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Strategies & Market Trends : HONG KONG -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (2735)	3/17/1999 3:42:00 AM
From: David C. Parker	Respond to of 2951

Hi Ramsey: I don't know the detailed breakdown of the components, however, overall, unemployment in HK is now more than 6% which is the highest since they started keeping records. There have certainly been a lot of layoffs in the retail sector with bankruptcies of such major employers as Yaohan and KPS Video, and the closure of Daimaru etc. Certainly there are a lot of empty shops, and almost constant sales. On the other hand, some of the luxury people (Louis Vuitton and the like) seem to be expanding, although who is buying is hard to tell. One other indicator, is that I have heard that there have been a lot of defaults in taxi loans (loans to taxi drivers/owners based on their "plate" value) as a result of fewer people using taxis - and it is certainly much easier to catch a cab - outside my office which is in Pacific Place, where we used to have to queue for taxis, now they have to queue for us! Regards David