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MARKETS TROUBLES * WORLDWIDE
* Germany - German Economy to Contract 3.7% in 2009, IfW Says
Berlin,Germany -Bloomberg, by Rainer Buergin and Simone Meier -March 12, 2009: -- The German economy will shrink the most since World War II this year as companies trim output and jobs to weather waning orders, the Kiel-based IfW institute said... German gross domestic product may drop 3.7 percent this year instead of the 2.7 percent projected in December, the institute, which helps advise the government, said today in an e-mailed report. Unemployment will probably increase by around 400,000 to 3.6 million this year and reach 4.3 million in 2010... German manufacturing orders plunged 38 percent from a year ago in January, the biggest drop since data for a reunified Germany started in 1991, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said yesterday. Business confidence fell to a 26-year low last month. .. Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker based in Wolfsburg, Germany, said today that fourth-quarter profit dropped 22 percent and forecast further earnings declines in 2009. Hanover-based Continental AG, Europe’s second-largest car-parts maker, reported its first quarterly loss in seven years on Feb. 19...
* Russia - Yaroslavl: A Burg Turns Bearish - Tensions rise and hope diminishes in a recently robust city that finds itself grinding to a halt
Yaroslavl, Russia -Business Week (USA), by By Jason Bush -12 March 2009: -- Tempers are fraying at the Freedom Road job center in the Russian city of Yaroslavl. "It's not my fault your staff is incompetent!" a burly, red-faced man in a fur hat shouts at a dour woman behind a desk. People in heavy winter coats crouch over questionnaires, huddle around counters, and cram the corridors waiting their turn. There's shoving and scuffling in the crush... The agency, it seems, isn't used to handling so many job-seekers. Until recently the biggest problem facing companies in the city of 600,000 was an acute labor shortage. That has all changed... On Oktober Prospekt, on the edge of town, Yaroslavl Motor Works (Avtodizel) is eerily quiet... Back then, the factory employed 40,000 workers. It still has 11,000, but on a recent Friday just a few office staffers are on hand. Orders for its diesel engines have fallen by 75% since the summer, forcing Avtodizel to shed 3,000 jobs—more than 20% of its workforce—last fall. Since Feb. 1 the plant has been operating just three days a week...
Labels: market news
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