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.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: long-gone who wrote (20434)	10/2/1998 1:25:00 PM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116885

Obuchi moves to stop meltdown By RUSSELL SKELTON, Herald Correspondent in Tokyo After one of the blackest weeks on record for Japan's shattered economy, the embattled Obuchi Government signalled yesterday that it was ready to take steps to shore up the faltering financial system. Shaken by the fall of Tokyo stocks to a 12-year low, postwar record unemployment figures and shattered business confidence, the Government said it was now ready to pump public funds into the financial system and take measures to stop a meltdown of the sharemarket. The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr Hiromu Nonaka, said the Government would push ahead with plans to use public funds to shore up the crippled banking sector because it was needed to prevent big banks from collapsing and creating a worldwide crisis on financial markets. Mr Nonaka said the Government had been shaken by the fall of the key Tokyo stock index through the 13,000 barrier earlier in the day, its lowest level since 1989. The Government would push on in the next five days with two key pieces of legislation providing for the rescue of failing banks with public funds, he said. He described the present chaos on world markets as a clear sign that the world economy was headed for a recession and pledged to do all he could to reverse the situation with the full implementation of the 16 trillion yen ($201 billion) stimulus package introduced in April. Mr Nonaka's determined words stand in sharp contrast to those of the Prime Minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, who appears muddled - and even lost - when discussing the crisis gripping the world's second-biggest economy. During Question Time in the the Lower House, the Diet, Mr Obuchi has fumbled his replies and once read out the wrong typewritten answers to opposition questions. The parliamentary financial stabilisation panel yesterday endorsed the two bills to rescue the banking system that have been agreed to after protracted talks between the opposition parties and the ruling Liberal Democratic party. They are expected to be approved by the Upper House next week. One bill sets up an independent agency to handle bank failures and to plan measures to avert a systemic collapse of the banking system. The other gives the agency powers to liquidate banks or hand them over to a bridge bank for rationalisation. Meanwhile, the Government is also planning to clamp down on the short selling of shares to curb speculative buying and selling of shares in key stocks. The restrictions make it more difficult for investment banks to sell shares by borrowing stock they do not own. The Finance Minister, Mr Kiichi Miyazawa, said he had asked the securities watchdog to investigate what he described as "abnormal" fluctuation in the sharemarket. According to figures released yesterday, there are now just under 3 million people out of work, the highest number on record. There were 28 per cent more people out of work in August than there were a year ago following widespread retrenchments in the construction and manufacturing industries. The number of men out of work is 4.4 per cent. The previous record was 4.3 per cent, in May. The Management and co-ordination Agency said it did not expect the labour market to improve. It is in its worst state since the present methods for calculating jobless numbers were drafted 45 years ago. Yesterday, the Nikkei 225 index of Tokyo stocks fell at one point to 12,973.69 - its lowest point since January 1986 and before the bubble economy had fully developed - but recovered to close at 13,223.69, a rise of 26.57 points. Buybacks in steel and banks kept the market from falling for the fourth straight day. smh.com.au

To: long-gone who wrote (20434)	10/2/1998 1:35:00 PM
From: PaulM	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116885

"weakening dollar, falling stock markets and short covering by... hedge funds" biz.yahoo.com P.S. My guess is that the big players--goldman et al.--won't enter the gold market on the long side in any significant way. The bailout of LTCM and other hedge fund positions implies that markets must be manipulated. In the interest of "orderly liquidation." The war now will be between small buyers and foreign central banks buying on the one hand--and the FED squad and the dollar block (UK, Canada, Australia) trying to keep things from falling apart at the seams on the other. With the dollar losing its reserve currency status in much of the world, this is one game the little gold buyers will win.