Thursday, April 02, 2009

Quick Overview

  • Chinas Purchasing Manager’s Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.4 in March from 49 in February

  • (Reuters) - Leaders of the G20 nations agreed on Thursday to pump an additional trillion dollars into the troubled global economy through extra funding for groups like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

  • U.S. jobless claims rose 12,000 last week to 669,000

  • U.S. factory orders rose 1.8% in February.

  • The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose by 1.7% in February, marking the second MoM increase in a row.

  • Russia's economy shrank by 7% in the first quarter of 2009


  • The European Central Bank reduced its interest rate from 1.50% to 1.25

  • U.K. home prices rose 0.9% in March

  • (Bloomberg) -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board, pressured by U.S. lawmakers and financial companies, voted to relax fair-value rules that Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. say don’t work when markets are inactive.
    The changes to so-called mark-to-market accounting allow companies to use “significant” judgment when gauging the price of some investments on their books, including mortgage-backed securities. Analysts say the measure may reduce banks’ writedowns and boost their first-quarter net income by 20 percent or more. FASB voted on the rules at a meeting today in Norwalk, Connecticut..

  • Shanghais February trade value fell 30.6% YoY to US$28.96 billion, the fourth consecutive month of decline, Xinhua reported

  • According to a survey by London’s Barclays Plc., almost 41%, or 436,000, of Singapore’s households will have assets of at least $1 million by 2017, compared with 39% in Hong Kong and 28% in Switzerland


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