 |  | | Debt Crisis & West |
 YOU may recall the Latin
American debt crisis of 1982,
the Asian debt crisis of 1997,
the Russian debt crisis of 1998
- and you´ll certainly remember
the US sub-prime debt crisis of 2008.
Now we have a European debt crisis
and, horror of horrors, a US government
debt crisis.
That´s the word to keep hold of: debt.
Ignore the financiers´ jargon - bond
yields, credit default swaps, hedge
funds - which make finance sound like
quantum physics, a fearfully abstruse
subject beyond the grasp of ordinary
mortals. Financial crises occur when
people (or governments or companies)
can´t repay their debts. Or more precisely
when their creditors (or shareholders)
decide they aren´t likely to get
their money... |
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| |  | | US GRIPPED BY GREAT
CONTRACTION |
| IN the wake of the hugely disappointing
budget deal and
the S&P´s debt downgrade,
maybe we need to hang a new
sign in the immigration arrival
halls at all US ports and airports. It
could simply read: "Welcome. You
are entering the United States of
America. Past performance is not
necessarily indicative of future
returns."
Because our country is now finding
itself in the worst kind of
decline - a slow decline, just slow
enough for us to keep deluding ourselves
that nothing really fundamental
needs to change if our
future is to match our past.
Our slow decline is a product of
two inter-related problems. First,
we´ve let our five basic pillars of
growth erode since the end of the
Cold War - education, infrastructure,
immigration... |
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 | Gold price tops $1,700 as
investors seek refuge THE price of gold streaked past
$1,700 an ounce for the first
time on Monday. Investors,
beset by worries about the US
debt downgrade, Europe´s
financial crisis and slowing global
growth, sought safety in the
metal as stocks tumbled around...
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| | IQ´s steel projects on hold over lack of gas |  QATARI steel-to-fertilizer conglomerate
Industries Qatar (IQ)
has put on hold two planned steel
plants in the industrial city of
Mesaieed worth 8.1 billion
QR$2.22 billion due to problems
securing natural gas for the projects,
the company said.
"The market should also be
aware that following extensive discussions
with Qatar Petroleum, it
has been agreed to put the Qatar
Steel Phase 2 and 3 projects on
hold due to natural gas allocation
restrictions," IQ said in a trading
update dated August 7.
"It is our intention to revisit the
projects when sufficient natural gas
allocations have been secured," the
Doha-based conglomerate added.
Qatar Steel is fully-owned by IQ... |
| | Asian fuel oil holds firm |
 ASIAN fuel oil held firm on
Monday as crude benchmarks
mired at month-low
levels for a second straight
session, with both its prompt
timespreads and front-month
cracks holding firm at
stronger levels, amid thin
trading activity in the swaps
market.
However, the prompt physical
market was active, particularly
in the retail marine
fuels market, as buyers were
drawn by low fixed-price levels,
keeping premiums for exwharf
bunkers at more than
$10.00 a tonne to cargo levels.
Physical supply-demand
fundamentals look to tighten
further on the revived
demand, as inflows from all
three major supply sources —
the West, the Middle East and
India... |
| | US downgrade hits world
stocks as investors flee |  THE fallout from Standard &
Poor´s downgrade of the
United States pushed world
stocks to their lowest level in
nearly a year on Monday and
sent U.S. shares down 5 percent
as investors sought safety
in gold and bonds.
Strange as it may be,
investors took shelter in the
asset that was downgraded —
choosing US government
bonds for their liquidity and
perceived high quality.
Investors shunned stocks
and commodities, struggling
to discern the effects of the
downgrade, which could hit
various components of the
financial sector, from mortgage
lenders to municipal
issuers and insurers.
"Markets know the US government
will make its payments,
but the credit... |
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