Inhalt:

Betroffen sei neben den US-Konzernteilen auch die deutsche Holdinggesellschaft Basell Germany, teilte der weltweit drittgrößte Petrochemiekonzern am Dienstagabend mit. Insgesamt hätten sich rund 80 Tochtergesellschaften an dem Schritt beteiligt. Das Unternehmen leidet unter einer Schuldenlast von rund 26 Mrd. $. Am Sonntag war die Frist für eine Umschuldung abgelaufen.

About 25 of the carriers, each able to hold about 2 million barrels of crude, were already hired for storage. There are enquiries for 5 to 10 more, Jens Martin Jensen, Singapore-based interim chief executive officer of the company’s management unit, said by phone today. Traders are storing crude to take advantage of higher prices for supply in the future.

Thirty-five supertankers represent about 7 percent of the global fleet of very large crude carriers, according to data from London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. Storing oil in tankers may buoy rental rates that fell by a record 78 percent last year as slower economic growth sapped demand for energy.

On Oct 14th, Intel projected revenue for Q4 2008:

[margin=0 0 0 2]Revenue: Between $10.1 billion and $10.9 billion.[/margin]

Then Intel warned on November 12th and lowered their revenue projection to $8.7 billion to $9.3 billion:

[margin=0 0 0 2]Intel Corporation today announced that fourth-quarter business will be below the company's previous outlook. The company now expects fourth-quarter revenue to be $9 billion, plus or minus $300 million, lower than the previous expectation of between $10.1 billion and $10.9 billion. Revenue is being affected by significantly weaker than expected demand in all geographies and market segments. In addition, the PC supply chain is aggressively reducing component inventories.[/margin]

And now today Intel reported a significant miss: Intel Announces Preliminary Fourth-Quarter Financial Information

[margin=0 0 0 2]Intel Corporation today announced preliminary fourth-quarter financial information with revenue of approximately $8.2 billion, down 20 percent sequentially and down 23 percent year over year. Revenue will be lower than the company's previous expectation, provided on Nov. 12, 2008, as a result of further weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by its customers in the global PC supply chain.[/margin]

This is a pretty significant decline in revenues and suggests much lower business investment in equipment and software in Q4 2008.

Dies entspricht elf Prozent aller Stellen im Konzern.Das Unternehmen teilte am Donnerstag mit, auf diese Weise sollten rund 300 Millionen Dollar eingespart werden.

Grund für den Sparkurs seien sinkende Verkaufszahlen weltweit – vor allem aber in der Volksrepublik. Lenovo ist der viertgrößte PC-Hersteller weltweit.

For those who have worked in the Beijing real estate industry over the past 10 years, 2008 has been the worst. Latest figures revealed by the Beijing Bureau of Statistics show that housing sales area between January and November totaled 7.389 million square meters, a drop of 52.4% over the same period of 2007.

A 50+% decrease in sales leaves much new housing vacant. By the end of December, 2008, the number of salable houses and apartments under construction in Beijing reached 188,031, while finished but unsold houses and apartments totaled 174,290, leaving over 360,000 units on the market. If they are sold at 120,000 a year, the rate in 2007, it will take at least 3 years to sell them all, and that’s if no more are built.

Such capital movement, resulting from the world economic slowdown and financial crisis, will bring with it potential risks, said Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

China has cut interest rates and seen its economy slowing down since the global financial crisis hit the country's exporters. That could reduce its attraction to foreign investors and lead to capital outflows.

More money flowing out of the border could increase the risk of liquidity strain in the country, which is especially dangerous amid the global financial crisis.

The Land Registry recorded 5,437 registration of flat sale and purchase agreements in December, up 43.6 percent from November but still down 65.1 percent from the same period in 2007.

Using a 12-month moving average, the figure for December, however, represented an 8.2 percent drop on November and a 22.2 percent dip on December 2007.

The figure is down 22.2 percent on 2007 but up 14.3 percent on 2006.

The total consideration involved in these agreements was 413.11billion HK dollars (53.34 billion U.S. dollars), down 21.4 percent on 2007 but up 31.1 percent on 2006.

Those companies' profits grew 19.4 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of last year and 36.7 percent in 2007, so the 4.9-percent growth rate indicated a freefall-style collapse, in line with the recent sharp declines in industrial output and export growth.

It is the first eurozone bond auction of the year and an ominous sign of potential trouble ahead for governments around the world, with an estimated $3,000bn expected to be issued in sovereign debt this year – three times more than in 2008.

The auction of 10-year bonds failed to attract enough bids to reach the €6bn the government wanted to raise. Although a number of German bond auctions failed last year, it was almost unheard of before the credit crisis.

Dem Statistischen Bundesamt zufolge wurden Waren im Wert von 67,4 Milliarden Euro eingeführt – 5,6 Prozent weniger als im Vormonat und 0,9 Prozent weniger als im Vorjahresmonat.

Vergangene Woche war der Konzern mit dem Plan gescheitert, zwei größere Firmen, die nicht aus dem IT-Sektor stammten, zu übernehmen. Raja räumte heute ein, dass diese Transaktion der letzte Versuch gewesen sei, die Bilanz mit fingierten Vermögenswerten aufzublähen. Im Gegenzug habe er aus fremden Quellen 12,3 Milliarden Rupien aufgetrieben und in das Unternehmen geschleust, um Satyam operativ am Laufen zu halten.

A spokeswoman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said "we will lower credit lines for customers who are showing signs of increased risk or inactivity."

This can also have a negative impact on your credit score by increasing the ratio of outstanding debt to available credit. A loss of a long-standing credit card may also shorten your credit history.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says callers have been unable to get through this week.

Spokesman Brian Harter said Tuesday the section of the state's web site that enables people to make claims online is down.

Harter said the telephone hot line generally receives about 7,500 calls a day, but has been getting about 80,000 each of the past two days.

Once the system was back up, the state set one-day records both for the amount of unemployment benefits paid and for the number of transactions, officials said Tuesday.

The number of people trying to sign up online for new or continuing benefits was as much as triple pre-recession levels Sunday and Monday, the Employment Security Commission said. That volume, together with a phone line problem, overwhelmed the agency's computers and prevented some people from filing claims.

As of December 31, pension plans among members of the Standard & Poor's 1500 had $1.21 trillion of assets and $1.62 trillion of liabilities, Mercer said in a report released on Wednesday. At the end of 2007, pension plan assets totaled $1.66 trillion and liabilities totaled about $1.6 trillion, Mercer said.

Mercer estimated pension expenses will increase to about $70 billion this year from $10 billion in 2008, reducing overall profitability by about 8 percent.