Inhalt:

The study said that over 2008, global pension assets fell to $20 trillion from $25 trillion, a fall of 19 percent which took assets below 2005 levels.

Mr. Schwarzman argued that banks should be allowed lower capital ratios, freeing money normally laid away against losses for new lending. He also called for the end of accounting rules that forced lower and lower asset valuations. And, oh yes, the government should guarantee securitizations to help the market get moving.

Standard and Poor's said earlier Wednesday it lowered the long and short-term credit ratings on Investcorp to BB+/B from BBB/A-2.

With overcapacity and a drop in trade, the bottom recently fell out on shipping rates. The rate for shipping a container from Asia to Europe, the world's busiest trade lane, has fallen to around $300, one-tenth the cost of a year ago, even as some shippers cancel regular runs. Some ships have gone so far as to take containers free. The only cost to the shipper is roughly $500 in fuel and transit fees, which are assessed on all containers.

According to the most recent data available, the U.S., Japan, China and the European Union all suffered 10% declines in exports in November, auguring a bitter 2009 for global trade. Yet shipping companies aren't expected to cancel any orders for new ships, allowing the global fleet to increase by over 12% -- way ahead of expected demand.

Most of the new big ships were ordered before the economic bust in anticipation that the China-fueled boom in global trade would continue. But instead of canceling orders, shippers now see an opportunity to force a shakeout in what has long been a fragmented industry of family-led carriers.

In Italy there was also a significant decline, to 69.9 in January, from 74.4 in October.

The company, formed from the carve-up of listed Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS) by the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments at the end of October, said it made an underlying profit of 1.2 billion euros in the first nine months.

However, a net loss resulted due to a 12.5 billion euro hit linked to the divestment of ABN AMRO and the carve-up transactions and 3.6 billion euros from the deterioration of its credit portfolio.

At such a rate, the FMUs are used up faster than they can be replenished.

For this year, the Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited (NRDCL), the institution responsible for handling firewood orders, has submitted a request for 10,830 cubic metres or 1,354 truckloads of firewood from the DFS. According to the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Lobzang Dorji, this will not happen, “it will be difficult to meet even one third this year”, he said.

However, various measures of economic activity suggest that an outright contraction in the Chinese economy is now at least thinkable. To take one widely discussed example, electricity production in November was down 7.8 per cent from a year earlier. This was the sharpest decline on record. Typically, electricity production has grown at more than 10 per cent.

Chinese imports in December were down 21.3 per cent from a year earlier. Falling commodity prices explain some of this. China may also be cutting its reliance on importing parts from other countries in favour of building and assembling everything itself. This might explain the torrid decline in exports for Korea and Taiwan. But it still looks as though China is suffering a significant fall in domestic demand.

Ein paar Hundert Meter weiter auf der Fläche vor dem Rollfeld warten zwei Jumbos und acht MD-11-Frachtflieger. Eigentlich sollten sie voll beladen in der Luft sein. Doch nur um ein Flugzeug stehen Paletten mit Kartons im Kreis. Arbeiter in neongelb leuchtenden Westen laden sie in den Bauch der Maschine.

Die anderen Flieger müssen warten. Und das kann dauern. Denn dem Carrier brechen die Aufträge im Sturzflug weg. Allein im Dezember transportierte er gut ein Fünftel weniger Güter als im Vorjahresmonat. "Das war einer der schlechtesten Monate in unserer Firmengeschichte", gibt Haupt zu.

The tendency is clear - with the exception of Germany, Danish exports to these countries have fallen dramatically from 2007 to 2008.

The drop in exports to Sweden, for example, between November 2007 and November 2008 was at 22 percent. The corresponding figure for the U.S. was a drop of 32 percent.
[...]
The worst prospects are said to be for the United Kingdom. Exports to the U.K. have dropped 12 percent over the past year and the council expects negative British GDP in both 2009 and 2010. The Confederation of Danish Industries (DI) expects Germany, which is Denmark's largest export market, to be even harder hit than Britain.

While the government notification did not cite the reason for the ban, sources said it was concerned over a rise in imports of toys.

A concern had also been raised over the safety of children playing with the Chinese toys, which were found to be toxic.

Most of the varieties, including wheeled toys, dolls, stuffed toys, toyguns, wooden and metal toys, musical instruments, electric trains and puzzles are covered under the ban.
[...]
However, trade expert Arun Goyal said, "The ban would encourage smuggling of toys through Nepal borders. That would be more dangerous... It is bad, especially for the slum children, who an afford the cheap Chinese toys only."

Srinivas Talluri and S. Gopalakrishnan were remanded to judicial custody on charges of “conspiracy and co- participation,” A. Shivanarayana, a police spokesman in Andhra Pradesh state, said from the province’s capital Hyderabad, where Satyam is based. Price Waterhouse said in an e-mailed statement it didn’t know why two partners were detained.

Seven years after the implosion of Enron Corp. led to the dissolution of accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, the Satyam case has put PricewaterhouseCoopers in the spotlight. Indian police, fraud squad, markets regulator and accounting body have started investigations after Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju said Jan. 7 that he had fabricated $1 billion of assets.
[...]
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP may also face scrutiny in the U.S. after Satyam’s New York-listed equities lost 82 percent of their market value in two weeks. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Satyam misled investors and officials from the SEC plan to coordinate inquiries with counterparts in India.

Haarde hatte sich zunächst für Wahlen gegen Jahresende ausgesprochen. Eine Abstimmung in der gegenwärtigen Notlage seien unverantwortlich, hatte der Regierungschef argumentiert. Gísladóttir forderte jedoch rasche Neuwahlen.
[...]
Seit Wochen fordern Demonstranten den Rücktritt der Regierung. Tausende Isländer hatten mehr als eine Woche lang jeden Tag bis in die Nacht hinein vor Parlament, Ministerien und Parteibüros protestiert. Dabei kam es auch zu gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen mit der Polizei - was sehr ungewöhnlich ist in Island.

"There have been calls for the nationalisation of the oil and gas industry," he said at a dinner on Friday night for visiting King Juan Carlos of Spain.

"We hope this will not happen. We hope oil prices will rise to a reasonable level," he said. "A price which stabilises at around 100 dollars ... is a reasonable target price."

Although Eastern Europeans tend to work for lower wages than their Danish construction colleagues, they also appear to be at the top of the list when layoffs have to be chosen as a result of the current recession.

According to figures from the Labour Market Board, the number of Eastern Europeans with an active working permit in Denmark has fallen from 12,784 to 8,814 – despite the fact that it has become much easier for companies to import foreign workers.

According to reports, 10 to 12 hours of power cuts are being observed in various cities of Sindh, including Sukkur, Rohri, Panu Aqil, Sangrar and Khairpur.

Meanwhile, eight to 10 hours of loadshedding is being witnessed in urban areas of Hyderabad, Matli, Tandobago, Tando Muhammad Khan, Jamshoro, Badin, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Umar Kot, Tharparkar, Ghotki and Obaro. However, rural areas bear prolonged power cuts of around 14 hours a day.

People held a protest demonstration against 16-hours of power outage in Thatta. The protestors staged a sit-in on the National Highway, causing a huge traffic jam.

In Faisalabad, domestic consumers of urban areas are bearing 10 to 12 hours of power cuts while in rural areas, this duration exceeds further.

Similarly, 14 to 16 hours of electricity loadshedding is being observed in various cities of Southern Punjab, including Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur.

Czech industrial production fell in November at the fastest rate since at least 2000, dropping by 17.4 percent year on year, following a decline of 7.6 percent in October.

Well, in trying to determine the future path of Czech GDP, the first thing we need to bear in mind - looking at the GDP chart above - is that the economy has been losing momentum since late 2006, that is the “stellar” catch-up growth component has been waning, and for some time. The second thing we need to bear in mind is that this is not necessarily a bad thing, since it means that the CR’s economy (unlike many others across the CEE) is certainly not on a boom bust cycle. The slowdown in quarter on quarter growth is also evident in the chart below. In fact in Q3 2008, Czech GDP grew by 1.0% in comparison to Q2 2008 and by 4.7% in comparison to Q3 2007.

A total of 53,823 cars were manufactured in the UK in December, a fall of 47.5pc from a year earlier, meaning 1.45m were manufactured in 2008 as a whole, a decline of 5.7pc.

However, the fact that 76pc of all vehicles produced in the UK are for exports to more than 100 markets shows the strength and importance of the sector, he added.[/blockquote
Bei -47% noch von Stärke zu reden beweist, daß derjenige den Bodenkontakt verloren hat.

As a result, the government is too small to help, in trying to bail out the banks, is in danger of chucking not just good money after bad but the entire economy after the banks.

In the US, companies on the verge of insolvency can restructure themselves under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection process, sometimes taking years.

But the credit crunch has severely limited the availability of so-called ‘debtor in possession’ financing that is vital to give them this second chance.

With previous big providers of DIP financing, such as GE Capital, shying away from the market, companies may have to rely on their existing lenders, says Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency.

It said on Friday there had been no substantial increase in DIP volumes in 2008, in spite of a jump in the number of bankruptcies, highlighting the reluctance of banks and investors to finance companies in bankruptcy.
[...]
Debtors also face the highest rates yet for DIP financing. The risk premium a debtor has to pay on the loan has more than doubled since 2001-2002, the height of the last downturn, according to Dealogic.
In 2001 the spread over Libor was 429bp versus 900bp now.

In 2008, my best estimate** is that China bought $374.6 billion of the $1684.8 billion increase in the outstanding stock of marketable Treasuries not held by the Fed. China absorbed 22.2% of net issuance. Foreign central banks share of the total outstanding stock of marketable Treasuries not in the hands of the Fed also went down, falling from 47.2% at the end of 2007 to 44.5% at the end of 2008.***

And it also implies that non-Chinese investors bought an (even more stunning) $892 billion of Treasuries in the second half of 2008.

Obviously, it would be a big deal if China stopped buying and started selling.**** But it would be much bigger deal if private investors lost their appetite for Treasuries.

It invests an additional $25.3-billion for more than 800 school districts and state and local government entities to, among other things, pay police and teachers, buy books and health care for children and help hurricane victims.

But in audit after audit over the past eight years, the supposedly low-risk agency was warned again and again about making risky, complex investments, without proper controls.

Now, with the economy tanking, the overexposure to risk highlighted in those audits has come back to haunt the SBA. In the past 18 months, one-third of the agency's assets — $61.4-billion — have been wiped out.

The median price in Long Island’s Hamptons and the North Fork slid to $690,000 from $800,000 a year earlier, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report today. The number of sales dropped 41 percent and the inventory of properties rose 19 percent.

“I have never seen sellers so disconnected from the market and my rough approximation is that they are about a year behind,” said Miller. “You had seven go-go years. That’s ingrained in the markets’ psyche.”

The fund for the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartments has declined to $127.7 million as of Jan. 15, from $400 million when it was established. Property cash flow is not expected to improve from 2008 based on the borrower’s restated budget for 2009, the ratings company said.

Bonuses fell to $18.4 billion from $32.9 billion in 2007, the largest decline ever and the biggest percentage drop in more than 30 years, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. The size of the bonus pool is the sixth-largest on record, he said.

‘Terrible Christmas’

Garment shipments tumbled 33% to $550 million, while footwear exports slumped 26% to $350 million.

“Lots of orders from the U.S. and Europe were canceled in November, and those would have gone out now,” said John Marron, managing director of Midas Clothing Ltd. in Ho Chi Minh City. “Buyers were expecting a terrible Christmas season, and wanted to see how much inventory and cash they would have afterward before placing any new orders.”

Viet Nam has the potential to grow despite the global recession if it can grasp its opportunities, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc told Sai Gon Giai Phong.

It depends on the global economic recovery. The crisis is forecast to last rather long. The US can recover from the crisis no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year.

However, the impact (on Viet Nam) will be lower than on other countries since agriculture still plays a major role in Viet Nam.

Though the crisis is present worldwide, it has mostly affected developed countries. Vietnam is a developing country, so it will not be affected much and will keep growing at a moderate rate.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast Vietnam’s growth rate will be 6.3% this year while the World Bank said 6.5%.
[...]
I think if Vietnamese enterprises understand how to make the most of their opportunities, they can overcome all difficulties.