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The greenback hit $1.3516 in thin New York trade, before rallying to $1.3509. The dollar has weakened sharply since September when it traded about $1.20, amid continuing worries over the levels of the US trade and budget deficits. Meanwhile, France's finance minister has said the world faced "economic catastrophe" unle... |
Thursday's new low for the dollar came after data was released showing year-on-year sales of new homes in the US had fallen 12% in November - with some analysts saying this could indicate problems ahead for consumer activity. |
Commerce Department data also showed consumer spending - which drives two thirds of the US economy - grew just 0.2% last month. The figure was weaker than forecast - and fell short of the 0.8% rise in October. The official US policy is that it supports a strong dollar but many market observers believe it is happy to le... |
The US government has faced pressure from exporter organisations which have publicly stated the currency still has further to fall from "abnormal and dangerous heights" set in 2002. The US says it will let market forces determine the dollar's strength rather than intervene directly. Statements from President Bush in re... |
Disaster claims 'less than $10bn' |
Insurers have sought to calm fears that they face huge losses after an earthquake and giant waves killed at least 38,000 people in southern Asia. |
Munich Re and Swiss Re, the world's two biggest reinsurers, have said exposure will be less than for other disasters. Rebuilding costs are likely to be cheaper than in developed countries, and many of those affected will not have insurance, analysts said. Swiss Re has said total claims are likely to be less than $10bn ... |
At least 10 countries have been affected, with Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand among the worst hit. The region's resorts and Western tourists are expected to be among the main claimants. |
Lloyds of London told the Financial Times it expected its exposure to be limited to "holiday resorts, personal accident, travel insurance and marine risks". A spokeswoman for Hanover Re, Europe's fifth-largest reinsurance firm, estimated tsunami-related damage claims would be in the low double-digit millions of euros. ... |
But insurers have not had long to assess the economic impact of the damage and reports of more casualties and destruction are still coming through. |
"So many things are unclear, it is just too early to tell," said Serge Troeber, deputy head of Swiss Re's natural disasters department. "You need very complicated processes to estimate damages. Unlike the hurricanes, you can't just run a model." He anticipated that his own company's total claims would be less then thos... |
The impact on US insurance companies is not expected to be heavy, analysts said. |
Most US insurers have relatively little exposure to Asia and those that do, pass on a lot of the risk to reinsurance companies or special catastrophe funds. Insured damage could be a fraction of the "billions of dollars worth of destruction in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldive Islands and Malaysia," sa... |
Many of the affected countries, such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka or the Maldives, do not usually buy insurance for these kinds of disasters, said a US-based insurance expert. Early estimates from the World Bank put the amount of aid needed for the worst affected countries including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand,... |
Mitch killed about 10,000 people and caused damage of about $10bn in 1998. But the cost of the tsunamis on the individuals involved is incalculable. "We cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out. Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods ... |
Dollar hits new low versus euro |
The US dollar has continued its record-breaking slide and has tumbled to a new low against the euro. |
Investors are betting that the European Central Bank (ECB) will not do anything to weaken the euro, while the US is thought to favour a declining dollar. The US is struggling with a ballooning trade deficit and analysts said one of the easiest ways to fund it was by allowing a depreciation of the dollar. They have pred... |
The US currency was trading at $1.364 per euro at 1800 GMT on Monday. This compares with $1.354 to the euro in late trading in New York on Friday, which was then a record low. |
The dollar has weakened sharply since September when it traded about $1.20 against the euro. It has lost 7% this year, while against the Japanese yen it is down 3.2%. Traders said that thin trading levels had amplified Monday's move. "It's not going to take much to push [the dollar] one way or the other," said Grant Wi... |
Israeli economy picking up pace |
Israel's economy is forecast to grow by 4.2% in 2004 as it continues to emerge from a three-year recession. |
The main driver of the faster-than-expected expansion has been exports, with tourism seeing a strong rebound, the statistical office said. The economy is benefiting from a quieter period in Palestinian-Israeli violence and a pick-up in global demand for technology products. The outlook is better than it has been for a ... |
Many companies have focused on cost cutting and greater efficiency, while the government has been trying to trim public spending and push through reforms. The growth figures come about despite a strike earlier this year by about 400,000 public sector worker which closed banks, hospitals, postal services and transport f... |
US gives foreign firms extra time |
Foreign firms have been given an extra year to meet tough new corporate governance regulations imposed by the US stock market watchdog. |
The Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the deadline to get in line with the rules until 15 July 2006. Many foreign firms had protested that the SEC was imposing an unfair burden. The new rules are the result of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, part of the US clean-up after corporate scandals such as Enron and World... |
Over the past few months, delegations of European and other business leaders have been heading to the SEC's Washington DC headquarters to protest. They say the burden is too expensive and the timescale too short and some, particularly the UK's CBI, warned that companies would choose to let their US listings drop rather... |
German jobless rate at new record |
More than 5.2 million Germans were out of work in February, new figures show. |
The figure of 5.216 million people, or 12.6% of the working-age population, is the highest jobless rate in Europe's biggest economy since the 1930s. The news comes as the head of Germany's panel of government economic advisers predicted growth would again stagnate. Speaking on German TV, Bert Ruerup said the panel's ea... |
The German government is trying to tackle the stubbornly-high levels of joblessness with a range of labour market reforms. At their centre is the "Hartz-IV" programme introduced in January to shake up welfare benefits and push people back into work - even if some of the jobs are heavily subsidised. The latest unemploym... |
Still, some measures suggest the picture is not quite so bleak. The soaring official unemployment figure follows a change in the methodology which pushed up the jobless rate by more than 500,000 in January. Adjusted for seasonal changes, the overall unemployment rate is 4.875 million people or 11.7%, up 0.3 percentage ... |
Record year for Chilean copper |
Chile's copper industry has registered record earnings of $14.2bn in 2004, the governmental Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) has reported. |
Strong demand from China's fast-growing economy and high prices have fuelled production, said Cochilco vice president Patricio Cartagena. He added that the boom has allowed the government to collect $950m in taxes. Mr Cartagena said the industry expects to see investment worth $10bn over the next three years. |
"With these investments, clearly we are going to continue being the principle actor in the mining of copper. It's a consolidation of the industry with new projects and expansions that will support greater production." Australia's BHP Billiton - which operates La Escondida, the world's largest open pit copper mine - is ... |
US consumer confidence up |
Consumers' confidence in the state of the US economy is at its highest for five months and they are optimistic about 2005, an influential survey says. |
The feel-good factor among US consumers rose in December for the first time since July according to new data. The Conference Board survey of 5,000 households pointed to renewed optimism about job creation and economic growth. US retailers have reported strong sales over the past 10 days after a slow start to the crucia... |
According to figures also released on Tuesday, sales in shopping malls in the week to 25 December were 4.3% higher than in 2003 following a last minute rush. Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, has said its December sales are expected to be better than previously forecast because of strong post-Christmas sales. |
It is expecting annual sales growth of between 1% and 3% for the month. Consumer confidence figures are considered a key economic indicator because consumer spending accounts for about two thirds of all economic activity in the United States. "The continuing economic expansion, combined with job growth, has consumers e... |
Cash gives way to flexible friend |
Spending on credit and debit cards has overtaken cash spending in the UK for the first time. |
The moment that plastic finally toppled cash happened at 10.38am on Wednesday, according to the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) Apacs chose school teacher Helen Carroll, from Portsmouth, to make the historic transaction. The switch over took place as she paid for her groceries in the supermarket chain... |
Mrs Carroll was born in the same year that plastic cards first appeared in the UK. "I pay for most things with my debit card, with occasional purchases on one of my credit cards," said Mrs Carroll, who teaches at Peel Common Infants School in Gosport. |
Spending patterns for the year and estimates for December led Apacs to conclude that 10.38am was the time that plastic would finally rule the roost. Shoppers in the UK are expected to put £269bn on plastic cards during the whole of 2004, compared with £268bn paid with cash, Apacs said. When the first plastic cards appe... |
Japanese mogul arrested for fraud |
One of Japan's best-known businessmen was arrested on Thursday on charges of falsifying shareholder information and selling shares based on the false data. |
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi was once ranked as the world's richest man and ran a business spanning hotels, railways, construction and a baseball team. His is the latest in a series of arrests of top executives in Japan over business scandals. He was taken away in a van outside one of his Prince hotels in Tokyo. |
There was a time when Mr Tsutsumi seemed untouchable. Inheriting a large property business from his father in the 1960s, he became one of Japan's most powerful industrialists, with close connections to many of the country's leading politicians. He used his wealth and influence to bring the Winter Olympic Games to Nagan... |
Mr Tsutsumi's fall from grace follows the arrests of several other top executives in Japan as the authorities try to curb the murky business practices which were once widespread in Japanese companies. His determination to stay at the top at all costs may have had its roots in his childhood. The illegitimate third son o... |
Oil rebounds from weather effect |
Oil prices recovered in Asian trade on Tuesday, after falling in New York on milder winter weather across the US. |
With winter temperatures staying relatively high in the northern US, a barrel of light crude ended Monday down $1.33 to $42.12. However crude prices have rebounded in Asia, rising to $42.30 a barrel for February delivery. In London, trading of Brent crude was suspended for a public holiday, but the price fell to $39.20... |
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