US companies making bids for bail-out funds
Sunday, 26 October 2008
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Oct 25: Hardly anyone raised any eyebrow, that is the impression one got from the TV channels, as news of crash of the stock exchanges around the world invaded the Wall Street and Japanese Yen surging past major currencies yesterday. This of course prompted hasty sell of risky assets and return cash to investors gripped with the fear of an imminent global recession.
The Yen soared to a 13-year high against the dollar and pound sterling and six year-high against euro. The scale of such monumental market moves in currencies was attributed to the imploding of hedge funds leading to massive liquidations, said Ashraf Lodi, chief currency strategist at CMC market.
The plunging of Nikkei, Tokyo's stock market, the day Yen soared to an all time high surprised and bewildered many. Nikkei lost 9.6 per cent, a five year low, South Korea's Kospi lost 10.6 per cent, Hong Kong fell 8.3 per cent, FTSE lost 5.0 per cent and Germany, another 5.0 per cent.
The US treasury department is under increasing pressure to extend the facilities of the bailout packages to the bleeding auto industry and insurance sectors. Chrysler, the giant US automaker announced it would cut 5000 jobs as its merger talks with another troubled automaker General Motors (GM) progress.
The lobbyists on the Capitol Hill are burning midnight oil to persuade the Bush administration to divert a part of the bailout package to a range of companies that were exempted from receiving assistance from the package. The bail-out package is only meant for the recapitalisations of the banks. The institutions that have been barred from the accessibility to the bail-out package play a vital role in the US economy by providing liquidity to the market, an analysts said.
China which has a whopping foreign exchange reserve of $1906 billion, highest in the world, is being pressurised to play a more involved role in the current financial crisis that is tearing down the entire fabric of the global financial system. A meeting of the ASEAN nations plus China, Japan and South Korea is in progress in China. The nations have agreed to create an emergency fund of $80 billion to help any member in distress.
NEW YORK, Oct 25: Hardly anyone raised any eyebrow, that is the impression one got from the TV channels, as news of crash of the stock exchanges around the world invaded the Wall Street and Japanese Yen surging past major currencies yesterday. This of course prompted hasty sell of risky assets and return cash to investors gripped with the fear of an imminent global recession.
The Yen soared to a 13-year high against the dollar and pound sterling and six year-high against euro. The scale of such monumental market moves in currencies was attributed to the imploding of hedge funds leading to massive liquidations, said Ashraf Lodi, chief currency strategist at CMC market.
The plunging of Nikkei, Tokyo's stock market, the day Yen soared to an all time high surprised and bewildered many. Nikkei lost 9.6 per cent, a five year low, South Korea's Kospi lost 10.6 per cent, Hong Kong fell 8.3 per cent, FTSE lost 5.0 per cent and Germany, another 5.0 per cent.
The US treasury department is under increasing pressure to extend the facilities of the bailout packages to the bleeding auto industry and insurance sectors. Chrysler, the giant US automaker announced it would cut 5000 jobs as its merger talks with another troubled automaker General Motors (GM) progress.
The lobbyists on the Capitol Hill are burning midnight oil to persuade the Bush administration to divert a part of the bailout package to a range of companies that were exempted from receiving assistance from the package. The bail-out package is only meant for the recapitalisations of the banks. The institutions that have been barred from the accessibility to the bail-out package play a vital role in the US economy by providing liquidity to the market, an analysts said.
China which has a whopping foreign exchange reserve of $1906 billion, highest in the world, is being pressurised to play a more involved role in the current financial crisis that is tearing down the entire fabric of the global financial system. A meeting of the ASEAN nations plus China, Japan and South Korea is in progress in China. The nations have agreed to create an emergency fund of $80 billion to help any member in distress.