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Posts Tagged ‘financial analyst’

Europe was officially in recession last Friday, November 14, 2008. The 15-nation Euro Zone economy fell by 0.2% in the second quarter in a row and in other words, this really means recession.

Actually, I am not a financial analyst or economist in any way and I don’t know about money market, and even I cannot handle my own personal finance, but I am fond of researching on things that I don’t know, and it’s only recent that I got the chance to know the real meaning of recession. This term does not bother me because I don’t really know what the heck it is, and according to one reliable source, it means that it is a contraction phase in a business cycle wherein it is a period of reduced economic activity. Well, I think these terms will blow my brains out, so let’s just get to business shall we?

According to reports, more than $30 trillion has been deducted from the value of global equity markets this year and $966 billion was the sum of credit losses and writedowns in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

House prices are falling sharply in the U.K. Santander, a prominent Spanish bank that owns the U.K. mortgage lender Abbey has also lost 6.9 percent. BNP Paribas, France largest bank dropped also at 8.1 percent to 43.02 euros.

Germany’s biggest cement maker, HeidelbergCement, dropped to 22 percent to 39.90 euros. Bodycote Plc, U.K. supplier of metal-strengthening services to Ford Motor Co. also dopped to 22 percent to 96 pence.

U.S. economy was hit heavily by the financial crisis. Citigroup, one of the financial companies being relentlessly bashed by the crisis, plans of cutting off jobs by as much as 20% of its workforce.

Sun Microsystems Inc, announced it would layoff 10% of its staff to cut off cost.

Freddie Mac, the second-largest US home loan financing provider, reported a $25 billion quarterly loss as the housing loan spiraling down, and asking a $100 billion lifeline from the Treasury Department.

Fidelity Investments, the world’s biggest mutual fund company, announced also that it will need to lessened 1,700 jobs on top of 1,300 already announced.

There is also the possibility of mass layoffs on automobiles manufacturers, particularly at General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC.

Almost the entire community right now are in great danger due to the financial crunch that hit every nation and leaders of G-20 held a two-days summit to discuss on ways to resolve the crisis.

I really don’t know much about finance because I for myself didn’t finish with a business degree. I actually graduated with computer engineering course so please bear with me in explaining what I only read on the news because for me, it is really troubling. No doubt, world finance is really sick, and I really don’t know how a simple guy like me can help but just to report the current news.