the central bank's meeting on Tuesday. "The bigger picture for forex markets remains that we think the ECB is being gradually forced by the data flow into accepting that interest rates need to come lower, while the Fed rate cutting cycle is in the end game," UBS forex strategist Ashley Davies said in a note.

    In commodities, oil rose after jumping more than 3% last week, supported by further supply disruptions. U.S. light crude for June delivery CLc1 was up 0.2% at $116.5 a barrel.

    Gold rebounded as bargain hunters snapped up bullion after a fall to a 4-month low last week, but trading was thin.

    Gold ose to $862.95/864.15 an ounce from $855.80/857.00 an ounce late in New York on Friday, when it tumbled to $845 an ounce, its lowest since Jan. 2.

  17. #137
    AFP Guest

    Default STI Closes Slightly Higher


    STI closes slightly higher
    Agence France-Presse
    Singapore
    Monday, 5 May 2008

    Singapore shares finished higher on Monday with the benchmark Straits Times Index up 11.94 points or 0.37% to 3,248.04.

    Up to 1.4 billion shares exchanged hands.

    Gainers outweighed losers 355 to 285.

    Official data released in the United States on Friday showed the US labour market held up better than expected in April, with 20,000 jobs cut in the month. Analysts said the figures signaled a mild economic downturn but not a calamity.

    The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey, fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5.0%, the US Labor Department said.

    The payrolls report is seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum and came after some economists said the US, battered by a sharp decline in housing and a related credit squeeze, had already entered a recession.

    'With recession fears subsiding, we may see a good run-up in the short-term,' Westcomb Securities said in a note to clients.

    Banking shares ended higher, with DBS Group rising 16 cents to 20.40 Singapore dollars, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp gaining one cent to 9.01 and United Overseas Bank up 6 cents at 21.36 a day ahead of its first-quarter earnings report.

    Property heavyweights were mixed, with CapitaLand down three cents at 7.06, City Developments dropping 16 cents to 12.34 and Keppel Land up two cents at 6.02.

    Singapore Airlines advanced 10 cents to 16.26 and Singapore Telecommunications finished two cents lower at 3.87.

  18. #138
    Twinkle Star Guest

    Default Re: STI Closes Slightly Higher

    Quote Originally Posted by AFP

    STI closes slightly higher
    Agence France-Presse
    Singapore
    Monday, 5 May 2008

    Singapore shares finished higher on Monday with the benchmark Straits Times Index up 11.94 points or 0.37% to 3,248.04.

    Up to 1.4 billion shares exchanged hands.

    Gainers outweighed losers 355 to 285.

    Official data released in the United States on Friday showed the US labour market held up better than expected in April, with 20,000 jobs cut in the month. Analysts said the figures signaled a mild economic downturn but not a calamity.

    The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey, fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5.0%, the US Labor Department said.

    The payrolls report is seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum and came after some economists said the US, battered by a sharp decline in housing and a related credit squeeze, had already entered a recession.

    'With recession fears subsiding, we may see a good run-up in the short-term,' Westcomb Securities said in a note to clients.

    Banking shares ended higher, with DBS Group rising 16 cents to 20.40 Singapore dollars, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp gaining one cent to 9.01 and United Overseas Bank up 6 cents at 21.36 a day ahead of its first-quarter earnings report.

    Property heavyweights were mixed, with CapitaLand down three cents at 7.06, City Developments dropping 16 cents to 12.34 and Keppel Land up two cents at 6.02.

    Singapore Airlines advanced 10 cents to 16.26 and Singapore Telecommunications finished two cents lower at 3.87.
    Quote Originally Posted by unregisterb
    Slowdown may stretch into next year

    SINGAPORE - To the eternal optimists who think that the Singapore economy will rebound from its lean patch in the months to come, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong offered a sobering projection: he expects the slowdown to continue into next year.

    While the economy is on track to hit 4-6 per cent growth this year, Mr Lee sees its momentum slowing in the next few quarters as the United States economy limps along, dragged down by still-unfixed sub-prime mortgage problems.

    And whether it's a V-shaped or U-shaped downturn in the US, it could extend the slowdown in Singapore's economy into 2009, Mr Lee told some 1,500 unionists yesterday at a National Trades Union Congress May Day Rally.

    'The first quarter is good,' he said. 'Second, third, fourth quarters - prepare ourselves that it will slow down. And the slowdown may last into next year.'

    It could be worse if the US falls into an L-shaped economic trajectory - the gloomiest scenario, when there is a severe and extended downturn in the US, like the decade-long recession Japan went into in the 1990s.

    'If that happens, then America is in trouble,' Mr Lee said. 'So too Europe, so too Japan. And Singapore will be caught up in this and we will be in serious difficulties too.'

    But he noted that most analysts don't think this is on the cards.

    The best scenario for the US is a V-shaped downturn - a quick recession followed by a quick rebound - which is also the best scenario for Singapore, Mr Lee said. 'But it is hoping for the best'.

    He said the US could easily slip into a U-shaped downturn because its underlying housing problems remain unsolved. The actions taken so far have only postponed the problems into the future.

    'The property prices have to go down further,' Mr Lee said. 'When they go down, the banks will have more problems. When the banks have problems, they shrink. That will cause the economy to have more problems.'

    In a U-shaped downturn, the bottoming will last longer and the US economy will take some time to sort itself out - perhaps until 2009, according to him.

    'This could well happen and then Singapore too will be slowed down significantly,' Mr Lee warned.


    'But whatever it is, we have to stay on our guard and stay prepared,' he said. 'Overall, I would expect V-shaped if we are lucky (or a) U-shaped downturn in the US - better plan on that.'

    Whatever shape the US downturn takes, Mr Lee said the impact on the Singapore economy will be uneven. Construction, marine engineering, ports and shipyards will be 'all right', according to him.

    'Construction will be okay because we have so many things building in Singapore,' Mr Lee said.

    'Marine engineering will be okay because the shipyards are doing well. Ports will be okay because the port is highly competitive and bringing in a lot of business.'

    But tourism, financial services and perhaps information technology will feel at least some pain.

    All this suggests that Singapore's year-on-year economic growth in the coming quarters will fall below the surprisingly strong 7.2 per cent gain estimated for Q1.

    'Essentially, Singapore has to be prepared for fairly rough weather ahead,' said Manu Bhaskaran of Centennial Group, a US-based economic consultancy.

    He sees a prolonged period of 'meagre' economic growth in the US - and Europe and Japan are not going to take up the slack, because the leading indicators for these two large economies also point to a slowdown, according to him.

    Mr Bhaskaran said Singapore has built up some resiliency in its services sector, which puts it in a better position than before to absorb the impact of a US recession. But even then, it remains an open economy and a downturn in the US, Europe and Japan at the same time will hit Singapore.

    This article was first published in The Business Times on May 2, 2008.
    Oh slowdown to go on into 2009...........so painful!!!

  19. #139
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: STI Closes Slightly Higher

    Quote Originally Posted by Twinkle Star
    Oh slowdown to go on into 2009...........so painful!!!
    why painful ah ??
    haha you deserved it !!

  20. #140
    WSJ Guest

    Default Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism


    Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism
    Karen Richardson
    The Wall Street Journal
    Monday, 5 May 2008


    All eyes were on Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S..

    Investors, take heart: Warren Buffett sees investment opportunities in the U.S. stock and bond markets, and believes widespread financial turmoil from the credit crunch is behind us.

    Speaking to reporters Sunday, a day after Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual fan-fest for shareholders at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., both Mr. Buffett, 77 years old, and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 84, criticized regulators, politicians and accountants for lax oversight of financial institutions that are at the center of the subprime-mortgage crisis, and, according to Mr. Munger, were guilty of "deep conflicts of interest."

    "The regulators and the accountants have failed us terribly," Mr. Munger said, adding that mark-to-market accounting rules are necessary but can obscure other problems within a company.

    This year at Mr. Buffett's annual gathering for shareholders -- often called "Woodstock for Capitalists" -- 31,000 Buffett enthusiasts were serenaded by Fruit of the Loom minstrels, enjoyed samples of Berkshire portfolio companies such as Dilly Bars and watched artist Michael Israel speed-paint a Buffett portrait with Benjamin Moore paints.

    Mr. Buffett credited the Federal Reserve for helping to avert a more-widespread crisis on Wall Street by orchestrating a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. that "prevented, in my opinion, the contagion where you're going to have runs on investment banks."

    Bank losses "aren't over by a long shot, but a lot of it has already been recognized," he said, adding that the depth of the housing crisis, unemployment and other economic factors would help determine how long the write-downs continue.

    "The idea of financial panic -- that has been pretty much taken care of," he said.

    As to buying opportunities, Mr. Buffett told shareholders, "We are happy to invest in businesses that earn their money in the euro, or in companies that derive their earnings in Germany, or from the sterling in the [United Kingdom], because I don't have a feeling that those currencies are going to depreciate in a big way against the dollar." Sunday he said a Berkshire unit is close to buying a midsize company in the U.K., but he didn't elaborate. This month, Mr. Buffett is scheduled to tour five European cities looking for more buying opportunities.

    What may not be an attractive buying opportunity? Berkshire itself, Mr. Buffett said on Saturday. "Anyone who expects us to come close to replicating the past should sell their stock. It's not gonna happen," he said. "You may have something better to do with your money than buy Berkshire."

    Mr. Buffett also said Berkshire Hathaway's four-month-old municipal-bond insurance business garnered more than $400 million of premiums in the first quarter, boasting that this made its new business bigger than that of its rival. "This whole company has been built in just a couple of months," Mr. Buffett said.

    Sunday he took a few jabs at rivals, saying he was confounded by the ability of his municipal-bond insurer's biggest rivals, MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Corp., to retain their triple-A ratings.

    "If you can find another illustration of a company whose stock that's gone down by 95% in one year and is still rated triple-A, I have yet to see it," Mr. Buffett said.


    No, his face isn't on the dollar bill. Yet. - Photo: Reuters

  21. #141
    UnregIsered Guest

    Default Re: Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism

    Quote Originally Posted by WSJ

    Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism
    Karen Richardson
    The Wall Street Journal
    Monday, 5 May 2008


    All eyes were on Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S..

    Investors, take heart: Warren Buffett sees investment opportunities in the U.S. stock and bond markets, and believes widespread financial turmoil from the credit crunch is behind us.

    Speaking to reporters Sunday, a day after Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual fan-fest for shareholders at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., both Mr. Buffett, 77 years old, and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 84, criticized regulators, politicians and accountants for lax oversight of financial institutions that are at the center of the subprime-mortgage crisis, and, according to Mr. Munger, were guilty of "deep conflicts of interest."

    "The regulators and the accountants have failed us terribly," Mr. Munger said, adding that mark-to-market accounting rules are necessary but can obscure other problems within a company.

    This year at Mr. Buffett's annual gathering for shareholders -- often called "Woodstock for Capitalists" -- 31,000 Buffett enthusiasts were serenaded by Fruit of the Loom minstrels, enjoyed samples of Berkshire portfolio companies such as Dilly Bars and watched artist Michael Israel speed-paint a Buffett portrait with Benjamin Moore paints.

    Mr. Buffett credited the Federal Reserve for helping to avert a more-widespread crisis on Wall Street by orchestrating a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. that "prevented, in my opinion, the contagion where you're going to have runs on investment banks."

    Bank losses "aren't over by a long shot, but a lot of it has already been recognized," he said, adding that the depth of the housing crisis, unemployment and other economic factors would help determine how long the write-downs continue.

    "The idea of financial panic -- that has been pretty much taken care of," he said.

    As to buying opportunities, Mr. Buffett told shareholders, "We are happy to invest in businesses that earn their money in the euro, or in companies that derive their earnings in Germany, or from the sterling in the [United Kingdom], because I don't have a feeling that those currencies are going to depreciate in a big way against the dollar." Sunday he said a Berkshire unit is close to buying a midsize company in the U.K., but he didn't elaborate. This month, Mr. Buffett is scheduled to tour five European cities looking for more buying opportunities.

    What may not be an attractive buying opportunity? Berkshire itself, Mr. Buffett said on Saturday. "Anyone who expects us to come close to replicating the past should sell their stock. It's not gonna happen," he said. "You may have something better to do with your money than buy Berkshire."

    Mr. Buffett also said Berkshire Hathaway's four-month-old municipal-bond insurance business garnered more than $400 million of premiums in the first quarter, boasting that this made its new business bigger than that of its rival. "This whole company has been built in just a couple of months," Mr. Buffett said.

    Sunday he took a few jabs at rivals, saying he was confounded by the ability of his municipal-bond insurer's biggest rivals, MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Corp., to retain their triple-A ratings.

    "If you can find another illustration of a company whose stock that's gone down by 95% in one year and is still rated triple-A, I have yet to see it," Mr. Buffett said.


    No, his face isn't on the dollar bill. Yet. - Photo: Reuters
    Berkshire Hathaway Profit Falls 64% on Derivatives Loss

    By Reuters | 02 May 2008

    Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway said on Friday that first-quarter profit tumbled 64 percent, hurt by $1.6 billion of pre-tax losses tied to derivatives contracts.

    Net income fell to $940 million, or $607 per Class A share, from $2.6 billion, or $1,682, a year earlier.

    Operating profit fell 13 percent to $1.93 billion, or $1,247 per share, from $2.21 billion, or $1,434.


    Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire is a holding company with more than 70 operating units and a wide array of stock investments.

    It typically generates about half its business from insurance and reinsurance.

    The derivative losses stemmed from Berkshire's exposure to contracts designed to make money if junk bond stay out of default and stock indexes rise.

    In February, Buffett revealed that Berkshire ended 2007 with $40 billion of exposure to 94 of these contracts.


    Berkshire said it had a $1.2 billion unrealized loss on put options it wrote on the Standard & Poor's 500 and three foreign stock indexes.

    It also reported a $490 million unrealized loss on contracts that require payouts if some high-yield bonds default between now and 2013.


    Other contracts brought the net loss derivatives down to $1.6 billion.

    Accounting rules require the company to regularly report unrealized gains and losses in earnings, Berkshire said.

    The exposure may at first seem odd given that, in his shareholder letter in 2003, Buffett called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal." But in his letter this year, Buffett said Berkshire had already been paid for its derivatives contracts, giving it cash to invest, and that "there is no counterparty risk," He also said shareholders should be prepared for gains and losses that could "easily" top $1 billion in a given quarter.

    In Friday trading, Berkshire's Class A shares Berkshire Hathaway Inc fell $300 to $133,600, while its Class B shares fell $12 to $4,448.

  22. #142
    Twinkle Star Guest

    Default Re: Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism

    Quote Originally Posted by UnregIsered
    Berkshire Hathaway Profit Falls 64% on Derivatives Loss

    By Reuters | 02 May 2008

    Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway said on Friday that first-quarter profit tumbled 64 percent, hurt by $1.6 billion of pre-tax losses tied to derivatives contracts.

    Net income fell to $940 million, or $607 per Class A share, from $2.6 billion, or $1,682, a year earlier.

    Operating profit fell 13 percent to $1.93 billion, or $1,247 per share, from $2.21 billion, or $1,434.


    Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire is a holding company with more than 70 operating units and a wide array of stock investments.

    It typically generates about half its business from insurance and reinsurance.

    The derivative losses stemmed from Berkshire's exposure to contracts designed to make money if junk bond stay out of default and stock indexes rise.

    In February, Buffett revealed that Berkshire ended 2007 with $40 billion of exposure to 94 of these contracts.


    Berkshire said it had a $1.2 billion unrealized loss on put options it wrote on the Standard & Poor's 500 and three foreign stock indexes.

    It also reported a $490 million unrealized loss on contracts that require payouts if some high-yield bonds default between now and 2013.


    Other contracts brought the net loss derivatives down to $1.6 billion.

    Accounting rules require the company to regularly report unrealized gains and losses in earnings, Berkshire said.

    The exposure may at first seem odd given that, in his shareholder letter in 2003, Buffett called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal." But in his letter this year, Buffett said Berkshire had already been paid for its derivatives contracts, giving it cash to invest, and that "there is no counterparty risk," He also said shareholders should be prepared for gains and losses that could "easily" top $1 billion in a given quarter.

    In Friday trading, Berkshire's Class A shares Berkshire Hathaway Inc fell $300 to $133,600, while its Class B shares fell $12 to $4,448.
    Ofcourse Buffet is not God. Berkshire could lose like any other company...

  23. #143
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism

    Quote Originally Posted by Twinkle Star
    Ofcourse Buffet is not God. Berkshire could lose like any other company...
    But we all choose to follow him.
    Let's see you win or we win.

  24. #144
    UnregĄstered Guest

    Default Re: Buffett Sounds Note of Optimism

    Quote Originally Posted by UnregĄstered
    But we all choose to follow him.
    Let's see you win or we win.
    smart move .. follow W. Buffett sure boleh .. follow Twinkle Star / maddog sure mati ..

  25. #145
    Cut Cut Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Quote Originally Posted by unregistered
    Layoffs Loom at Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Lehman

    05 May 2008

    Wall Street is being hit by another wave layoffs, with Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan Chase all set to axe staff in the near future.

    Morgan Stanley is planning another round of layoffs in the coming days, finalizing a plan to slash another 5 percent from its securities-firm workforce, or 1,500 employees, CNBC has learned. And Lehman will announce another round of cuts in addition to those already begun as early as next week.

    People inside Morgan say the cuts will be across all business units, except brokers who make money largely on a commission basis and usually leave on their own when markets drop or business slumps. Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley has 46,000 employees, including 8,000 brokers.

    "We are constantly evaluating business conditions to ensure we are right-sized and we continue to do that," a Morgan Stanley spokesperson said when asked for comment. A Lehman spokeswoman declined to comment.

    The cutbacks reflect the souring business environment on Wall Street. Morgan Stanley has already announced a $9 billion writedown stemming from a wrong-way bet on the mortgage-bond market, and has announced losses due to the bad trades.

    Morgan rebounded in the first quarter of 2008, reporting net income of $1.5 billion. But business conditions remain weak, and profit margins are being squeezed across the securities business. By comparison, Morgan’s first quarter profits of $2.5 billion for the first quarter of 2007 were nearly twice as large as its first quarter 2008 results.

    People inside Morgan say CEO John Mack believes the 5 percent cut, which will begin any day now and continue through the end of June, may be the last round of job cuts at the company this year, which has already announced job reductions of 5 percent, or around 2,800 employees.

    Mack’s plan, these people say, is to slash 10 percent of the firm’s workforce during 2008, though he is leaving his options open to cut more if business conditions don’t improve. “Hopefully this is it for 2008, but you never know,” a Morgan executive told CNBC.

    Widespread Wall Street Layoffs

    Elsewhere on Wall Street, JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co is cutting its own staff to make room for incoming Bear Stearns Bear Stearns Cos Inc executives it's hired as part of its purchase of that firm. According to one senior executive at JPMorgan, the firm also wants to "right size" the business.

    JPMorgan is expected to cut more than half of Bear Stearns' 14,000 former employees, though CNBC has learned that JPMorgan has already offered jobs to around 4,000 former Bear workers. Senior people inside JPMorgan say the firm has no hard figure for the size of the layoffs.

    Meanwhile, CNBC has learned that Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc next week also is expected to add to the 4,900 layoffs it has already announced.

    Chief executives of major wall street firms tell CNBC that the unofficial head-count reduction on Wall Street overall is 10 percent per firm as a result of losses and declining business stemming from the disappearance, at least for now, of the once-lucrative structured finance business.
    AND WE ALL THOUGHT THAT IT IS OVER.

  26. #146
    Unregistered. Guest

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    Fed Survey Shows More U.S. Banks Tighten Loan Terms

    By Scott Lanman

    May 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve said the share of banks making it tougher for companies and consumers to borrow approached a record after the subprime-mortgage collapse made them more reluctant to lend.

    The quarterly Senior Loan Officers' Survey, published in Washington today, underscores the Fed's concern that $318 billion of credit losses and writedowns among financial firms is causing a credit crunch. The survey, conducted last month, also indicates that the Fed's interest-rate cuts and loans to banks have failed so far to defuse the threat to the six-year economic expansion.

    ``It's going to be a headwind to growth,'' said Keith Hembre, chief economist at Minneapolis-based FAF Advisors Inc., which oversees $107 billion. ``The change from being readily available and cheap to less available and more expensive is going to deter a lot of borrowing activity.''

    Most banks increased loan rates over their cost of funds for commercial and industrial borrowing, according to the central bank's quarterly survey of senior loan officers released today in Washington. The proportion of banks raising such rates rose to a net of 70 percent compared to 45 percent in a January report.

    The survey data were available to central bank policy makers last week when they cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

    The report covered 56 domestic banks and 21 foreign institutions. The American banks together have $6.1 trillion in assets, representing about 64 percent of the country's $9.5 trillion total for all domestically chartered, federally insured commercial banks.

    `Downside' Risks

    Policy makers last week signaled they are ready to hold off on further rate cuts as they assess the impact of the 3.25 percentage points of reductions since September. They dropped a reference to ``downside'' risks to growth from their previous statement.

    At the same time, officials acknowledged in their April 30 statement that ``tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters.''

    Traders anticipate that the Fed will leave its main interest rate unchanged at 2 percent through October, based on futures prices on the Chicago Board of Trade.

    ``The net fractions of domestic banks reporting tighter lending standards were close to, or above, historical highs for nearly all loan categories in the survey,'' today's Fed report said.

    Commercial Property

    In commercial real estate, a net 80 percent of U.S. banks said they tightened lending standards, about the same as the January survey. The results of both surveys are about the highest since the central bank began seeking information on the subject in 1990. A net 35 percent of U.S. banks reported slower demand, less than January's 47 percent.

    For home loans, the proportion of U.S. banks making it tougher for prime borrowers, those with the best credit, rose to about 60 percent from 53 percent. About one-fourth of U.S. banks reported slower borrowing for prime mortgages and 30 percent said nontraditional loans were weaker, both ``significantly smaller'' numbers of banks than in the January survey.

    ``I think we're back to 1980s lending'' in terms of acceptable credit records and down payments, David Kittle, the chairman-elect of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said today. Kittle, chief executive officer of Principle Wholesale Lending Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky, spoke at a conference hosted by the trade group in Boston.

    Middle Market

    The Fed's rate reductions since September have failed to put much of a dent in the cost of a mortgage. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.06 percent last week, down from 6.46 percent at the start of September though up from 5.45 percent in January, according to Freddie Mac.

    A net 15 percent of large U.S. banks said demand increased from large and middle-market companies for commercial and industrial loans. The respondents attributed the rise to borrowing that ``shifted to their banks from other bank or nonbank sources,'' which became ``less attractive.''

    At the same time, a similar proportion said demand from small companies slowed, citing a drop in ``customers' needs to finance investment in plant and equipment,'' the Fed said.

    In response to special survey questions on home-equity lines of credit, about half of U.S. banks said they tightened terms on existing loans, mainly because of declines in home values below appraised values, as well as increased defaults and changes in borrowers' finances.

    Services Growth

    Today's report comes amid signs the U.S. economy is weathering the housing and credit contractions. A report today showed service industries unexpectedly grew for the first time since December, while the economy as a whole expanded at a 0.6 percent annual pace in the first quarter, matching the pace of the last three months of 2007.

    Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is scheduled later today to speak in New York on mortgage foreclosures, his first public comments since last week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

    Bernanke's speech coincides with the advance of legislation backed by Democrats that would create a program at the Federal Housing Administration insuring as much as $300 billion in refinanced mortgages. The House is scheduled to consider the bill on Wednesday.

    Foreclosure filings rose 57 percent in March from a year earlier, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.

  27. #147
    Remove Guest

    Default Re: Semiconductor Industry Expected To See Positive Growth This Year

    Quote Originally Posted by CNA

    Semiconductor industry expected to see positive growth this year
    Rachel Kelly
    Channel NewsAsia
    Monday, 5 May 2008, 2232 hrs



    The semiconductor industry in Southeast Asia is expected to see as much as ....................
    ...............................................................
    ...............................................................
    This is another unrelated post which needs to be removed. We don't work in the semiconductor industry.

  28. #148
    Telegraph Guest

    Default Worst Of Credit Crunch May Be Over, Says BoE


    Worst of credit crunch may be over, says BoE
    The worst of the credit crisis may now be over and markets could soon be on the road to recovery, the Bank of England believes.

    Edmund Conway
    Economics Editor
    Telegraph
    London, U.K.
    Friday, 2 May 2008, 2:26AM Singapore Time



    In a report likely to reassure families struggling with soaring mortgage bills and falling house prices, the Bank's deputy governor, Sir John Gieve, said London's troubled money markets could soon recover from what is widely regarded as the worst crisis since the Great Depression.

    He said: "The most likely path ahead is that confidence and risk appetite will return gradually in the coming months."

    He indicated that Britain is now on a knife-edge. In one direction lies an eventual recovery; in the other six months or more of even deeper financial turmoil.

    However, even if there is a swift recovery, it would take months, and possibly years, before many households feel the benefit, the Bank warned. It said highly-indebted families and buy-to-let investors are at significant risk in the coming months.

    It also refused to rule out further falls in house prices in the coming months, after Nationwide declared that home values are now falling year-on-year.

    In its Financial Stability Report, published today, the Bank said that the mood had darkened to such a degree in the City and on Wall Street that the reality was now significantly brighter than many had feared.

    It said the prices of the stricken financial investments at the heart of the crisis had fallen so dramatically that they may now represent a bargain for long-term investors.

    The credit crisis originated in the American housing market, where many homeowners defaulted on their mortgages, causing millions of pounds of losses at banks and investors around the world.

    However, in recent months a wider sense of fear and paranoia has intensified as the crunch caused the collapse of Northern Rock and US investment bank Bear Stearns.

    The Bank's report also warns that many "high-risk borrowers" will face mortgage rate increases of around 2.5% as they move off cheap fixed rate deals onto their lenders' standard variable rate deal. It says that buy-to-let investors are struggling to keep their investments afloat.

    Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper said: "No matter how strong the long term fundamentals, the housing market will face pressures while the credit squeeze continues. The most important thing to help home owners and home buyers now is to get credit markets moving again."

  29. #149
    AFP Guest

    Default Asian Nations Agree To Set Up Crisis Fund


    Asian nations agree to set up crisis fund
    Daniel Silva
    Agence France-Presse
    Madrid, Spain
    Monday, 5 May 2008, 3:20AM Singapore Time


    Economic Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pose during the opening ceremony of The 14th ASEAN economic ministers retreat and related meetings in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali on 3 May 2008. Finance ministers of 13 Asian nations agreed to set up a foreign exchange pool of at least US$80 billion (€52 billion) to be used in the event of another regional crisis. - Photo: Sonny Tumbelaka, AFP

    Finance ministers of 13 Asian nations agreed here on Sunday to set up a foreign exchange pool of at least US$80 billion (€52 billion) to be used in the event of another regional financial crisis.

    China, Japan and South Korea will provide 80% of the funds, with the rest coming from the 10 members of ASEAN, they said in a joint statement issued after talks on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank meeting in Madrid.

    The 13 nations agreed after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis to set up a mainly bilateral currency swap scheme known as the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) to protect their currencies from turmoil in the future.

    At the ADB's last annual meeting in Japan in May 2007, they decided to set aside part of their foreign reserves for a multi-nation system of reserves for use in emergencies, but did not decide on the size of the pool.

    "We are committed to further accelerate our work in order to reach consensus on all of the elements which include concrete conditions eligible for borrowing and contents of convenants specified in borrowing arrangements," the statement said.

    The foreign exchange pool would be self-managed and be governed by a single contract that will be legally binding, it added.

    Vietnam's Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh, who co-chaired the Madrid meeting, said the 13 nations would now work to develop a way of monitoring the fund.

    "We think it is very important to have a rigorous surveillance system, especially in the context that regional economies have made an important and big integration into the world economy," he told reporters.

    Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, the other meeting co-chair, did not give a timeline for the the creation of the fund when asked, saying only that it "should be achievable in terms of its objectives."

    The creation of the pool is a big step towards the creation af an Asian equivalent of the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    During the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea had to borrow heavily from the IMF to boost their finances as investors sold their currencies.

    The IMF forced the governments of the three nations to make unpopular spending cuts, sell state-owned firms and raise interest rates in exchange for the loans of over US$100 billion.

    Asian economies are being challenged by rising energy and commodity prices as well as the vulnerability of financial markets, the finance ministers said in the statement.

    "The regional economy has continued its strong growth and is forecast to remain robust although somewhat weaker," it said.

    "We confirmed the importance of taking appropriate actions to ensure that economic activity continues at a sustained pace by balancing policies to deal with these risks," it added.

    The ADB predicts Asia's developing economies will expand by 7.6% in 2008, its lowest level in five years, after surging ahead 8.7% last year.

    Inflation in the region should hit 5.1% this year, its highest level since the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

    The 13 countries are China, Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

  30. #150
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    72

    Default Re: S'pore private home prices rise 3.7% in Q1

    This place is no longer a forum but a "who can cut and paste plus highlight the most in different font size and colours" area.
    Maybe there should be a news area where people can post news instead of needlessly pasting articles after articles of news. Honestly speaking, econ data comes out almost everyday + stks indices change everyday, so there is no end to this cut & paste mentality...I'd like to hear constructive arguments from both sides and not have to scroll down 10 pages to find one comment (minus away 9 pages of other comments which argue over the articles being posted).

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