Fin woes spread, Japan enters recession
London/Tokyo: Japan became the latest major economy to fall into recession on Monday with France close behind, and the IMF said it needed at least $100 billion to fight the billowing economic crisis enveloping the world. The US Senate, meanwhile, was to begin debating a bailout for the battered US auto industry later in the day. Germany was to hold talks with General Motors unit Opel. In something of a surprise, Japan slid into its first recession in seven years in the third quarter as the financial crisis curbed demand for Japanese exports. The 0.1% contraction in the world's second-largest economy in July-September was worse that consensus forecasts. The euro zone is also in formal recession, with two consecutive quarters of contraction, Britain is on the brink and China is slowing sharply. Britain's main employers group forecast on Monday that unemployment could rise to almost three million by 2010 while France's central bank said the French economy should contract 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Policymakers have little doubt that their economies have not finished declining. "We need to bear in mind that (our) economic conditions could worsen further as the US and European financial crisis deepens, worries of economic downturn heighten and stock and foreign exchange markets make big swings,'' Japanese economy minister Kaoru Yosano told a news conference. IMF MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the BBC that his organisation was likely to need at least $100 billion in extra funding over the next six months in order to help countries out of the mire. Financial markets continued to shudder under the joint strain of declining economies and ructions in the financial system. Oil fell more than $1 to below $56 a barrel and MSCI's main world stock index was down 0.5% for a 46% year-to-date loss. Leaders of the world's 20 largest economies, meeting in Washington over the weekend, agreed on a host of steps to rescue the global economy. The post-meeting statement from the group of major industrialised and developing countries contained a laundry list of reform pledges aimed at soothing volatile markets and calming consumers' worries. REUTERS * US in recession, says survey *Washington: The US is in recession and will contract at a faster pace in Q4, a survey showed. The National Association of Business Economists' poll of 50 professional forecasters released on Monday found that real GDP was set to fall 2.6% in Q4 and slump 1.3% in the first three months of 2009. Preliminary government estimates showed GDP contracted 0.3% in the third quarter. REUTERS GLOOM IN THE AIR: A scene in a Tokyo subway on Monday --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
