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

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (24538)	2/28/2005 10:25:00 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

UK housing market on the mend as buyers return in force - Hometrack Monday, February 28, 2005 12:16:11 AM forexstreet.com LONDON (AFX) - The UK's housing market looks set to bounce back as buying interest picked up markedly in February, a survey of the sector found today The monthly survey from the property website Hometrack found that new buyers registering with estate agents in February rose by a "massive" 28.5 pct compared with a 12.8 pct decline in January, and that agreed sales rose by an "incredible" 36 pct compared with a 13 pct decline in January However, Hometrack said house prices fell by 0.2 pct, the eighth consecutive monthly fall, pushing down the cost of the average house to 162,500 stg from a peak of 167,700 last June Nevertheless, it added that the February decline was the lowest since August last year. "After over eight months of housing market doldrums, the first signs of a robust recovery have appeared," said John Wriglesworth, Hometrack's housing economist "A significant rise of new buyers, and an even more marked increase in agreed sales have stabilised prices, and an analysis of recent trends suggests the worst is definitely over in terms of price falls," he added Hometrack expects a more stable interest rate outlook, ongoing low unemployment and rising household incomes to help prices resume their long-term "inevitable" upward movement before the end of the year, and fully compensating for the recent price falls "Commentators, forecasting a housing market crash, will soon have to again revise their forecasts, as the reality of a healthy housing market will undoubtedly increase the amount of egg that they already have on their faces," said Wriglesworth Hometrack's findings may well fuel market expectations that the Bank of England will raise the cost of borrowing again soon Last week, the minutes to the last meeting of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee showed that the nine-member panel considered raising its key repo rate another quarter point to 5.00 pct and deputy governor Rachel Lomax argued in favour of pre-emptive action The MPC has raised the cost of borrowing by a quarter point on five occasions since November 2003, taking its key repo rate up to 4.75 pct, as it sought to dampen down inflationary pressures stemming from rampant consumer demand and above-trend economic growth

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (24538)	2/28/2005 10:30:41 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

China to ´gradually´ open capital account in 2005 - report Sunday, February 27, 2005 12:39:03 PM afxpress.com China to 'gradually' open capital account in 2005 - report BEIJING (AFX) - China is taking measures to "gradually" open its capital account in 2005 in a step towards making its currency fully convertible, state-run China Central Television reported Saturday, quoting an official "In 2005, we will gradually ease the limit on the amount of renminbi (yuan) that can be exchanged under the capital account, another step in making the renminbi fully convertible," Guo Shuqing, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, was quoted as saying The measures would include allowing Chinese companies to keep capital raised in foreign listings offshore and allowing foreign companies to issue yuan-denominated bonds in China, the report said Some industrialized nations, most vocally the US, have complained for years that at the rate of 8.28 per dollar, at which the yuan has been fixed for a decade, the Chinese currency is greatly undervalued US firms in particular claim this makes Chinese imports into the US unfairly cheap, and their own exports to China too expensive

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (24538)	2/28/2005 10:32:06 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

U.S. steel imports fall 18 percent in January Friday, February 25, 2005 7:42:24 PM afxpress.com SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) - The United States imported 18 percent less steel in January than in December, according to a survey released Friday by the American Institute for International Steel "The AIIS monthly survey indicators have been suggesting somewhat of a fall-off from higher import months and these data could be the beginning of that trend," said AIIS president David Phelps "As we approach the seasonally stronger second quarter, we expect order books to strengthen in coming months," he added Sharply higher steel prices over the past year have been blamed by U.S. manufacturers, like the auto parts industry, for lower profit margins and higher product prices. Citing preliminary numbers, AIIS said the country imported 2.398 million net tons of steel in January, down from 2.924 million in December but up 1.7 percent from the 2.357 million imported in January 2004 Imports from European Union nations fell 43.5 percent in January to 299,000 net tons from 529,000 in December. The percentage drop from China was even steeper, falling 48.5 percent to 150,000 tons in January from 291,000 the previous month. Year-on-year, however, China's steel shipments to the U.S. were up 46.9 percent from the 102,000 tons sent across the Pacific in January 2004 At the same time, steel imports from Canada rose 18.4 percent to 430,000 tons in January from 363,000 tons in December but remained nearly flat to import levels from a year earlier AIIS is a Washington D.C.-based trade group that aims to promote free trade in the steel industry.

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (24538)	2/28/2005 10:42:51 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

GM, Ford downgraded to 'sell' on market share concerns By Tomi Kilgore NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- General Motors (GM: news, chart, profile) and Ford Motor (F: news, chart, profile) were downgraded to "sell" from "neutral" at Banc of America due to evidence that market share losses will continue. Analyst Ronald Tadros now expects market share losses of 1 percentage point per year for both GM and Ford vs. his prior forecast of losses of 0.50 percentage points. He said price hikes would exacerbate market share losses while price cuts would hurt earnings. Tadross cut GM's stock price target to $27 from $32 and his 2005 earnings estimate to $3 a share from $3.50. For Ford, he lowered his price target to $10 from $13 and his 2005 earnings forecast to $1.50 a share from $1.80. GM, a component of the Dow industrials, closed Friday up 20 cents at $36.89 and Ford added 20 cents to $13.

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (24538)	2/28/2005 10:45:11 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's top maker of memory chips, said on Monday the outlook for its key businesses was not good due to slower global economic growth and sluggish domestic consumption. Samsung, a technology powerhouse that makes everything from chips to flat screens and mobile phones, also told an annual shareholder meeting it has not yet decided whether to buy into a $1.2 billion share sale by its cash-strapped credit card unit. "The world economy is facing slower growth this year and the domestic consumption is still sluggish. So there are big risk factors going forward. The outlook for our key businesses is not good," Yun Jong-yong, Samsung's vice chairman, told an annual meeting of shareholders. Yun reiterated Samsung's sales target of 58.7 trillion won ($58.2 billion) this year, slightly higher than 57.6 trillion in 2004, and said the company would strive to beat last year's net profit of 10.79 trillion won. Analysts are expecting only 8.6 trillion won, according to Reuters Estimates. Shares in Asia's most valuable technology company, which has a market capitalization of $84 billion, were up 0.19 percent at 523,000 won by 0415 GMT, underperforming the wider market. story.news.yahoo.com