Asian Stocks Fall as Global Recession Deepens ( Futures Drop... Dow 7,000 in Jeopardy)

[RedEarth]

Source: Bloomberg

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks slid, dragging the Nikkei 225 Stock Average down the most in five weeks, and U.S. futures fell as declines in Japanese wages and South Korean exports fueled concerns the global recession is deepening.

....

Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s largest investment bank, slumped 8.7 percent, as it said it had no outstanding capital commitments to its listed funds. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank, was halted from trading in Hong Kong on speculation it may raise $17 billion to bolster capital.

Worsening Recession

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 1.4 percent today. The gauge fell 2.4 percent to a 12-year low on Feb. 27 after the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy shrank in the three months to December by the most since 1982. Citigroup Inc. tumbled 39 percent the same day as a government move to cut shareholders’ stakes in the company by 74 percent drove down U.S. bank stocks.

The worsening global recession has pummeled Asian exports, prompting companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Sony Corp. to fire workers and halt factory lines. Monthly wages in Japan fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier, after declining 0.8 percent in December, the Labor Ministry said in Tokyo today.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJFV0CECeHsA&refer=home

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Futures......

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures.html

[Idealism]

1. I dread seeing the European markets tommorow.

Merkel has added fuel to the global sell-off fire.

[Grinchie]

14. It will be interesting, but latest GDP report triggered it

So why is anyone surprised?

This crash was planned for by Bush and timesd to occur on Obama's watch. Personally, I think Obama knows that he can do nothing to stop this depression, so he's taking bold actions to make sure that the American People get something - Anything, before the system grinds to a halt, fusing all of its parts in the process.

At first I was disappointed that Obama didn't abolish the Fed and take control as written in the Constitution, but now I believe that it is way too late for that, and the Fed has to have a spotlight shone on it so the world knows exactly how responsible they are. The Congress is infested with Corporation friendly lawmakers, and they will not allow any movement to reign in the fed.

Make no mistake, we are in the beginning stages of depression, no matter what Obama does. I just think that he''s riding the gravy train while it lasts to get some momentum going. Good for him, because it will all be the same in the end.

[rpannier]

20. If it were only that

Japanese and Korean economy are being dragged down by their respective governments -- both of which are viewed as incompetent and untrustworthy.

Japan is slated for elections within a year and the ruling party will most likely be out

Korea has to hold on until Assembly elections in 2010 and then push out the GNP.
Korea is stuck with Lee Myeong-bak (AKA Lee Myeong-bush until 2013)

The won has been dropping like a rock since last year. A year ago it was at 945:1, now it hovers around 1571:1.

The government has been lying it's way through the year and this week government bills are due.

The government claims it has the money to cover it, but since it lied last summer about the state of the economy and has been caught two or three more times since then in other economic lies people don't trust it. (A month ago the won was at around 1330 - Gives you an idea how skittish people are right now)

In Japan the economic problem is the opposite. The Yen is one of three currencies people buy in tough economic times and people are buying it. This has caused a serious recession and Japan, like Korea, has no one to sell their products to because no one is buying.
Japan's economy is also being dragged down (according to HK-TV) by the high number of temporary workers in Japan. About 1 in 3 workers are temporary. These workers have fewer rights and are easily laid off. They won't spend a dime as long as they fear being let go at any time.

The other problem weighing down Asia is China.
Unemployment is way up.
The government is introducing a new stimulus package.
But, due to the massive corruption in China it is possible that anywhere between 20-33% of that money will just disappear.
Whether that will happen or not is unclear, but it makes people in this region of the world very worried -- me included.

[Art_from_Ark]

24. It's kind of hard to interpret Japanese employment figures

According to the Japanese Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare, in a web document dated December 2008, the number of temporary workers (called "haken rodosha" in Japanese), stood at 3.81 million Class I temporary workers , and 1.74 million Class II temporary workers, for a total of approximately 5.5 million workers. There are also a lot of part-time farmers in Japan, but I'm not sure how they fit into the equation.
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/houdou/2008/12/h1226-3.html

In a just released web document http://www.stat.go.jp/data/roudou/sokuhou/tsuki/index.htm , the Prime Minister's Office announced that there were 2.1 million underemployed workers, 1.5 million laid-off workers, and a workforce of 62.9 million (including 54.78 million workers who are employed by a third-party company and 7.87 million who are working for themselves or for a family business).

[xchrom]

2. recommend -- this is very big news. nt

[dkf]

3. ARRRRGH. Will it ever end?

I'm so tired of these down down down days.

[geckosfeet]

4. Ouch. Futures show the dow breaking below 7000.

[Gman]

5. They're all down about 3.3% or so

A 3.3% drop here Monday would take it to the 6800 range.

[nevergiveup]

6. My gut tells me

6000 is the bottom for the Dow but I am probably being over optimistic. I have serious blood pressure problems so I haven't looked at my portfolio or retirement funds since November.

[Bigmack]

7. "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"

Bette Davis....

"Bend over... here it comes again."
My Gunny...

[ixion]

8. one more:

"THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR LUBRICANT!"

- Orlando Jones, "Evolution"

[Historic NY]

9. oh crap Hang Seng -490.53 Nikkei -297.35 i need a pill.

[PSPS]

10. Last year, I was expecting some support around 7,500

But many of my clients who are professionals in the financial sector were saying it would hit 6,000. I guess they're going to be right.

[Odin2005]

11. Uh-oh!!!

Look out BEEEELOOOOOWWWWW....

Where's my Paxil... :scared:

[madrchsod]

12. 1980 level is where it should be.

now it`s time to start rebuilding the system of regulation and oversight into the monetary system....it took a lot of years to come to this point and it`s going to take a few years to start this economy back up.

[GoesTo11]

13. Silver lining

When this crisis first started, I was losing 2 months' salary every day. Now I'm only losing one month's salary every day. It is very discouraging to go into work and come home realizing that you just lost 20 times what you just made. On the other hand, it must have been very encouraging to the Wall Street a-hole the day he made my monthly salary by selling some worthless stock to my mutual fund and getting all the money it wasn't worth in bonus.

[Grinchie]

15. I cashed out of everything I held in 2005

I have watched my money remain stables and liquid, and have lost nothing while it sits in the safe deposit box. In fact, having the liquidity has allowed me to acquire an amazing set of Handtools, no longer made in America, or the world for that matter, that allows me to fabricate nearly anything I desire.

The 20% hit on the 401K was trivial, considering the opportunities that being liquid granted to me in the process. That 20% tax hit would have been lost in 2006 alone, so it was a good decision, which paid off mightily.

[GoesTo11]

16. Too late for those who didn't

We've lost over 50%, and it ain't coming back. I don't know how much farther the market is headed down. At this point, I don't really give a shit anymore. I saved and saved for retirement for two decades, and have nothing to show for it. I figure it's all going to be lost and I have to start saving from scratch and just putting the $ into a mattress or something - well, pay off the mortgage, and try to have enough to live on later. Screw stocks. Biggest lie fraud scam foisted on an entire generation or two.

Here's a juicy fact:

1929 Dow Jones peaked at 300.
In inflation adjusted dollars, that's about 3400 today.
Dow Jones today (according to futures this morning) about 6800.

Net: Dow has doubled in real terms over 80 years. That's less than 1% per year (which may not even cover fees and doesn't cover taxes), so when some ass financial expert goes around talking about "assuming you get a 10% return" blah blah blah, they're just lying. May as well assume you win the lottery while you're at it. The way to think about it is: if you really want to work for 30 years and retire for 30 years or something luxurious like that, you've got to save half your money every year so you have 2 years of living for each year of working. There is no magic of compound growth to short-circuit that formula.

Anyway, what kinds of tools do you recommend beyond hammer and screwdriver?

[poverlay]

23. My father, who is really quite the cutup, thinks investing in mattresses is the way to go....n/t

[dipsydoodle]

17. This bit was subsequently amended

From

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank, was halted from trading in Hong Kong on speculation it may raise $17 billion to bolster capital.

To read :

HSBC, whose shares were suspended in Hong Kong, reported 2008 net income of $5.73 billion, compared with $19.1 billion a year earlier. The lender said it will raise 12.5 billion pounds ($17.7 billion), confirming earlier media reports.

You will note that HSBC made a profit : not a loss. Bloombergs's notes also fail to mention that HSBC's reserves dwarf their exposure to bad assets. As I mentioned earlier on another post - cessation of trading may have been to prevent manipulation of the market due to the pricing of the rights issue.

[Union Yes]

18. Stock Markets=Humanities biggest Ponzi scheme ever.

Anti-Union, Anti-People, Anti-Democratic, Anti-Progressive.

Few forces have had the power to oppress the little guy like the stock market.

Religion may be the only oppressive force that can compare.


Stock market= Pure oppression.

[rpannier]

19. The Won dropped like a rock and the Yen rose

Bad for both Korea (Won) and Japan (Yen)

[psychopomp]

21. Time to legalize and tax all drugs

Save money on the courts and prisons
End-run the narco terrorists
Raise tax money
Get loaded
Everybody wins

[Christa]

22. K & R

:scared: