Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
fkli resistance 905 n 915
Dow May Fall to 6,000 Should Low Break, Acampora Says (Update1)
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By Elizabeth Stanton
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A decline in U.S. stock indexes below the 2008 lows from November may trigger a rout that pushes benchmark averages to levels not seen since the mid-1990s, according to two leading technical analysts.
“Hopefully we don’t make new lows, because if we do, all bets are off,” said Ralph Acampora, who retired from Knight Capital Group Inc. in October 2007 after four decades on Wall Street. Should the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall below the 7,552.29 it touched on Nov. 20, it might tumble to 6,000, Acampora said. That’s 27 percent below yesterday’s close of 8,212.49 and a level last reached in October 1996.
The lows reached by the Dow average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in November are “a very, very significant area” because they are roughly where the last bear market ended in 2003, said John Murphy, chief technical analyst at StockCharts.com and the author of three books on market analysis. “If that’s broken, it becomes very negative.”
Both analysts spoke as part of a panel discussion about technical analysis, which involves making predictions based on historical trading patterns, at Bloomberg LP’s New York office.
The S&P 500 is down 5.4 percent this month, including a 4.1 percent slide this week after profits from Alcoa Inc. trailed estimates and investors speculated banks need capital. After rallying 20 percent from its Nov. 20 low on speculation government spending would revive the economy, the Dow fell as much as 9.2 percent. It rose 1.1 percent to 8,305.75 as of 10:09 a.m. in New York today.
Biggest Drops
Both indexes posted their biggest annual declines since the Great Depression in 2008, with the S&P 500 reaching an 11-year low of 752.44 and the Dow sliding to its worst level since 2003 on Nov. 20. Stocks tumbled as more than $1 trillion in bank losses froze lending and spurred a global recession.
The S&P 500 slipped below 776.76, the worst level of the 2001-2002 bear market, in November.
Acampora, whose career also included decade-long stints at Prudential Equity Group LLC, Smith Barney and Kidder Peabody & Co., said that while the past two weeks are “very disturbing,” he’s still “willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.” He cited the time that has passed since the lows were hit and positive breadth, in which rising stocks outnumber falling ones.
Even if the 2008 lows are not revisited, the market is probably in a trading range comparable to the ones that followed the 1929 crash and the bull market of the 1960s, Acampora said. The Dow average is unlikely to exceed its October 2007 peak of 14,164.53 for at least four years, he said.
Trading Range
After the 1929 crash, the Dow fluctuated between about 100 and 200 until 1950 when it began a sustained move higher. From 1966 to 1982, the average traded between about 600 and 1,000.
U.S. stocks rose yesterday, erasing a drop of more than 3 percent for the S&P 500, led by retailers, technology and energy companies. The S&P 500 sank 38 percent last year and the Dow fell 34 percent amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the first simultaneous recessions in the U.S., Japan and Europe since World War II.
Among Acampora’s past calls was a 1997 prediction that the Dow would reach 10,000. It rose to that level in March 1999.
Murphy said the November lows are likely to be broken, in part because the dollar’s recent strength against the euro signals lower share prices globally, as foreign equity markets are correlated to local currencies.
“There’s another down leg coming,” Murphy said. “Normally the market comes down in five legs. We’ve come down in two. I think we’re going to test those lows at the very least, and eventually probably take them out.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: January 16, 2009 10:12 EST
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By Elizabeth Stanton
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A decline in U.S. stock indexes below the 2008 lows from November may trigger a rout that pushes benchmark averages to levels not seen since the mid-1990s, according to two leading technical analysts.
“Hopefully we don’t make new lows, because if we do, all bets are off,” said Ralph Acampora, who retired from Knight Capital Group Inc. in October 2007 after four decades on Wall Street. Should the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall below the 7,552.29 it touched on Nov. 20, it might tumble to 6,000, Acampora said. That’s 27 percent below yesterday’s close of 8,212.49 and a level last reached in October 1996.
The lows reached by the Dow average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in November are “a very, very significant area” because they are roughly where the last bear market ended in 2003, said John Murphy, chief technical analyst at StockCharts.com and the author of three books on market analysis. “If that’s broken, it becomes very negative.”
Both analysts spoke as part of a panel discussion about technical analysis, which involves making predictions based on historical trading patterns, at Bloomberg LP’s New York office.
The S&P 500 is down 5.4 percent this month, including a 4.1 percent slide this week after profits from Alcoa Inc. trailed estimates and investors speculated banks need capital. After rallying 20 percent from its Nov. 20 low on speculation government spending would revive the economy, the Dow fell as much as 9.2 percent. It rose 1.1 percent to 8,305.75 as of 10:09 a.m. in New York today.
Biggest Drops
Both indexes posted their biggest annual declines since the Great Depression in 2008, with the S&P 500 reaching an 11-year low of 752.44 and the Dow sliding to its worst level since 2003 on Nov. 20. Stocks tumbled as more than $1 trillion in bank losses froze lending and spurred a global recession.
The S&P 500 slipped below 776.76, the worst level of the 2001-2002 bear market, in November.
Acampora, whose career also included decade-long stints at Prudential Equity Group LLC, Smith Barney and Kidder Peabody & Co., said that while the past two weeks are “very disturbing,” he’s still “willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.” He cited the time that has passed since the lows were hit and positive breadth, in which rising stocks outnumber falling ones.
Even if the 2008 lows are not revisited, the market is probably in a trading range comparable to the ones that followed the 1929 crash and the bull market of the 1960s, Acampora said. The Dow average is unlikely to exceed its October 2007 peak of 14,164.53 for at least four years, he said.
Trading Range
After the 1929 crash, the Dow fluctuated between about 100 and 200 until 1950 when it began a sustained move higher. From 1966 to 1982, the average traded between about 600 and 1,000.
U.S. stocks rose yesterday, erasing a drop of more than 3 percent for the S&P 500, led by retailers, technology and energy companies. The S&P 500 sank 38 percent last year and the Dow fell 34 percent amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the first simultaneous recessions in the U.S., Japan and Europe since World War II.
Among Acampora’s past calls was a 1997 prediction that the Dow would reach 10,000. It rose to that level in March 1999.
Murphy said the November lows are likely to be broken, in part because the dollar’s recent strength against the euro signals lower share prices globally, as foreign equity markets are correlated to local currencies.
“There’s another down leg coming,” Murphy said. “Normally the market comes down in five legs. We’ve come down in two. I think we’re going to test those lows at the very least, and eventually probably take them out.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: January 16, 2009 10:12 EST
Friday, January 16, 2009
heavy cross fire seller vs buyer
Buy Ringgit Options as Exports Dwindle, Barclays Says (Update1)
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By David Yong
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s ringgit will weaken as falling commodity prices erode the trade surplus and the central bank cuts interest rates to revive economic growth, according to Barclays Capital Plc.
To profit from the decline, the U.K. investment bank recommended a one-month ringgit put option against the dollar with a so-called reverse knock-out price, according to a research report issued yesterday. This type of derivative is a cheaper alternative to a regular option because the knock-out barrier limits the maximum return.
“The drivers of Malaysia’s balance of payments dynamics are turning against the ringgit,” Goh Puay Yeong, a currency strategist at the bank, which is the third-biggest trader of foreign exchange, wrote in the report. “With oil prices falling, Malaysia’s export buffer from energy-related commodities is also rapidly thinning.”
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By David Yong
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s ringgit will weaken as falling commodity prices erode the trade surplus and the central bank cuts interest rates to revive economic growth, according to Barclays Capital Plc.
To profit from the decline, the U.K. investment bank recommended a one-month ringgit put option against the dollar with a so-called reverse knock-out price, according to a research report issued yesterday. This type of derivative is a cheaper alternative to a regular option because the knock-out barrier limits the maximum return.
“The drivers of Malaysia’s balance of payments dynamics are turning against the ringgit,” Goh Puay Yeong, a currency strategist at the bank, which is the third-biggest trader of foreign exchange, wrote in the report. “With oil prices falling, Malaysia’s export buffer from energy-related commodities is also rapidly thinning.”
Thursday, January 15, 2009
heavy fire....selling pressure...
Buy Reverse Knock-Out as Slowdown Hurts Ringgit, Barclays Says
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By David Yong
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s ringgit will weaken as falling commodity prices erode the trade surplus and the central bank cuts interest rates to revive economic growth, according to Barclays Capital Plc.
To profit from the decline, the U.K. investment bank recommended a one-month ringgit put option against the dollar with a so-called reverse knock-out price, according to a research report issued yesterday. This type of derivative is a cheaper alternative to a regular option because the knock-out barrier limits the maximum return.
“The drivers of Malaysia’s balance of payments dynamics are turning against the ringgit,” Goh Puay Yeong, a currency strategist at the bank, which is the third-biggest trader of foreign exchange, wrote in the report. “With oil prices falling, Malaysia’s export buffer from energy-related commodities is also rapidly thinning.”
Investors should buy so-called reverse knock-out ringgit put options due in a month, which grant the right to sell the currency against the dollar as long as its losses don’t exceed 3.66, Goh said in an interview in Singapore. The option ceases to exist, or gets “knocked out,” should the ringgit reach, or weaken beyond that level.
The investor can exercise the option by buying the dollar at the one-month forward rate of 3.5901 and selling the U.S. currency at the same time in the spot market at just below 3.66, Goh said.
Slumping Exports
The currency has dropped 3.9 percent this month, the second- biggest loss in Asia after the South Korean won, as Malaysian exports contracted and factory output slumped by the most since 2004. The ringgit fell to 3.5953 today, the lowest level since Dec. 11, and traded at 3.5910 as of 12:19 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia’s trade surplus sagged to 10.6 billion ringgit ($2.95 billion) in October and November, versus an average of 13.9 billion ringgit during the third quarter, Barclays said. Foreign-exchange reserves fell to $91.4 billion on Dec. 31 from $97.7 billion on Nov. 28, the lowest level since April 2007, the central said last week.
Crude oil traded at $36.81 a barrel compared with a record high of $147.27 reached on July 11. An average price of $60 a barrel in 2009 will trim Malaysia’s current-account surplus by half to 7.9 percent of gross domestic product, Barclays forecasts.
Prices of palm oil, Malaysia’s biggest commodity export, have dropped 58 percent since touching an all-time high of 4,298 ringgit per ton in March last year.
Bank Negara Malaysia will lower its overnight interest rate to 2 percent from 3.25 percent by year-end, Barclays predicts, which would be the lowest level since the benchmark was introduced in 2004. The first cut will likely be a quarter- percentage point on Jan. 21 when policy makers kick off meetings fro 2009, it said.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Yong in Singapore at dyong@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 14, 2009 23:37 EST
seller ready to take profit.... into oversold level
.S. Economy: Retail Sales Decline for a Sixth Month (Update4)
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By Bob Willis
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December as job losses and the lack of credit led Americans to cut back on everything from car purchases to eating out.
The 2.7 percent slump marked the sixth straight month of declines, the longest string since comparable records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Labor Department data showed the global collapse in commodities caused prices of goods imported by the U.S. to fall for a fifth month.
Today’s sales figures indicate the hit to spending in the recession is even deeper than estimated, and spurred a sell-off in stocks. The loss of 2.6 million jobs and declining home and stock values are squeezing households, hurting retailers from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Tiffany & Co., which today said its holiday sales fell 21 percent and cut its earnings forecast.
“There is a major retrenchment going on,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc., a New York forecasting firm. “All that policy can do at this stage is cushion this. You can’t short-circuit it.”
Commerce also reported that inventories at all businesses in November dropped 0.7 percent, more than economists estimated and the third straight decrease. A 1.7 percent decline in stockpiles at retailers, as furniture stores and auto dealers cut back, paced the overall slump.
Stocks Slump
Treasuries rallied, sending yields on benchmark 10-year notes down to 2.20 percent at 4:26 p.m. in New York, from 2.29 percent late yesterday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index slid 3.4 percent to close at 842.62.
Retail sales were projected to fall 1.2 percent after an originally reported 1.8 percent drop the prior month, according to the median estimate of 78 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Forecasts ranged from declines of 3.5 percent to 0.3 percent.
Purchases excluding automobiles slumped 3.1 percent, the most since records began. The decline also exceeded the median estimate of economists surveyed that projected a 1.4 percent drop.
The decline in purchases and lack of credit caused a further weakening in the economy across almost all areas of the country in the past month, the Federal Reserve said today in its regional business survey. Retailers engaged in “deep discounting” during the holidays, with “sizable” price cuts, while wage pressures were “largely contained,” the Fed report found.
Obama Plan
Today’s sales report will serve as a reminder to lawmakers of the urgency to enact President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus proposals to combat the recession.
Obama, who takes office Jan. 20, is proposing a two-year recovery plan that includes about $300 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses and infrastructure spending aimed at creating or saving 4 million jobs.
“It’s not too late to change course -- but only if we take immediate and dramatic action,” Obama said in his weekly radio address on Jan. 10.
Labor Department figures showed the import-price index decreased 4.2 percent, less than economists forecast, after a revised 7 percent drop in November. Prices from a year earlier were down 9.3 percent, the largest year-over-year decline since the index was first published in 1982. Prices excluding fuels dropped 1.1 percent last month.
“This is a reflection of the synchronicity of a slowdown in demand worldwide,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse Holdings USA Inc. in New York.
First Drop
Retail sales fell 0.1 percent for all of 2008 compared with the prior year, the first decrease in the Commerce Department’s records. Comparable data only go back to 1992 because government economists reformulated their retail-sales figures earlier this decade, and didn’t revise historical records beyond that year.
November’s decline was revised to 2.1 percent from a previously estimated fall of 1.8 percent.
Today’s report showed declines in 11 of the 13 major categories tracked by the government, led by a 16 percent plunge at gasoline service stations that partly reflected the slump in fuel costs. The drop at grocery stores was the biggest since April 2002 and the decrease at restaurants was the largest since the terrorist attacks in September 2001.
Only health and beauty stores and a miscellaneous category saw increases last month.
Auto Slump
Purchases of expensive goods are falling as banks restrict access to credit. Auto sales fell 36 percent in December from the same month last year, capping the industry’s worst year since 1992.
Same-store sales dropped 2.2 percent in the last two months of 2008, making it the worst holiday shopping season in almost four decades of record keeping, the International Council of Shopping Centers said last week.
The first half of this year will also be “extraordinarily challenging,” Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott told a retailers’ convention this week in New York City. “Some people are giving up eating out; some people are giving up movies; some people are giving up other things like shopping,” Scott said. “Those are fundamental changes that will continue.”
Knoxville, Tennessee-based Goody’s LLC, operator of a 282- store U.S. clothing chain, and Fresno, California-based Gottschalks Inc., owner of department stores in six western states, sought bankruptcy protection after sales slumped.
‘No Other Recourse’
“Persistent challenges in the economy and recent unexpected reductions to our borrowing capacity as a result of tightening credit markets have left us with no other recourse,” Jim Famalette, Gottschalks’ chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Americans are scrimping as unemployment last month rose to 7.2 percent, the highest level in almost 16 years. Job losses are likely to continue for most of this year, economists said.
The plunge at filling stations in part reflected a 43 cent- per-gallon drop in the average cost of gasoline last month. Excluding gas, retail sales fell 1.4 percent.
The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5 percent annual pace from July through September as Americans reduced purchases at a 3.8 percent annual rate, the first decline in consumer spending since 1991 and the biggest in 28 years, the government said last month.
The economic slump probably worsened in the fourth quarter as declines in business investment and construction intensified and consumers continued to pull back.
Excluding autos, gasoline and building materials, the retail group the government uses to calculate gross domestic product figures for consumer spending, sales dropped 1.4 percent, after a 0.1 percent increase in the prior month. The government uses data from other sources to calculate the contribution from the three categories excluded.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 14, 2009 16:28 EST
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By Bob Willis
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December as job losses and the lack of credit led Americans to cut back on everything from car purchases to eating out.
The 2.7 percent slump marked the sixth straight month of declines, the longest string since comparable records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Labor Department data showed the global collapse in commodities caused prices of goods imported by the U.S. to fall for a fifth month.
Today’s sales figures indicate the hit to spending in the recession is even deeper than estimated, and spurred a sell-off in stocks. The loss of 2.6 million jobs and declining home and stock values are squeezing households, hurting retailers from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Tiffany & Co., which today said its holiday sales fell 21 percent and cut its earnings forecast.
“There is a major retrenchment going on,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc., a New York forecasting firm. “All that policy can do at this stage is cushion this. You can’t short-circuit it.”
Commerce also reported that inventories at all businesses in November dropped 0.7 percent, more than economists estimated and the third straight decrease. A 1.7 percent decline in stockpiles at retailers, as furniture stores and auto dealers cut back, paced the overall slump.
Stocks Slump
Treasuries rallied, sending yields on benchmark 10-year notes down to 2.20 percent at 4:26 p.m. in New York, from 2.29 percent late yesterday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index slid 3.4 percent to close at 842.62.
Retail sales were projected to fall 1.2 percent after an originally reported 1.8 percent drop the prior month, according to the median estimate of 78 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Forecasts ranged from declines of 3.5 percent to 0.3 percent.
Purchases excluding automobiles slumped 3.1 percent, the most since records began. The decline also exceeded the median estimate of economists surveyed that projected a 1.4 percent drop.
The decline in purchases and lack of credit caused a further weakening in the economy across almost all areas of the country in the past month, the Federal Reserve said today in its regional business survey. Retailers engaged in “deep discounting” during the holidays, with “sizable” price cuts, while wage pressures were “largely contained,” the Fed report found.
Obama Plan
Today’s sales report will serve as a reminder to lawmakers of the urgency to enact President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus proposals to combat the recession.
Obama, who takes office Jan. 20, is proposing a two-year recovery plan that includes about $300 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses and infrastructure spending aimed at creating or saving 4 million jobs.
“It’s not too late to change course -- but only if we take immediate and dramatic action,” Obama said in his weekly radio address on Jan. 10.
Labor Department figures showed the import-price index decreased 4.2 percent, less than economists forecast, after a revised 7 percent drop in November. Prices from a year earlier were down 9.3 percent, the largest year-over-year decline since the index was first published in 1982. Prices excluding fuels dropped 1.1 percent last month.
“This is a reflection of the synchronicity of a slowdown in demand worldwide,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse Holdings USA Inc. in New York.
First Drop
Retail sales fell 0.1 percent for all of 2008 compared with the prior year, the first decrease in the Commerce Department’s records. Comparable data only go back to 1992 because government economists reformulated their retail-sales figures earlier this decade, and didn’t revise historical records beyond that year.
November’s decline was revised to 2.1 percent from a previously estimated fall of 1.8 percent.
Today’s report showed declines in 11 of the 13 major categories tracked by the government, led by a 16 percent plunge at gasoline service stations that partly reflected the slump in fuel costs. The drop at grocery stores was the biggest since April 2002 and the decrease at restaurants was the largest since the terrorist attacks in September 2001.
Only health and beauty stores and a miscellaneous category saw increases last month.
Auto Slump
Purchases of expensive goods are falling as banks restrict access to credit. Auto sales fell 36 percent in December from the same month last year, capping the industry’s worst year since 1992.
Same-store sales dropped 2.2 percent in the last two months of 2008, making it the worst holiday shopping season in almost four decades of record keeping, the International Council of Shopping Centers said last week.
The first half of this year will also be “extraordinarily challenging,” Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott told a retailers’ convention this week in New York City. “Some people are giving up eating out; some people are giving up movies; some people are giving up other things like shopping,” Scott said. “Those are fundamental changes that will continue.”
Knoxville, Tennessee-based Goody’s LLC, operator of a 282- store U.S. clothing chain, and Fresno, California-based Gottschalks Inc., owner of department stores in six western states, sought bankruptcy protection after sales slumped.
‘No Other Recourse’
“Persistent challenges in the economy and recent unexpected reductions to our borrowing capacity as a result of tightening credit markets have left us with no other recourse,” Jim Famalette, Gottschalks’ chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Americans are scrimping as unemployment last month rose to 7.2 percent, the highest level in almost 16 years. Job losses are likely to continue for most of this year, economists said.
The plunge at filling stations in part reflected a 43 cent- per-gallon drop in the average cost of gasoline last month. Excluding gas, retail sales fell 1.4 percent.
The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5 percent annual pace from July through September as Americans reduced purchases at a 3.8 percent annual rate, the first decline in consumer spending since 1991 and the biggest in 28 years, the government said last month.
The economic slump probably worsened in the fourth quarter as declines in business investment and construction intensified and consumers continued to pull back.
Excluding autos, gasoline and building materials, the retail group the government uses to calculate gross domestic product figures for consumer spending, sales dropped 1.4 percent, after a 0.1 percent increase in the prior month. The government uses data from other sources to calculate the contribution from the three categories excluded.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 14, 2009 16:28 EST
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
923 heavy resistance .... possible sell point... wait after 10am... to re test reisistance...
Deutsche Says Malaysian Stock Rally Is Unsustainable (Update1)
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By Chan Tien Hin
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s stock rally is “unsustainable” and investors should sell palm-oil producers such as IOI Corp., Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd. and banks including AMMB Holdings Bhd., Deutsche Bank AG said.
“The market is in denial of worsening economic conditions; this is a market far from offering bargains,” Deutsche said in a report today. “The short-term rally” won’t continue beyond March and this is an “excellent opportunity to take profits.”
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By Chan Tien Hin
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s stock rally is “unsustainable” and investors should sell palm-oil producers such as IOI Corp., Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd. and banks including AMMB Holdings Bhd., Deutsche Bank AG said.
“The market is in denial of worsening economic conditions; this is a market far from offering bargains,” Deutsche said in a report today. “The short-term rally” won’t continue beyond March and this is an “excellent opportunity to take profits.”
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
klse, critica time 895, resistnace
Singapore Cuts GDP Forecast as Global Crisis Deepens
Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s economy may shrink more than previously forecast in 2009, the government said, citing the worsening global recession and foreshadowing a deepening slump throughout the region.
“The global economic crisis has worsened since November, with sharp declines in global demand, trade and investments,” the trade ministry said in a statement today. The economy may contract as much as 2 percent this year, twice as much as a Nov. 21 prediction, it said.
Singapore is speeding up its response to the global slowdown and will unveil more steps to help companies and minimize job cuts when it brings forward its 2009 budget announcement to this month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Dec. 31. Policy makers around the world have cut lending rates and increased spending to sustain growth.
“It’s going to be a tough time across Asia,” said Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore. “We don’t see any bright spots in the Singapore economy, especially in the first half.”
Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, after shrinking a revised 5.4 percent between July and September. The Southeast Asian economy has declined for three straight quarters, joining Japan, Hong Kong and New Zealand in recession.
The Singapore dollar fell 1.1 percent to 1.448 against the U.S. currency as of 10:12 a.m. local time today.
Electronics Drop
Singapore is among the first in the region to report fourth-quarter figures, providing an insight on how the credit crunch and the worldwide recession is affecting Asia’s economies.
The export-dependent nation has been battered by declining orders for electronic goods and pharmaceuticals from its biggest customers in the U.S. and Europe, as well as emerging nations. The World Bank last month predicted international trade will shrink in 2009 for the first time in more than 25 years.
The island’s manufacturing industry, which accounts for a quarter of the economy, contracted 9 percent last quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 11 percent drop in the previous three months, today’s report showed. The industry will be “weighed down” by falling demand in developed economies, the government said.
Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., two of the world’s three largest custom-chipmakers, last month lowered their earnings projections amid delayed orders and a slump in demand.
Job Cuts
Companies such as Royal Philips Electronics NV are cutting jobs in the city-state, and Prime Minister Lee this week said retrenchments may increase in the next few months.
“We must prepare for a difficult year ahead, especially the first half of 2009,” Lee said Dec. 31. “Our economy will probably contract further. Compared to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, this crisis is more difficult for us to overcome because it is global.”
Asian nations have announced spending packages to boost their flagging economies. China in November unveiled a 4 trillion-yuan ($586 billion) economic stimulus plan, while South Korea revealed a 14 trillion-won ($11 billion) package of extra spending and corporate tax breaks, adding to almost $20 billion in income-tax reductions announced in September.
In neighboring Malaysia, the government on Nov. 4 unveiled public projects valued at 7 billion ringgit ($2 billion) to spur growth. Singapore’s budget is scheduled for Jan. 22.
Services, Construction
Singapore’s services industry slowed as the global credit crunch hurt financial companies, visitor arrivals declined and consumers reduced spending. Services climbed 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, slowing from a 5.3 percent pace in the previous period. Financial services will “see a sharp slowdown,” the government said.
The construction industry grew 13.3 percent, easing from a revised rate of 18.6 percent in the previous quarter.
The $161 billion economy declined 2.6 percent last quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 0.3 percent drop between July and September. Growth was 1.5 percent in 2008, the slowest in seven years.
The government’s latest economic forecast for 2009 ranges from a contraction of 2 percent to expansion of 1 percent, compared with between a decline of 1 percent and growth of 2 percent estimated in November.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 1, 2009 21:16 EST
“The global economic crisis has worsened since November, with sharp declines in global demand, trade and investments,” the trade ministry said in a statement today. The economy may contract as much as 2 percent this year, twice as much as a Nov. 21 prediction, it said.
Singapore is speeding up its response to the global slowdown and will unveil more steps to help companies and minimize job cuts when it brings forward its 2009 budget announcement to this month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Dec. 31. Policy makers around the world have cut lending rates and increased spending to sustain growth.
“It’s going to be a tough time across Asia,” said Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore. “We don’t see any bright spots in the Singapore economy, especially in the first half.”
Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, after shrinking a revised 5.4 percent between July and September. The Southeast Asian economy has declined for three straight quarters, joining Japan, Hong Kong and New Zealand in recession.
The Singapore dollar fell 1.1 percent to 1.448 against the U.S. currency as of 10:12 a.m. local time today.
Electronics Drop
Singapore is among the first in the region to report fourth-quarter figures, providing an insight on how the credit crunch and the worldwide recession is affecting Asia’s economies.
The export-dependent nation has been battered by declining orders for electronic goods and pharmaceuticals from its biggest customers in the U.S. and Europe, as well as emerging nations. The World Bank last month predicted international trade will shrink in 2009 for the first time in more than 25 years.
The island’s manufacturing industry, which accounts for a quarter of the economy, contracted 9 percent last quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 11 percent drop in the previous three months, today’s report showed. The industry will be “weighed down” by falling demand in developed economies, the government said.
Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., two of the world’s three largest custom-chipmakers, last month lowered their earnings projections amid delayed orders and a slump in demand.
Job Cuts
Companies such as Royal Philips Electronics NV are cutting jobs in the city-state, and Prime Minister Lee this week said retrenchments may increase in the next few months.
“We must prepare for a difficult year ahead, especially the first half of 2009,” Lee said Dec. 31. “Our economy will probably contract further. Compared to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, this crisis is more difficult for us to overcome because it is global.”
Asian nations have announced spending packages to boost their flagging economies. China in November unveiled a 4 trillion-yuan ($586 billion) economic stimulus plan, while South Korea revealed a 14 trillion-won ($11 billion) package of extra spending and corporate tax breaks, adding to almost $20 billion in income-tax reductions announced in September.
In neighboring Malaysia, the government on Nov. 4 unveiled public projects valued at 7 billion ringgit ($2 billion) to spur growth. Singapore’s budget is scheduled for Jan. 22.
Services, Construction
Singapore’s services industry slowed as the global credit crunch hurt financial companies, visitor arrivals declined and consumers reduced spending. Services climbed 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, slowing from a 5.3 percent pace in the previous period. Financial services will “see a sharp slowdown,” the government said.
The construction industry grew 13.3 percent, easing from a revised rate of 18.6 percent in the previous quarter.
The $161 billion economy declined 2.6 percent last quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 0.3 percent drop between July and September. Growth was 1.5 percent in 2008, the slowest in seven years.
The government’s latest economic forecast for 2009 ranges from a contraction of 2 percent to expansion of 1 percent, compared with between a decline of 1 percent and growth of 2 percent estimated in November.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 1, 2009 21:16 EST
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