Personal Loan Blog

Beijing, China (AHN) – China’s exports fell in January by 0.5 percent compared to a year earlier marking the first decline in two years, data showed Friday

Exports dropped to $149.94 billion while imports dived by 15.3 percent to $122.66 billion.

Despite the declines China’s trade surplus grew to $27.28 billion in January up from $16.52 billion the prior month.

Part of the decline was because many factories cut back production or close their doors for the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, which fell in January this year. Workers generally want to travel home to celebrate the holiday with family.

However, analysts say the slowdown is further evidence that China’s economy is taking a hit from continued weakness of demand from the struggling U.S. and eurozone economies.

 

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Stocks opened sharply higher Friday after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months.

Shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 113 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 12 points and the NASDAQ jumped 28 points.

Oil was up 64 cents to $97.13, and gold was lower by $7, last trading at $1,752.50 a troy ounce.

The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls jumped by 243,000 in January, the most since April, and far exceeding economists’ expectations of a gain of just 150,000.

The strong jobs reports put the unemployment rate to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent and buoyed investor sentiment.

Market watchers will also be watching the big game Sunday. For the past 36 of 45 Super Bowls, the stock market has gone up after a win by an original National Football League team, one that traces its roots to before the merger with the American Football League, and gone down when the AFL (or newer team) is victorious.

So, Wall Street wants the Giants to win the Super Bowl.

The measure has an 80 percent accuracy rate based on the Dow Jones Industrial Averages’ annual performance.

There is not any science to it, but it is still as reliable as it gets for stock forecasting.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street opened lower Friday after a report showed that the U.S. economy expanded less than forecast..

Just after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 33 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was flat and the NASDAQ was up by about 6 points.

Weighing on stocks was a report that showed the U.S. economy expanded at 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, less than the 3 percent that had been projected.

In Europe the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.7 percent as investors await word on developments on the region’s sovereign debt crisis. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said authorities are “very close” to reaching an agreement on private-sector involvement in a Greek debt swap.

Despite those words of optimism, the dismal growth of GDP in the U.S. was keeping investors cautious. The health and growth of the U.S. economy is a very important and leading indicator of economic growth worldwide. As analysts like to say, “when the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”

In corporate news, Ford fell after reporting numbers that missed estimates. Starbucks shares slipped despite reporting better than expected numbers, and Juniper Networks plunged after the second biggest maker of computer networking equipment forecast sales and profits that missed estimates.

In commodities, oil was unchanged at $$99.60 a barrel, gold rose $4.70 to $1,725 a troy ounce and silver was up a few pennies at $33.63.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The season for giving and receiving gifts is now Christmas Past. Now, it is the season for returning unwanted presents.

Dubbed “Mega Monday,” Dec. 26 is expected to be the third busiest shopping day of 2011, with scores of people heading to stores in droves in search of after-Christmas bargains and to return items.

Stores are forecast to ring up $469.1 billion over this holiday season, which extends from Nov.1 through New Year’s Eve. The final week before Christmas accounts for up to 20 percent of those sales, with the week after the holiday also being very brisk.

Some retailers underestimated the resilience of the American shopper, believing they weren’t ready to spend during the still-weak economy. However, the National Retail Federation reports that the two-month period has been busy, and it upgraded its overall sales growth forecast a full percentage point, to 3.8 percent.

Some shoppers are just getting started, putting off buying big ticket items until after Christmas, looking for blockbuster year-end specials.

Stores are also preparing for the rush to exchange and return gifts. Many stores have changed their return policy, shortening the number of days customers can return an item and requiring a receipt for cash back.

For those that find they can’t return, there is an option. We promise not to tell if you save that unwanted present and re-gift it next year.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The White House has thrown its support behind the end-of-year legislative package that included an extension of the reduction in payroll taxes for Americans for two months, according to a senior administration official.

In a statement issued Friday night, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said, “The President said that Congress cannot go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million hardworking Americans, and the deal announced tonight meets that test.”

Pfeiffer quoted the President as urging “Congress now to finish up their business for the American people.”

“This is an important step towards enacting a key provision of the President’s American Jobs Act and a significant victory for the American people and the economy, because as independent analysts have said, failing to extend this tax cut would have had a damaging effect on our recovery and job growth,” Pfeiffer added.

The statement from the White House came after Senate negotiators reached a deal on a two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday, among other benefits, but also imposed a requirement for President Obama to decide within 60 days whether to permit the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transfer oil from Canada oil sands to Gulf of Mexico refineries.

Earlier, Sen. Dick Lugar announced inclusion of his Lugar-Hoeven-Vitter legislation that would “compel the Obama Administration to act on a construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in 60 days,” in the payroll tax reduction bill.

“The President will no longer be able to duck his responsibility to American workers. He must now make a decision,” said Lugar, adding, “It is absolutely incredible that President Obama wants to delay a decision until after the 2012 elections apparently in fear of offending a part of his political base and even risking the ire of construction unions who strongly support the project.”

Energy specialists were not so sure of the outcome. One, speaking on condition of anonymity, commented in Washington, “One can be sure the pipeline project is dead as the president will not move before elections as it concerns his vote base of environmentalists.”

Moreover, the two-month extension of the payroll tax would definitely raise hiccups in both parties, according to political pundits, as this looked like a face-saving measure by lawmakers, who are suffering their worst ratings in recent years.

The tax paid by employees, now 4.2 percent, was scheduled to revert to its 2010 level of 6.2 percent on Jan. 1 if legislators did not renew the cuts, but President Obama had called on Congress not to go on vacation without final action.

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Derbyshire, United Kingdom (AHN) – Toyota has announced plans to add up to 1,500 new jobs at its Burnaston factory in Derbyshire in the United Kingdom.

Company officials say that Toyota will invest more than $155 million into making the factory its sole European plant for the next hatchback it introduces.

Prime Minister David Cameron was touring the factory when news of the new production was announced and he hailed it as a vote of confidence for UK manufacturing. He also noted that it would be a huge boost for the economy.

The new hatchback will be a small family vehicle similar in size to Toyota’s existing Auris model and cars by other manufacturers such as the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf.

The Burnaston factory is one of four Toyota vehicle-building factories across Europe and Russia. The plant currently employs more than 3,100 people and manufactures the Auris and Avensis models.

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Kabul, Afghanistan (AHN) – Friday marks the 10th year of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. The milestone will pass quietly. There was little observance by U.S. troops still in Afghanistan who just weeks earlier celebrated the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

There is not much to celebrate or commemorate. More than 2,700 troops from the United States and its partners have died during the 10 years of war, according to a CNN count. Of those, 1,780 were American.

During the decade-long war, two landmark events occurred. The Taliban has been forced out of power and Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seals.

Since the conflict began, the number of casualties has risen every year with a significant increase from 2008 to 2009. At least 296 coalition troops died in 2008. The number nearly doubled to 517 in 2009, the year President Obama authorized a surge of 33,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan to combat the violence.

In 2011, plans were outlined to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, beginning with pulling the 33,000 surge troops out by the end of 2012, and the remaining 68,000 by the end of 2014. The move was followed by withdrawal announcements by most NATO nations.

The Afghanistan war was once viewed as a necessity by a majority of Americans. It has now become widely unpopular as U.S. concerns have turned to the ailing economy and high unemployment. And many in Afghanistan are equally disappointed, saying they don’t see any changes in their country.

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NYC, NY, United States (AHN) – Ahead of the much anticipated release of the Fed’s additional stimulus for the ailing United States economy, Moody’s Investor Service downgraded three of the world’s largest banks.

Moody’s cut Bank of America’s rating two notches to Baa1; Wells Fargo’s long term debt was cut one notch to A1; and Citigroup’s long term rating was also cut one notch to Prime-2. Moody’s slapped a negative outlook on all three.

Shortly after 2:15 p.m. EST, the Fed announced no change in interest rates. The market reacted by falling nearly 100 points. Treasuries rallied.

The Federal also announced, in a move dubbed “Operation Twist,” that is would buy $400 billion of long-term Treasuries by the end of 2012, and sell an equal amount of short-term Treasuries in an effort to stimulate the economy by pushing the average maturity of its $2.7 trillion balance sheet further out.

Gold was off about $13 dollars before and following the news.

Now comes the digestion and analysis of the Fed’s words, tone and moves.

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Madrid, Spain (AHN) – Spain announced it would temporarily lower the rate of the value-added tax on purchases of a new house as one method of trying to increase sluggish home sales .

Finance Minister Elena Salgado announced the government would cut the VAT on newly built housing from 8 percent to 4 percent through the end of the year.

Although house prices have plunged since 2008, a large number of properties that were built within the past few years remain unsold.

Salgado said the government hopes that cutting the VAT tax in half will help eliminate some of the surplus housing stock on the market and stimulate the construction sector, which has high rates of joblessness.

The decision to halve the VAT tax temporarily on new homes was made at a cabinet meeting convened to find ways to stimulate Spain’s economy.

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Tel Aviv, Israel (AHN) – Protestors in Israel are still complaining about the growing gap between rich and poor there.

At least a quarter million Israelis have poured into the streets within the past month to protest income inequality there. Many Israelis are still protesting in the streets and living in tent cities that have sprung up.

The wealthy are called “tycoons,” and until recently the focus was on how much money they gave to charity.

But now the focus is shifting to the fact that a handful of families controls the 10 largest businesses in Israel and controls a whopping 30 percent of Israel’s economy.

The land once best known for the communal kibbutz where people worked together and shared equally in the fruits of their labor is now better known as the industrialized nation with the largest gap between rich and poor.

Although some people think that it is good that street protests have focused attention on the problem, others say that it is equally important to address other factors — such as the bottomless pit of tax dollars spent on Israel’s bloated defense budget, and on creating, sustaining and protecting settlements on Palestinian lands.

In addition, some people argue that the concentration of wealth within a handful of families is not unusual in democracies. Israel is roughly on par with Belgium, France, Sweden and Switzerland, but has a much higher concentration of wealth than in Britain, Germany and the United States.

Nevertheless, Israelis are angry about the concentration of wealth among a small group of companies owned by families. Those family-owned companies make competition impossible in a wide variety of business sectors in Israel where they control cellphone companies, supermarket chains, banks, insurance companies and the media.

Protestors have poured into Israel’s streets for three Saturdays in a row, with an estimated 250,000 protesting in the streets last Saturday.

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