UK carmakers ask for aid as sales see sharp decline

FT 19 Nov 2008
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UK carmakers ask for aid as sales see sharp decline
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Britain's car industry yesterday became the latest to ask for government financial aid and tax breaks to address "unprecedented(前代未聞の） circumstances" this year.
In Germany , General Motors' Opel unit this week held talks with the government on euro 1 bn worth of loan guarantees to shore up(立て直す、支援する） its liquidity.
Germany's carmakers have asked that their financing arms be eligible for state credit guarantees under that country's bailout programme for banks. Talks are still ongoing.


$40 oil price predicted
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Oil companies expect prices to fall and will cancel most planned investment projects even at current levels, said Fu Chengyu, head of China National Offshore Oil Corporation . A meeting of oil companies in Beijing predicted prices would fall to $40 a barrel, he said.

Several News from today's FT

FT Nov 13 2008
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US drops plan to buy toxic assets
Money to be spent on recapitalisation scheme
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The US government yesterday abandoned（断念する） its plan to buy toxic(毒の）assets, saying the money would be better spent on an expanded recapitalisation programme and supporting markets that securitise consumer credit.

Anxiety(心配）rises as prices plummet（プラミット、真っ直ぐ落ちる）
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Peter,a veteran businessman, took a punt (かける） on the rocketing Bud(つぼみ） property market a couple of years ago.
He bought two flats in the low cost International City development, a maze(迷路） of anonymous(無名の） buildings beside Dubai's ring road.
After selling and turning a tidy(かなりの） profit on both units, he banked one cheque but the other Dh300,000 bounced(跳ぶ）. My property broker has disappeared to Bahrain. I don't think he will be back in a hurry, he says.

Middle East investors eye falling markets in the west
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The Middle East's wealthiest private investors are seeking to take advantage of collaps-ing markets in the west by increasing their investments in depressed US and UK real estate markets, private bankers say.

Britain faces worst recession since 1990's
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Britain faces its deepest recession since the early 1990's, the Bank of England forecast yesterday in its bleakest quarterly inflation report since 1993.
Mervyn King, the Bank's governor, gave the green light for the government to use tax cuts or public expenditure increases to help limit the recession , and the official forecasts indicated interest rates had some way further to fall.
Pound sank on the gloomy outlook, dropping 2.9% to a six year low of 1.4939 against the dollar.

Current UK unemployment rate :5.8%
Current number of unemployed in UK :1.82m
NIESR forecast unemployment rate for 2010 :6.6%

World Bank in $100bn aid push

FT Nov12 2008
Fears that crisis will devastate poor nations
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Even middle-income countries are at risk
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The World Bank is set to provide up to $100bn in new aid（補助金） to developing countries, amid fears that the spreading effects of the financial crisis could devastate（ 荒廃させる）poorer and middle-income states.

The World Bank would seek to front load a separate $42bn in aid available to the world's poorest countries.

He cited（引用する） the Philippines, Vietnam and sub-Saharan countries as being on the brink（崖っぷち）, while noting that petrol producers such as Venezuela and Mexico were suffering from the fall in oil prices.

China's trade surplus hits new record as exports show resilience

FT Nov.12 2008
China's trade surplus grew to another record last month as the its exporters continued to show greater than expected resilience in the face of a global slowdown.
The politically sensitive trade surplus , which already stood at record levels in September , grew a further 20 per cent last month to 35.2bn after a modest reduction in the growth rate of exports was accompanied by a sharper drop in import growth.

Obama to hit ground running

FT Nov 6 /08
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Popular vote landmark
Russian dissonance(不調和）
Republicans（共和党） in cabinet
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Barack Obama will move swiftly（即座に） to capitalise on the momentum from his historic victory by announcing a sting(刺すこと） of senior appointments aimed at reassuing（安心させる） the markets and ensuring a confident transition(移り変わり） to the presidency in January.

Samsung reports record profit

FT Nov6 2008
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K Korea shipbuilder defies（拒む） gloomy（暗い） outlook
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Third-quarter earnings climb 23% to $137m
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Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's number two shipbuilder by sales, yesterday defied predictions of gloom（陰鬱） for the industry by reporting record third-quarter earnings.
Net profit for the South Korean yard climbed 23percent year-on-year to Won 174.2bn($137m) and sales rose to a record Won2,600bn as Samsung built higher-value, higher-margin vessels.

Much of the fall was due to Won238.4bn of hedging losses after this year's 25 per cent fall in the South Korean currency against the dollar and higher raw material costs.

The cycle has already entered a downturn as new orders are falling amid（最中） the global economic slowdown, which will further reduce global trade and shipbuilding financing, said Jun Jae-chun, analyst at Daishin Securities.

Such yards are more likely to have orders from more financially sable shipowners, which are unlikely to cancel orders because of the market slump.

Such owners are more likely to have arranged all the financing necessary for their orders and face little new risk from worsening credit conditions.

Mr. Jun predicted that earnings at Samsung would not fall much in the next two quarters thanks to order backlogs that will keep the company busy during the next three years.

Hyundai, Samusung, and Daewoo- that have a combined global market share of about 40 per cent.

Detroit's focus must be mobility

FT 5 November 2008
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There is much debate about whether the US car industry should be bailed out（救済）. Some argue that lame ducks（破産者、役に立たない者） should be left to die.Others point out that if GM, Chrysler or Ford fail, millions of indirect employees could lose their jobs too as the colossal（巨大な） supply industry falters（よろめき）.
So, I would recommend that any bail-outs from Washington be contingent（条件として、付随的な） upon Detroit's re-invention（発明）.
Clearly the 20th-century auto industry business model is broken. Designing, mass-producing and selling cars yields a sad or at best, sporadic（時々起こる） return on investment( unless your name is Toyota or Honda). However , the demand for personal mobility and transportation continues to rise.

Detroit might not be good at heeding（心に留めない） advice but its design and engineering teams are spectacularly（目覚しく） good at developing and manufacturing complex, extremely reliable and durable（丈夫な） products at a very keen price and on massive scale. So imagine how this prowess（武勇） could be utilised to create and build much-needed alternative transportation and infrastructure, such as personal rapid transit systems.