*A relatively quiet weekend on the international scene, where there were no further banks collapsing (today marks one yr since Bear Stearns’ demise – time flies when you’re having “fun” huh?), no emergency summits nor major international diplomatic events announcing further stimulus measures – they’re probably taking a break ahead of the upcoming G20 summit in London - and even no cuts from OPEC – no news is good news, and markets (more below) are so far responding to this in an equally positive manner.
*NASA even successfully and “flawlessly” launched a new crew-carrying rocket to the Int’l Space Station late last night – a welcome change from the recent failures they had experienced and a possible reflection of the turning tide across US sentiment - a Japanese astronaut even piggy-backed his way up.
*On OPEC, the decision not to cut production quotas any further, citing a worry of exerting any further pressure on an already fragile world economy, was certainly welcomed by those suffering deeply in the face of declining growth and employment. Oil has come under renewed pressure today, giving up almost 5% so far as investors reverse some trades after seeing their expectations of further cuts dashed.
*One notable news story was Bernanke’s comment that the US was lacking in “political will” to carry-out some much needed soul-searching and affect a number of necessary and difficult changes – a theme that has been discussed here for many months. It was Bernanke’s first televised interview since taking the role as FED Chairman so the affect his comments will have may only now start to take form on political discussions.
*Asia did well this Monday, certainly on some short-covering as the markets squeezed investors through Friday. All major industries and sectors across Japan, Hong Kong and China nicely up on continued belief the possible stimulus package will boost exporter revenues and influence domestic consumption.
*Europe has also opened strong and is pushing most markets up about 2.5%, biggest news there is European inflation numbers confirm the lowest level in 10yrs (+1.2% - which was on consensus) and payrolls shrank -0.3% in Q4 – both indicators adding to the possibility of future rate-cuts by the ECB.
*US futures currently rosy – DJIA +86pts, S&P500 +10.3pts.
*Watch the currencies today – we’ve had more big moves as cable hits 1.42 again and Euro/US$ back above 1.30.
**It’s all about Dubai’s abrupt apparent return-to-form in the last couple of weeks. I reported how the last two weekends saw a sudden reinstating of Dubai’s status as a proper city, with life returning to many areas that had become for a while almost destitute landscapes – this weekend in particular, amidst a host of conferences and events taking advantage of what must be the final few weeks of extremely pleasant outdoor conditions, there was a very determined sense of “we’re out of the worst”.
*Whether or not the economic situation is really improving in Dubai and for whatever reason (Abu Dhabi assistance or any other) everyone agrees that the brink overlooking the precipice was reached and endured. Restaurants seemed busier, malls actually had more shoppers than even during the shopping festival a month ago and there was A LOT of traffic on the roads – this unfortunately had the double effect of bringing back in a lot of incredibly idiotic drivers and I definitely sensed a renewed level of aggression in driving style and little patience as people rushed to their (new?) jobs – at least they are still indicating (just about) for now.
*Dubai’s marketing machine definitely went into overdrive at some point in February as I have seen many articles across the international press attempting to paint a slightly brighter picture of the current situation and a definite lessening of what had been a near universal negative tone to Dubai’s woes - even nice words written amongst the UK tabloids!
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