Monday, December 12, 2011
INTRA DAY NIFTY FUT TIPS FOR 13TH DEC 2011
Euro zone agreement only partial solution -IMF
By Tova Cohen and Ari Rabinovitch
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - An agreement reached by European countries for deeper economic integration was a step in the right direction but not a complete solution for the euro zone's debt crisis, International Monetary Fund chief economist Olivier Blanchard said on Sunday.
"I'm actually more optimistic than I was a month ago, I think there has been progress," Blanchard told the Globes business conference in Tel Aviv.
"What happened last week is important: it's part of the solution, but it's not the solution."
He did not say what further steps were needed.
European leaders agreed in Brussels on Friday to draft a new treaty for deeper euro zone economic integration, although Britain, the region's third-largest economy, refused to join the 17 euro states and nine other EU countries in the fiscal union.
Asked whether diverse statements from policymakers in Europe were causing volatility in markets, Blanchard said: "A lot of the volatility is coming from statements from Europe, showing the range of opinions and inability to get to a logical decision process."
EU leaders also agreed euro zone states and others should provide up to 200 billion euros in bilateral loans to the IMF to help tackle the crisis, with 150 billion euros coming from countries in the euro currency.
"The commitment to give us 200 billion euros makes a major difference in the sense that we can now go out and talk to other countries and say, 'the Europeans have given us money, can you help?," Blanchard said.
"Whether this gives us the whole bazooka or not, I hope so."
Asked by Reuters on the sidelines of the conference whether Britain's decision to isolate itself was right for its economy, he said: "I think that's an issue for the Europeans to decide."
Adding a tone of scepticism regarding the treaty's chances of success, Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said the most important thing that happened this week is not "this bungled European deal", but the release of data that showed a slowing trend of growth in China, the world's number two economy.
"The problem in Europe, this isn't really a debt crisis, it's a crisis about the structure of leadership ... Europe needs to organise itself properly and show proper leadership," he said.
"Everything around the world is being driven by some idiotic statement from some policymaker in the EU."
But he added that now might be the best time in 20 years to invest in Europe, saying, "Never let a good crisis go to waste."
O'Neill and Blanchard had diverging forecasts for growth in the United States next year.
"I think 2012, in the end, will not be as good as 2011," IMF's Blanchard said. "Part of it is that 2011 came out a bit better than expected. I'm not sure this will be repeated."
O'Neill disagreed, saying he was optimistic on the U.S. economy and thinks growth will exceed 3 percent this quarter.
"I think that corporate America is in an exceptionally competitive position," he said.
(Reporting by Tova Cohen and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by David Hulmes)
Government to free diesel, LPG prices after weighing impact
New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) The government would deregulate diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices only after considering their impact on the weaker sections of the society, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R.P.N. Singh said Monday.
'We as policy makers and politicians have to mediate between the social, economic and environmental attributes of energy. We have to move cautiously to ensure that our decisions are equitable and lead to balanced growth,' said Singh, addressing the 10th Petro India conference here.
While the government had in June last year decontrolled petrol prices, it continues to dictate retail rates of diesel, cooking gas (LPG) sold to households and kerosene sold through the public distribution system (PDS).
The minister said that while the government was protecting consumers, it had to shield the state-run oil and gas marketing companies from the impact of selling subsidised products.
'We import about 75 percent of our crude requirement from overseas. The government therefore has the huge responsibility of protecting not only consumers but also our major oil and gas companies,' Singh said.
Singh said there was a need to target subsidies directly to the weaker sections of the society in the case of cooking gas.
'While certain subsidies may be necessary in view of the larger social objectives, they need to be administered directly to specific targeted end-users and provided in a transparent way through clear budgetary mechanism,' he added.
The minister also urged well-to-do sections to give up subsidised LPG voluntarily.
The government in the current fiscal will have to bear a energy subsidy burden of more than Rs.180,000 crore, which might increase due to a depreciating rupee.
Singh said there was a need to carry out energy pricing reforms across the segment of petroleum and gas products in order to attract investment and technology in the sector.
'Energy pricing reforms need to be carried out across the entire energy basket rather than segments of it so that there is neither inter-sectoral nor intra-sectoral cross- subsidization.'
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Mexico City Shaken by Magnitude-6.5 Quake
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake centered in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero shook the capital of Latin America’s second-biggest economy. Two people were killed in Guerrero, the country’s civil protection agency said.
The quake occurred at 7:47 p.m. local time and was centered 166 kilometers (103 miles) southwest of Mexico City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“All services in Mexico City are functioning normally,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said via the Twitter website at approximately 10 p.m. An 18-year old was killed in Iguala, Guerrero, when a restaurant roof collapsed, and a 25-year old was killed on the Chilpancingo-Acapulco highway, the civil protection agency said in an e-mailed statement.
Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-controlled oil company known as Pemex, said its infrastructure wasn’t damaged. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that the capital’s airport, subway and the water systems are functioning normally.
The temblor left 30 neighborhoods in Mexico City without power, the Excelsior newspaper reported, citing the federal electricity commission. Police chief Manuel Mondragon y Kalb said in an interview with Foro TV two buildings in the city were reported to be damaged, including one that was leaning on another structure. He confirmed power outages in some parts of the city.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net; Ben Bain in New York at bbain2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim McDonald at jmcdonald8@bloomberg.net
Monday, December 5, 2011
UN economists fear 2nd recession of global economy
United Nations, Dec 2 (ANI): The global economy is at a risk of facing another major downturn, a report has suggested.
The 2012 World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report, which complied by UN economists, said 2012 would be crucial in shaping the economic future.
"The situation in the world is rather grim. We have a situation where we may well be at risk of a double dip. In any case, it is very likely that there will be further slowdown," UN Assistant Secretary-General Jomo Kwame Sundaram said.
The report predicted three possible scenarios for the global economy in future: a baseline projection, as well as optimistic and pessimistic projections.
It predicted that developing nations, expanding by 5.4 percent in 2012 and 5.8 percent in 2013, would be major drivers of growth, Xinhua reports
These figures, however, indicate a slowdown from earlier growth figures.
The report also said high unemployment, particularly in developed countries, is adversely affecting growth, and added fiscal austerity measures that have been passed in response to high public debt in developed countries were partly responsible for the cause.
The report said additional fiscal stimulus could help counter the crisis.
"If there's no more fiscal stimulus there's no other factor that will keep up the demand, particularly in developed countries, " Sundaram said, adding that without stimulus, unemployment may grow and economic growth may decrease, which would only make national debt problems worse.
The report calls on countries to effectively coordinate their efforts to counter global economic problems. (ANI)
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