Yahoo! Asia News
LONDON (AFP) - Stocks plummeted across the world on Monday amid fears of a global recession, with markets in Europe suffering their biggest one-day losses since the September 11th attacks on the United States.
Dealers said a major new plan by President George W. Bush to prevent a US recession was not enough to offset the stream of bad news from banks due to the crisis in the American housing market.
"People aren't buying the US bail-out story and that feeling has been exacerbated by the weakness overnight in the Asian markets," said Richard Hunter, equities analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown in London.
"The other thing we have seen today is a lack of buying interest -- people are battening down the hatches while they see what happens in the US," he said, noting that Wall Street was closed Monday for a national holiday.
A credit squeeze prompted by a crisis in the US subprime, or high-risk, mortgage sector has given way to a wider malaise in the world's biggest economy, with unemployment rising and the dollar falling.
Many analysts now fear that the US slowdown could damage the world economy.
International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned Monday that "all the world's countries are suffering from the slowdown in growth in the United States, at least all developed countries".
And later Monday, Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of the Eurogroup finance ministers, added to the gloom.
"The situation is continuing to deteriorate in the United States," Juncker said after chairing a meeting in Brussels with finance ministers from the 15 countries that share the euro.
"In recent months, we have always ruled out a recession in the United States, but we cannot totally rule it out today," added Juncker, who is both Luxembourg's prime minister and finance minister.
World oil prices slid on deepening worries about a potential drop in energy demand owing to the weakness of the US economy, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude, shed 1.76 dollars to 88.81 dollars per barrel.
The dollar meanwhile rose strongly against the euro. Dealers said that "carry-trade" investors, who had been putting money into higher-yielding currencies, were now cutting back on those positions to the benefit of the dollar, which still offers safe-haven qualities.
But there were no safe havens Monday for stock market investors.
The main London, Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid exchanges had their biggest single day losses since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
London's FTSE 100 index plunged 5.48 percent, the Paris CAC 40 lost 6.83 percent, Frankfurt's DAX shed 7.16 percent and Madrid fell 7.54 percent. Other exchanges across the continent saw similar losses.
Hours later, the chill had spread to Latin America. In Sao Paulo, Latin's biggest market, the main Ibovespa index fell 6.6 percent to 53,709 points, at close of trading Monday.
Argentina's Buenos Aires stock exchange closed 6.27 percent down at 1,876.87.
The nervousness in Europe and America was fuelled by falls earlier in the day across Asia, with Tokyo's benchmark index closing a hefty 3.86 percent lower, hitting its lowest point since October 2005.
Markets were reacting to the US president's plan announced last Friday for 140 billion dollars (97 billion euros) in temporary tax cuts and other measures to ward off a recession in the world's biggest economy.
Bush's package "is seen as too late and not strong enough to make an impact," said Najeeb Jarhom, head of research for retail clients at Fraser Securities in Singapore.
"It looks like the US is heading for a recession or may be already in recession, looking at the data," he said.
A recession is negative growth for two consecutive quarters.
Asian markets had rebounded at the end of last week on hopes for Bush's stimulus plan but opened sharply down on Monday after seeing Wall Street's lack of enthusiasm for the announcement.
Investors were also uneasy as it would take another day to gauge further reaction in the United States, where markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.
Bush on Friday said his plan would be worth "around one percent" of US gross domestic product and offer tax rebates, incentives for businesses and other measures to encourage growth.
Dealers said they had hoped for surprises in Bush's much-anticipated announcement, particularly on how to salvage the troubled housing market.
The US economy has been hit hard by rising defaults in the "subprime" mortgage sector, in which Americans with bad credit records are struggling to pay back housing loans given to them during the housing boom.
World stock markets plunge as global recession fears grow
on Tuesday, January 22, 2008Fortune God
on Friday, January 18, 2008
To all of you who happen to see this blog:
May this seven fortune god bring good fortune to all of you.
Remember always smile happily and good fortune will for you.
May happiness always at your side.
May worries follow the wind and be blown away.
四百萬元的富翁
on Wednesday, January 16, 2008轉載自92期慈濟世界:
| 老人微笑，“你今天遇到我，非常幸運，我告訴你，我是一個億萬富翁。”年輕人臉露驚喜，“咦！難道你會送錢給我嗎？”…… |
每天沮喪自己什麼都沒有，卻不去爭取，不去努力，逕直幻想未來將有大成就大事業。
沒有行動，這是根本不可能發生的事。
收穫，從來不會從天而降。
聽起來非常簡單的道理，我卻花了幾十年才想明白。
當我已經明瞭的時候，人生早就過了幾十年。
前邊的日子太多幻想，不夠實際，等於白過，現在後悔也沒有用，因為來不及。
一個年輕人臉色懊惱地坐在公園的椅子上，沮喪的模樣令一個過路的老人停下腳步，關心地問，“年輕人，你為何悶悶不樂呢？”
年輕人歎息說，“我什麼都沒有。沒有錢，沒有好的工作，沒有妻子，沒有孩子，沒有可以依恃的家庭，難道這不令人感到悲傷嗎？”
老人微笑，“你今天遇到我，非常幸運，我告訴你，我是一個億萬富翁。”
年輕人臉露驚喜，“咦！難道你會送錢給我嗎？”
“是的。”老人說，“如果你可以把你身上的東西賣給我，我就付錢給你。”
年輕人大喜，出力點頭說“好好好，沒問題。”
老人說，“我出一百萬元買你的健康，一百萬買你的年輕，讓你變成一個滿身病痛的老頭子。再出一百萬元買你的智慧，另一百萬買下你的聰明，讓你為我殺人、搶劫，然後在監牢裡過完你的餘生。”
年輕人目瞪口呆，不會回答。
“怎麼樣？”老人笑眯眯地追問年輕人，“賣不賣呀？你要是答應，四百萬元馬上給你。”
年輕人瞪老人一眼，“我才沒那麼笨。”
“聰明人，你還說你什麼都沒有？”老人大笑，“現在你知道了吧？你是一個擁有四百萬元的富翁呢。”
年輕就是財富，就是本錢。重要的是擁有求知欲和上進心，再加上堅強的意志力和堅韌的毅力，那麼，年輕的你的價值何只四百萬。
蔚藍天空，陽光明媚，公園中花樹飄香，鳥兒鳴唱，世界如此美好。
前途不可限量的年輕人對著好風好景自怨自艾，多可惜呀。
看到這故事時，我早就不年輕了。
讀著這篇文章的你，年輕的你，別忘記，未來在你的手上，你要自己好好掌握。至於你的價值是四百萬，或者超過四百萬，你可以給自己定位。
Received a mail from friend regarding virus warning for computer. Just posted it out to share with all of you.
WORST VIRUS EVER --- CNN ANNOUNCED
A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive ever. This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee . This vir us simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored.
This virus acts in the following manner:
It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title:
"A Card for You".
As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the computer freezes so
that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+ del keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New York , according to news broadcast by CNN.
This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself.
So don't open
any mails with subject: "A Virtual Card for You. " As soon as you get the mail, delete it !!
So...Please Beware... 
