Global Investing Roundups Friday, January 2nd, 2009
Jan 2nd, 2009 | By William Patalon III | Category: Financial NewsChina Lifts Inflation Controls; Awful Year for India Rupee; 30-year Mortgage Rates Hit Record Low; First Recorded Decline in Online Holiday Shopping; UBS Offloads Bank of China Stake
- With inflation easing, China has lifted temporary inflation controls on key commodities such as liquefied petroleum gas, power-station coal, grains and cooking oil. Ten months ago, China was facing inflation at a 12-year high, Bloomberg reported. Now it’s slowed to the weakest pace in nearly two years.
- India’s rupee slid 19.2% in 2008, its worst annual performance since 1991, and the second-worst among the 10 most-active Asian currencies excluding Japan. “It has been ecstasy to agony for the rupee this year,” K.V. Mallik, treasurer at state-owned UCO Bank, told Bloomberg. “The outlook isn’t any better as it appears far from certain as to when the financial markets will stabilize. I expect the rupee to be under pressure in the next few months.”
- Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to 5.1% this week, down from the previous record of 5.14% set last week, Freddie Mac reported. Mortgage rates have plunged by about 1.3 percentage points since late October.
- Online holiday sales fell 3% from last year, marking the first decline in online spending since comScore Inc started tracking online sales in 2001, Reuters reported. Online spending totaled $25.5 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 23.
- UBS AG (UBS) the Swiss banking giant struggling to rebuild its balance sheet after taking $49 billion in losses form writedowns, has sold its stake in Bank of China, Reuters reported. UBS said it offloaded about 3.4 billion Bank of China H-shares through a discounted placing for at a profit of “a few hundred million dollars.” The bank had paid $500 million for a 1.6% stake in Bank of China in 2005.
Source: Global Investing Roundups Friday, January 2nd, 2009
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William (Bill) Patalon III is the Managing Editor and Senior Research Analyst for Money Morning, and is also the Managing Editor for The Money Map Report. Patalon's work has appeared in Kiplinger's personal finance magazine, USA Today, and The South China Morning Post, among other publications.
