Jittery day on Wall Street

Index	Last	Change	%	High	Low	Time
STI	2617.90	-4.79	-0.18%	2629.26	2615.05	14:46:45
Hangseng	20523.04	204.42	1.01%	20650.88	20446.16	14:46:47
Nikkei225	10320.94	133.83	1.31%	10326.45	10274.38	15:00:42
SSE	2874.44	12.83	0.45%	2919.35	2860.00	14:46:12
KLCI	1188.12	9.38	0.8%	1188.29	1178.74	14:46:01
SET	678.33	9.92	1.48%	678.36	673.15	12:30:11

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Index	Last	Change	%	High	Low	Time
STI	2628.70	6.01	0.23%	2628.70	2615.05	11:14:30
Hangseng	20617.37	298.75	1.47%	20631.53	20446.16	11:14:31
Nikkei225	10290.78	103.67	1.02%	10309.55	10274.38	11:00:45
SSE	2908.09	46.48	1.62%	2909.50	2876.39	11:14:38
KLCI	1185.34	6.60	0.56%	1185.58	1178.74	11:14:00
SET	674.52	6.11	0.91%	675.74	674.33	10:14:37

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Trichet Says Exit Strategy May Not Include Rate Rises September 4 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet speaks a conference in Frankfurt about the outlook for the bank's withdrawal of emergency stimulus measures.

http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?N=av&T=Trichet%20Says%20Exit%20Strategy%20May%20Not%20Include%20Rate%20Rises&clipSRC=mms://media2.bloomberg.com/cache/vV688vqo_ZKo.asf

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U.S. Stocks Advance, Trimming Weekly Decline for S&P 500 Index

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By Lynn Thomasson

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks gained for a second day, trimming a weekly decline for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after the government reported a smaller-than-forecast decrease in jobs last month.

Bank of America Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Caterpillar Inc. climbed at least 1 percent after the Labor Department said the nation lost 216,000 jobs in August, less than the 230,000 decrease forecast by economists in a survey.

The S&P 500 added 0.3 percent to 1,006.62 at 10:27 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 24.48 points, or 0.3 percent, to 9,369.09.

“There’s been a tremendous string of data points that have consistently beat expectations,” said Liam Dalton, who oversees about $1.1 billion as the New York-based chief executive officer of Axiom Capital Management. “It’s holding up the market.”

Gains were limited as the government employment report also said the jobless rate climbed to a higher-than-forecast 9.7 percent last month following a revision of July’s figures to reflect a loss of 276,000 jobs, higher than previously reported.

The S&P 500 has fallen 2.2 percent this week amid speculation the six-month rally in equities has outpaced the prospect for an economic recovery. The measure has still rallied 48 percent since reaching a 12-year low in March.

Economic policy makers are signaling they plan to leave emergency stimulus in place even as the global economy pulls out of recession, delivering what Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. call a “sweet spot” for financial markets.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet are among Group of 20 finance officials gathering in London today who say it’s too soon to declare victory over the deepest recession since World War II.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the U.S. economy will probably undergo an extended period of slow growth while facing “financial headwinds” that will take years to wane. Separately, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the economy faces a “significant chance” of contracting again.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Thomasson in New York at lthomasson@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: September 4, 2009 10:30 EDT

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Global Stocks Seen Avoiding ‘Meaningful Pullback’: Chart of Day

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By David Wilson

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Anyone hoping for a “truly meaningful pullback” in stocks that would give them a chance to find bargains is likely to be disappointed, according to Robert Buckland, Citigroup Inc.’s global strategist.

The CHART OF THE DAY compares the advance in MSCI Inc.’s All Country World Index since March 9, when the benchmark fell to a 14-year low, with rallies from bear-market bottoms set in March 2003, October 1998, September 1990, August 1982 and May 1970. Buckland had a similar chart in a report yesterday.

This year’s rebound is the sharpest of the six. The All Country World, tracking developed and emerging markets, climbed 56 percent through yesterday. Earlier gains during the same time period ranged from 11 percent to 33 percent, as the chart shows.

Stocks may keep rising for some time even though Citigroup economists and strategists have identified several risks to the rally, Buckland wrote. The threats include premature tightening of fiscal and monetary policy, weakness in the global financial system, earnings shortfalls and concern that prices may be too high relative to earnings and other criteria.

History suggests that any decline, should one occur, won’t approach the 20 percent threshold often used for a bear market, the report said. Losses in the first two years after recession- driven setbacks have averaged 7.4 percent since 1970, according to Buckland.

The chart uses the MSCI World Index, limited to developed markets, for the 1970 and 1982 rallies. Bloomberg’s data on the All Country gauge begins in 1988.

(To save a copy of the chart, click here.)

To contact the reporter on this story: David Wilson in New York at dwilson@bloomberg.net Last Updated: September 3, 2009 11:39 EDT

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Jittery day on Wall Street

Stocks end lower, after falling sharply in the previous session, as worries about the pace of an economic recovery keep investors sidelined.

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer

Last Updated: September 2, 2009: 5:52 PM ET

The KBW Bank index gained 20% this summer, while the broad S&P 500 gained 11%.

The Nasdaq rose 13.2% in the June through August period while the Dow gained 11.7%.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slipped Wednesday, ending a choppy session lower following the previous day's battering as nervous investors continued to worry that the market rally may have outpaced any recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 30 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 (SPX) index slid 3 points, or 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) managed a tiny gain of 2 points, or 0.2%.

Stocks seesawed throughout the session Wednesday as investors mulled a pair of unemployment reports that signaled the pace of job cuts was moderating, ahead of Friday's bigger August jobs report.

With little else on tap to provoke investors in any direction, trading remained largely rangebound.

The 2 p.m. ET release of the minutes from the last Fed meeting failed to propel markets in either direction. The minutes showed the central bankers thought the economy was stabilizing, after weakening in 2008 and early 2009, and that construction was starting to pick up, which is a good sign for the housing market.

The bankers also discussed the need to keep refining the Fed's so-called exit strategy after injecting billions into the financial system to help manage the meltdown.

"Investors have built in a lot of the numbers we've been seeing showing economic improvement," said Haag Sherman, managing director at Salient Partners. "What they want to see now is some of that improvement manifesting in topline growth for businesses, not just cost cutting."

Second-quarter earnings were generally better than expected, due to trimming costs, but revenue growth was moderate.

Thursday preview: The nation's chain stores will be releasing August sales info throughout the morning. Investors will be looking to see if the stock rally and signs of recovery in the economy have had any impact on consumer spending.

The Institute for Supply Management's services sector index for August is also due in the morning, along with the weekly jobless claims report.

Rally running out of steam: Stocks slumped on Tuesday, with the three major gauges all losing around 2% as investors bet the six-month run has gotten ahead of the economic rebound.

Since bottoming on March 9 at a 12-year low, the S&P 500 has basically been on the rise, adding 52% through Monday. Stocks saw a minor retreat in late June and early July, with the S&P 500 losing about 7% heading into the start of the second-quarter financial reporting period. But other than that small selloff, the direction has mostly been up.

Reports on Tuesday showed housing and manufacturing are recovering, but investors remain worried about the labor market and how rising joblessness will impact consumer spending. Consumer spending fuels two-thirds of economic growth, and economists say any recovery will be mild without the consumer's participation.

Jobs: Two reports on the labor market were released Wednesday morning, two days ahead of Friday's bigger non-farm payrolls report.

Payroll services firm ADP said employers in the private sector cut 298,000 jobs from their payrolls last month after cutting a revised 360,000 in July. Economists were expecting 250,000 job cuts according to a Briefing.com survey.

Separately, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported 76,456 job cut announcements in August, 21% fewer than in July.

Although both reports indicate the pace of job cuts has slowed, the economy is still shedding jobs.

"An abatement in job losses is a far cry from a turnaround in the labor market," Sherman said.

However, many economists were forecasting no abatement or improvement until later this year or early next.

"The reports show that the labor market is progressing toward the recovery phase ahead of schedule," said Gregory Miller, chief economist at SunTrust Banks.

He said that if the pace of the recovery in the jobs market continues - and business spending picks up - the recovery could be be stronger than current forecasts. But without those two factors, growth will remain sluggish.

Other economic news: A Labor Department report showed that non-farm productivity rose at a 6.6% annual rate during the second quarter versus the initially reported 6.4% pace. That was in line with forecasts.

Factory orders rose 1.3% in July, the Commerce Department reported. Orders rose a revised 0.9% in June. Economists thought orders would rise 2.2% in July.

Company news: Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) is set to repay the $25 billion in bailout funds it took from the U.S. government. The bank expects to pay it back from internal funds, rather than through issuing new shares.

Financial stocks as a sector retreated for the second session in a row, although the declines were fairly modest.

The KBW Bank index lost nearly 8% in Tuesday and Wednesday's sessions after rallying 20% in the three months ended Aug. 31. The financial sector rallied through the summer on a mix of speculation and momentum.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) will plead guilty to a criminal charge related to how it promoted now-defunct pain killer Bextra. The Dow component will pay $2.3 billion to settle charges it wrongly marketed 13 medicines. In January, Pfizer said it took the charge but didn't specify why.

Shares of Sepracor (SEPR) rallied 26.5% on published reports that Japan's Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma plans to make a $2.7 billion bid for the drugmaker.

Fellow Dow component Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) rallied, while JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500), Merck (MRK, Fortune 500), Walt Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) and Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500) declined.

Diversified manufacturer Danaher (DHR, Fortune 500) said it is cutting more jobs as part of its restructuring plan -- and is buying two businesses that make scientific instruments for about $1.1 billion.

The company is buying the life sciences instrument business of Canadian MDS for $650 million in cash. That purchase includes a 50% stake in AB SCIEX, which makes instruments used by researchers. Danaher will also buy the rest of AB SCIEX for $450 million. Danaher shares gained 2%, while MCS (MDZ) shares gained 32%.

Oil: U.S. light crude oil for October delivery settled at $68.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a mixed weekly inventory report from the Energy Information Administration. The settle price was unchanged from the previous session. Oil prices have been slipping since hitting a 10-month high just below $75 a barrel late last month.

In other energy sector news, BP (BP) said Wednesday that it has made a "giant" oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the company doesn't yet know the volume of oil present, it is thought to be in excess of 3 billion barrels.

Gold: COMEX gold for December delivery rose $22 to settle at $978.50 an ounce.

That gave a boost to a variety of metal and mining companies, including Goldcorp (GG), Barrick Gold (ABX) and Yamana Gold (AUY). Yamana announced a quarterly dividend of a penny per share after the close of trade Tuesday.

World markets: The global market selloff continued, with Asian shares slumping. The Japanese Nikkei lost 2.4%. In Europe, markets tumbled as well.

0:00 /3:02Bailout falls short for homeowners

Bonds and currency: Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.29% from 3.36% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and the Japanese yen.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners three to two on volume of 1.38 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners narrowly edged advancers on volume of just under 2 billion shares.

First Published: September 2, 2009: 9:53 AM ET

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U.S. Stocks Gain as ISM, Home Sales Top Economists’ Estimates

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By Lynn Thomasson

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks gained after data on manufacturing and pending home sales topped estimates, boosting confidence that an economic recovery will justify the six-month rally in equities.

Caterpillar Inc., DuPont Co. and Walt Disney Co. climbed at least 1 percent after private reports said factories expanded in August for the first time in 19 months and the number of contracts to buy previously owned homes increased for a record sixth consecutive month. Bank of America Corp. climbed on a report it offered to repay part of its government bailout, while EBay Inc. gained on plans to sell its Skype Internet phone unit.

“On a short-term basis, momentum is driving the market higher,” said Mike Morcos, who helps manage $1 billion at Old Second Wealth Management in Aurora, Illinois. “We’re looking at any pullback as an opportunity to buy. The crisis has been avoided and the stimulus money from the government is having some real positive effects.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent to 1,021.73 at 10:17 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 8.47 points, or 0.1 percent, to 9,504.75.

U.S. stock-index futures and European equities slumped earlier on growing concern the recent rally in stocks may have outpaced the prospects for a recovery from the first global recession since World War II.

A 52 percent jump in the S&P 500 from an 11-year low in March left the equity benchmark valued at about 19 times the profits of its companies as of the end of last week, the most expensive level since June 2004. The 50 percent rally in Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index over the same period drove the average price-earnings valuation for its companies to the highest level since 2003.

Bearish Bets

Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp., Clarium Capital Management LLC and Horseman Capital Management Ltd. are among funds betting that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley got it wrong in declaring the start of an economic recovery. The firms oversee a combined $15 billion in so-called macro funds, which seek to profit from economic trends by trading stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities.

The S&P 500 added 3.4 percent in August for a sixth straight monthly advance, the longest stretch of gains since January 2007, as reports from consumer confidence to home sales signaled an economic recovery. September is historically the worst month for U.S. stocks, with the benchmark index losing 1.3 percent on average since 1928, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Valuations for U.S. stocks look “marginally stretched” compared with other developed markets, Credit Suisse said in a research report. Strategist Andrew Garthwaite predicted American equities will underperform when the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index is above 50 and rising.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Thomasson in New York at lthomasson@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: September 1, 2009 10:19 EDT

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I think regional market is still in consolidation process till mid September 2009, then end.

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Index	Last	Change	%	High	Low	Time
STI	2620.58	27.68	1.07%	2633.02	2596.15	15:07:30
Hangseng	19880.47	156.28	0.79%	19961.74	19734.27	15:07:32
Nikkei225	10530.06	37.53	0.36%	10577.19	10438.51	15:00:38
SSE	2683.72	15.98	0.6%	2727.08	2639.76	15:00:23
KLCI	1172.25	-2.02	-0.17%	1174.27	1163.78	15:06:01
SET	659.59	6.34	0.97%	659.59	654.36	12:30:11

richtan ( Date: 01-Sep-2009 11:38) Posted:

Index	Last	Change	%	High	Low	Time
STI	2612.46	19.56	0.75%	2619.56	2596.15	11:36:30
Hangseng	19834.90	110.71	0.56%	19961.74	19734.27	11:36:32
Nikkei225	10547.56	55.03	0.52%	10547.98	10438.51	12:36:04
SSE	2679.84	12.09	0.45%	2696.44	2639.76	11:30:19
KLCI	1170.35	-3.92	-0.33%	1174.27	1163.78	11:32:01
SET	656.06	2.81	0.43%	657.52	654.36	10:34:55

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China Manufacturing Grows at Fastest Pace Since 2008 (Update1)

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By Bloomberg News

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- China’s manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in 16 months in August, driven by record lending in the first half of the year, two surveys showed.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 54 from 53.3 in July, the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in an e-mailed statement today in Beijing. A PMI released by HSBC Holdings Plc also climbed.

Gains in output, orders and jobs added to evidence that Premier Wen Jiabao can meet his 8 percent growth target for the year as a stimulus package counters falling exports. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged into a bear market yesterday on concern that the world’s third-biggest economy will slump as banks rein in credit growth to avert asset bubbles and bad loans.

“China’s equity market has taken a battering in the past few weeks, but the economic data suggests that the recovery remains on track,” said Brian Jackson, a strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong. “Beijing still faces the difficult task of managing liquidity conditions to avoid a bubble or a bust.”

Asian stocks rose. The Shanghai stock index gained 1.8 percent as of 1:13 p.m. local time. It tumbled 6.7 percent yesterday, capping its biggest monthly loss since October.

New loans plunged to 355.9 billion yuan ($52 billion) in July, less than a quarter of June’s level, and may slump to 200 billion yuan in August, the Beijing-based business magazine Caijing reported yesterday without citing anyone.

‘Economic Rebound’

The official PMI “shows that China’s economic rebound will maintain momentum,” Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the State Council Development and Research Center, said in today’s statement. Zhang cautioned that there were “uncertainties” in the economy and a mix of “positive and negative factors.”

Eighteen industries, including petrochemicals, beverages, metal processing and equipment manufacturing reported expansions. Only textiles and pharmaceuticals contracted.

The output index rose to 57.9 from 57.3 in July. The measure of new orders climbed to 56.3 from 55.5. An export-order index was unchanged at 52.1. An employment index gained to 51.4 from 50.8. Readings above 50 indicate expansions.

“This clearly shows that we are in a broad-based economic recovery,” said Sun Mingchun, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. The gain in jobs was “very encouraging, as it shows that firms are confident enough to increase hiring, which will also help boost consumption for the rest of the year,” he said.

Cars, Appliances

Subsidies for purchases from cars to home appliances are aiding manufacturers by stoking domestic demand as the global recession cuts exports. Shenzhen-based BYD Co., a Warren Buffett-backed maker of cars and rechargeable batteries, said first-half profit almost doubled as stimulus measures boosted sales.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, said last month that it saw signs of a recovery in manufacturing and also announced plans to curb overcapacity in the steel and cement industries.

“A continued rise in the PMI fueled by domestic demand may have reinforced the authorities’ concern” about excess capacity, said Sherman Chan, a Sydney-based economist with Moody’s Economy.com.

The HSBC PMI, previously released by CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, showed an overall increase to 55.1 from 52.8 in July and a jump in export orders.

Export Recovery

Lu Ting, an economist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, said a rise in the import index in the official PMI signaled a looming export recovery as the nation sourced materials to be processed into overseas shipments.

Both surveys showed inflation pressures, with indexes of input prices rising to 13-month highs. The central bank said in July that consumer prices may rebound after bottoming out in the third quarter. Prices have fallen for six straight months.

China’s economic growth accelerated to 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier on the nation’s $585 billion stimulus package and more than $1 trillion of new loans in the first half. The 6.1 percent expansion in the first three months of the year was the weakest in almost a decade.

Growth will continue to quicken in the third and fourth quarters, reaching 8.3 percent for the year, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 21 economists.

In contrast, former Morgan Stanley Asia economist Andy Xie predicts the Shanghai Composite Index may fall a further 25 percent because China’s recovery “isn’t sustainable.”

Government efforts to control lending have included requiring lenders to raise reserves to 150 percent of non- performing loans by the end of this year. Bank of China Ltd., which advanced the most new credit in the first half, said Aug. 27 that it will slow loan growth in the second half and improve loan quality.

To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Kevin Hamlin in Beijing at khamlin@bloomberg.net Last Updated: September 1, 2009 01:18 EDT

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Stocks: Another Scary September Market?

Stock investors are entering their own version of the Bermuda Triangle—the month of September - August 30, 2009, 7:50PM EST

By Ben Steverman

A year ago the perfect storm of too much leverage and the housing bubble brought down many financial companies, including Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. The financial crisis pushed the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index down 9% last September and set the stage for a further 17% plunge in October.

September's reputation for danger is indeed deserved. The 1929 stock market crash began in September. During the subsequent September, in 1930, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 15%. Even worse, the index plunged 30.7% in September 1931, still the worst September in the Dow's history. More recent Septembers have brought S&P 500 plunges of 12% in 1974 and 11% in 2002.

According to the Stock Trader's Almanac, the S&P 500 index drops an average of 1.1% in September, making it the worst month of the year. That history weighs on the minds of traders and investors as we enter September 2009.

"There is a high level of caution among professional traders," says Nick Kalivas, senior equity analyst at MF Global (MF). Other than the calendar, there are plenty of good reasons to be wary, Kalivas says. He cites skepticism about the economy, the expiration of stimulus to auto sales and the housing market, and worries about corporate results and policy proposals in Washington.

mild summer trading, then big volume?

However, Kalivas says, memories of last fall—including the collapse of Lehman Brothers—are still fresh. "September and October have been volatile periods for the market," he says. "It's going to be interesting to see how people greet the lapping of what happened last fall."

One theory to explain September's poor track record is that summer's end makes big market swoons more likely. Trading volumes are lighter during the summer. In September, professionals return to the office and start plotting strategy for the last quarter of the year. "Everyone coming back to the market at once creates more volatility," says Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at brokerage BTIG.

Some dismiss the September phenomenon as mere coincidence. Out of all 12 months, "one of them has to be the worst performer," says John Merrill, chief investment officer at Tanglewood Wealth Management. He also dismisses the "end of summer" theory, saying modern investors don't take the summer off. "I don't know of any decent-sized investment firm that goes on autopilot," he says.

Even for those who accept that the stock market is, for whatever reason, naturally treacherous in September, that's rarely sufficient reason to alter their investing behavior. O'Rourke, for example, thinks the economic recovery could outweigh negative seasonal effects this year. "I'm not going to make an investment decision based on just the month of the year," asserts John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan.

Another common investing truism is "Sell in May and Go Away," based on the poor performance of stocks over the summer. But since May 1, the S&P 500 is up 18%.

Needed: exciting, upbeat news

That strong run worries Wilson. August will likely be the sixth consecutive month of gains for the stock market, giving the S&P 500 a 40% leap since March—the kind of performance that's hard to sustain without a break. "Clearly, we're due to at least go sideways for a bit," Wilson says. "We could get a correction in here."

James King, president and chief investment officer at National Penn Investors Trust, expects a tougher September. After months of gains, "the markets want some new exciting news," King says. They're unlikely to get it with the economy recovering so slowly. "Things are plodding along, with modest, slow improvements," he says.

Tanglewood's Merrill, by contrast, believes the stock market is in a "positive cycle," where better-than-expected news is building on itself. When it comes to the economy, "the vast majority of statistics have been better than expected," he says.

Many analysts, including Merrill, O'Rourke, and Wilson, believe a correction for the stock market in the fall could be shallow, if one happens at all. Hundreds of billions of dollars were pulled from the equity markets in the past year and stored in cash accounts, and that hoard could return as conditions improve.

Whatever happens this autumn, the month of September will not be the prime factor. This time of year may be fertile ground for market meltdowns, but any such event would undoubtedly be triggered by economic or corporate news, not by the calendar.

Steverman is a reporter for BusinessWeek's Investing channel.

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Hulumas
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01-Sep-2009 12:24

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Beware lack of intergrity even fraud especially financial mass media nowadays. It is on trend now.

el7888 ( Date: 01-Sep-2009 12:09) Posted:

Updated: 1st September 2009, 0830 hrs

IMF says Singapore's economy could contract 7.7% in 2009

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is projecting that Singapore’s economy may contract by as much as 7.7 percent this year.

The figure is worse than the government’s official forecast for a contraction of between 4 and 6 percent.

Releasing its report following a recent consultation with Singapore, IMF also predicts that growth in the country would come in at 2.5 percent next year.

IMF describes Singapore’s policy response to its worst recession since independence as being “forceful”.

Such policy measures include a large fiscal stimulus, an easing of monetary policy and moves to stabilize the financial sector.

IMF notes that the “skillful implementation of a broad range of policy instruments have helped lessen the impact of the shocks”.

It also considers monetary policy settings to be broadly appropriate, supporting domestic demand without undermining exchange rate stability.

On Singapore’s financial sector, IMF says the industry “has shown remarkable resilience”.

It expects the sector to be able to withstand an even deeper and more prolonged global downturn.

Going forward, IMF says priority should continue to be given to rigorous stress-testing as asset quality is likely to deteriorate

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Updated: 1st September 2009, 0830 hrs

IMF says Singapore's economy could contract 7.7% in 2009

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Index	Last	Change	%	High	Low	Time
STI	2612.46	19.56	0.75%	2619.56	2596.15	11:36:30
Hangseng	19834.90	110.71	0.56%	19961.74	19734.27	11:36:32
Nikkei225	10547.56	55.03	0.52%	10547.98	10438.51	12:36:04
SSE	2679.84	12.09	0.45%	2696.44	2639.76	11:30:19
KLCI	1170.35	-3.92	-0.33%	1174.27	1163.78	11:32:01
SET	656.06	2.81	0.43%	657.52	654.36	10:34:55

Useful To Me Not Useful To Me

richtan
Supreme

01-Sep-2009 10:49

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