576 hours of Advent in 576 words! An Economic Snapshot Special!

Tis the season to be Economic!

For the 24 days of advent

1^st of December:         The Eurozone risk increased after European manufacturing growth fell at it’s fastest pace for two years. The Chinese manufacturing fell to a 32-month low and Toyota and BMW announced a joint Eco-friendly venture.

2^nd of December:        Angela Merkel has announced the fiscal union and is pushing for it as a way to resolve the Eurozone crisis. The announcements of this closer EU integration lead to stock markets opening higher.

5^th of December:        Merkel and Sarkozy are meeting to discuss the EU fiscal. In other EU news, Eurozone service sector activity shrank and Italy’s borrowing cost fell following Mario Monti’s austerity plans.

6^th of December:        EU markets were down by around 3%, and a panel has discovered that the management of Olympus was “rotten”. Australia’s central bank cut its interest rates to help growth and lowered its cash rate by 0.25% to 4.25%.

7^th December:            China’s exports were set to suffer as Western Markets suffered whilst sales in Europe and US had 40% of their exports compromised. The fiscal compact was announced for Thursday. Elsewhere the Olympus’s board resigned.

8^th of December:        The EU prepared for the summit in Brussels, meanwhile the ECB have cut interest rates as S&P announce plans on reviewing the AAA rated countries. The EU stock markets did make small gains.

9^th of December:        Today was the day that David Cameron insisted an exemption for the UK from some regulations and changes were initially dropped. Elsewhere Moody’s downgraded France’s biggest banks and German exports fell by 3.8%.

12^th of December:      Unemployment was announced as the world’s biggest worry and the EU economy was forecast to contract by 1.5%. Standard Charted bank stated the world’s economy would contract 1.3% unlike the original 0.6% growth.

13^th of December:      Shares in Asia’s computer chip manufacturers have fallen after Intel cut its revenue forecast. Shares in Samsung fell by 1.29% and China mobile was proclaimed China’s most valuable brand. EU Tensions continued to mount.

14^th of December:      China guaranteed growth in 2012 and scandal-hit Olympus has filed different earnings reports in a bid to be kept in the stock exchange. Whilst Hong Kong was announced as the most financially developed.

15^th of December:      The Eurozone downturn slowed revealed by Markit released a survey of thousand of firms. In this, Germany’s manufacturing shrank, 3^rd month in a row and Japan’s sentiment went negative.  Olympus retained stock-exchange listing.

16^th of December:      Stock markets in the euro steadied themselves, in a pre Christmas calm, and Zynga was predicted to raise $1billion on its stock market flotation. Also, India’s Reserve Bank held interest rates at 8.5%.

19^th of December:      Kim Jong Il died and the markets reacted accordingly with South Korea’s currency and stock falling. Saab filed for bankruptcy and Kingdom Holding Company invested $300million into twitter. Etihad Airways increased AirBerlin stake to 29%.

21^st of December:       The ECB loans did very well with huge demand for them. The central bank expected to lend 450billion euros. Italy’s economy shrank by 0.2% and The ECJ deemed the emissions tax valid.

22^nd of December:      Lufthansa sold BMI to IAG, despite protest from virgin and other airlines. Yahoo’s shares increased and the cost of borrowing for Hungary rose and Japan’s economy was expected to shrink by 0.1%.

23^rd of December:       China’s average minimum wages increased by 13% but one province increased by 23.4%, due to labour shortages. As well, Cloucester Coal shares jumped by 30% initially.