Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (13100)	10/8/2004 1:25:08 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Talks stall as oil-rich Nigeria heads closer to all-out strike Talks between the Nigerian government and trade unions broke down, leaving the country on the brink of a fuel price strike which could force up already soaring world oil prices. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned that its members will stage a general strike from Monday in protest at recent petrol price increases, a move which could hit crude production in Africa's largest oil exporter. A meeting in Abuja ended without agreement when the NLC protested that the government had sent only a low-level representative -- the permanent secretary of the labour ministry, Timiebi Korimapa-Agary -- to negotiate. "If I am going to make contributions, the intention is to try to persuade someone else ... that person cannot be the permanent secretary of the federal ministry of labour," NLC president Adams Oshiomhole told reporters. "The executive is absent from this meeting unfortunately and we do need to talk to the executive. We need a political solution; not price modulators, price fixers," said Oshiomhole. The director general of the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association, Segun Osinowo, also complained about the level of government representation. "The government should think of constituting a more highly powered team which will involve other stakeholders to take the issue on as quickly as possible," he said. Both sides said that a smaller group might meet at an unspecified time later in the week, while the NLC was due to meet the Senate later in the day. "I am very confident that if we put our minds together to it and quickly meet, we can still submit something to the government tomorrow morning for government to take on at a higher level," Korimapa-Agary said. The NLC team is also scheduled to hold a meeting Wednesday with the Senate over the fuel price hike, unionists said. Nigeria's powerful blue collar oil union, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), affiliated to the NLC, civil society groups and a coalition of opposition parties have pledged their support for the NLC on its planned strike. The pump price of petrol is a hugely sensitive issue for the impoverished masses in Africa's most populous nation, and previous increases have triggered two general strikes over the past year. Although the country is a prominent exporter of the type of crude oil that is best suited for refining into petrol, its domestic refineries are ravaged by corruption and mismanagement and Nigeria's road transport and industry relies on expensive imports of refined fuels. On Wednesday, oil rose to 52 dollars per barrel for the first time, as a world economic recovery continues to drive demand and traders nervously monitor supply problems in the Gulf of Mexico and security threats in Iraq and Nigeria. President Olusegun Obasanjo has been trying to abandon fuel subsidies as part of a broader agenda of economic reform, but a recent 25 percent jump in fuel prices has brought him once again into confrontation with labour. Previous strikes have done little to disrupt Nigeria's exports of around 2.6 million barrels of crude per day, but world markets are already jittery after a recent armed rebellion in the country's oil-rich Niger delta region. The government has said the new, higher fuel prices were in line with a deregulation policy introduced in October last year, which allows private oil-product retailers to import refined fuel and fix consumer sale prices. sg.biz.yahoo.com

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (13100)	10/8/2004 8:41:39 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

quote.bloomberg.com Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. employers added 96,000 workers in September, fewer than expected, in the last jobs report Americans will see before deciding between President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry in November. The jobless rate was unchanged at 5.4 percent, the Labor Department said in Washington. The government lowered its previous estimate for August by 16,000 jobs to 128,000 and said there was no quantifiable effect from hurricanes in the South. Manufacturing jobs fell for a third time this year.

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (13100)	10/8/2004 8:59:16 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

EU forecasters hike euro zone 2004 growth forecast to 1.8 pct, cut 2005 figure Friday, October 8, 2004 10:15:22 AM afxpress.com BRUSSELS (AFX) - The euro zone saw its 2004 growth forecast raised to 1.8 pct from 1.4 pct by the European Forecasting Network (EFN), a group of European research institutions focusing on euro zone economics But the EFN cut its forecast for euro zone growth in 2005 to 1.9 pct from the 2.0 pct given in its previous twice-yearly report "The euro area still lags behind the worldwide expansion," it said "While economic activity picked up markedly during the first half of 2004, a strong upswing has not been realised because investment growth has continued to be very slow," it said The EFN said the euro zone recovery had been mainly export-led It raised its inflation forecast for 2004 to 2.1 pct from 1.8 pct, but left its 2005 estimate unchanged at 1.9 pct "This, while reducing the scope of the (European Central Bank) for following looser monetary policy, should not lead it to increase interest rates as a reaction to higher raw material prices, provided that the unions do not obtain a large compensation for the price increases," it said "In that event, the ECB could decide to increase interest rates to break the wage-price spiral," it said On the world economy, the EFN warned that while output grew sharply during the first half of the year, soaring oil prices were casting doubt on the duration of the recovery In the US, output growth had slowed in the second quarter, and consumption was less buoyant than expected "In addition, the strong stimulus provided by US fiscal policy is declining, while US monetary policy will become less expansive in the second half of 2004," it said The EFN is co-financed by the European Commission and includes institutions such as the department of applied economics at the University of Cambridge and the Halle Institute for Economic Research in Germany