The World Economic Crisis

(NOT FOR THE WEAK HEARTED )


UK's GDP GrowthEconomy contracts by 1.9% in Q1 2009
Real GDP quarterly growthGross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 1.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, unrevised from last month’s estimate. GDP is 4.1 per cent lower than the first quarter of 2008. Output of the production industries fell by 5.3 per cent compared with a fall of 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter. This was driven by manufacturing output which fell by 5.5 per cent.Construction output fell by 2.4 per cent over the quarter, unrevised from the previous estimate. (read more at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=192 )

Dollar weakens more on credit fears
Fri 22 May, 2009 20:46
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slid, the dollar dropped to a 2009 low and government bonds fell further on Friday on worries over rising U.S. debt levels after investors questioned the strength of its AAA credit rating.
The U.S. dollar, on track for its biggest weekly fall in two months, took the brunt of growing worries about the U.S. fiscal outlook after Standard & Poor's on Thursday said it might cut Britain's AAA credit rating because of soaring public debt.
The weak dollar helped push up commodities prices, including oil, gold and copper, and buoyed U.S. stocks as investors bought multinationals and the stocks of natural resource companies in anticipation a weaker dollar would underpin profitability from abroad.
The euro broke above $1.40 (88 pence) and sterling hit a 6 1/2-month peak versus the dollar while U.S. stocks, after rising for most of the session, slid before trading ended -- their fourth straight day of declines.
"The general theme today is clearly broad-based U.S. dollar weakness, largely triggered by mounting concerns over the U.S. government debt AAA rating," said Omer Esiner, senior market analyst at Travelex Global Business Payments in Washington .http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=reutersnews&articleid=N22597986&feed=Bus&action=article

Japan's GDP plummets record 15.2% in quarter
BY YUKIO HASHIMOTO
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2009/5/21
Japan's economy shrank by a postwar record 15.2 percent in the January-March period on an annualized basis, government figures showed Wednesday, but some economists say the recession may have bottomed out.
Five economists polled by The Asahi Shimbun said annualized gross domestic product will expand between 0.4 percent and 3.8 percent in the April-June quarter.
"We can say the domestic economy hit the bottom in the January-March period," said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist at Nomura Securities Co.'s Financial and Economic Research Center, who forecast 3.8-percent GDP growth in the next quarter. ( read more at http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200905210023.html )



The Mexican Economy Plunged in Q1 2009, What is Next?
Outlook:May 14th: Considering that the initial impact of the flu outbreak turned out to be less damaging than feared and that there are longer-terms effects over tourism-related activities in terms of forgone earnings, the estimated cost of the flu outbreak is around 0.3% of GDP with 2009 forecast revised to - 5.2%. (Citigroup) April: Economic activity will likely experience a sharp contraction in 2009, driven by a deep recession in the US and weakened domestic demand. In RGE Monitor’s view, the expected sharp contraction of the US economy of 3.5% y/y in 2009, which will likely reach bottom in the H1 2009, should drag Mexico’s GDP to a swift plunge of 4.7% y/y in 2009 from a sluggish expansion of 1.3% y/y in 2008. (RGE Monitor)
Economic Growth Dynamics and Indicators: May 21st: The economy shrank by 8.2% y/y or by 5.88% q/q sa in the first quarter of the year. The secondary (industrial) sector experienced the largest decline (down 9.9% y/y), with the brunt coming from the manufacturing sector which declined 13.8% y/y. Also in the secondary sector, construction declined 7.7% y/y while utilities and mining declined 3.0% y/y and 1.1% y/y, respectively. The tertiary (services) sector declined by 7.8% y/y. Meanwhile, the primary (agricultural) sector expanded 1.4% y/y during the first quarter. (BNP Paribas)

I LOVE THIS ONE BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES
(Before you read this beaware that in January 2008 the weekly jobless claims was around 250,000 for a four week period. This months figures are more than double that number. The FT is implying that at 632,ooo jobless claims are easing and Santa is riding an unicorn good work FT HA HA HA HA AAAH that hurts so good)

New US weekly jobless claims ease
By Alan Rappeport in New York
Published: May 21 2009 14:31 Last updated: May 21 2009 14:31
The number of US workers claiming unemployment benefits for the first time eased last week, official figures showed on Thursday, but those continuing to claim climbed to a fresh record high.
New jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 631,000 in the week ending May 16, the labour department said on Thursday. The drop was less than economists expected and much of the reversal was the result of the spike in auto-related job cuts the week before due to the idling of Chrysler plants.