The escalating Eurozone crisis has had clear implications on the Asian stock markets as the stocks continue to tumble. The inability of Greek leaders to form a coalition government has worsened the situation. The result of this fallout was seen in the economic trends which reflected a dip in the stock markets of Asia. One of the major reasons behind investors losing confidence in Greece is the possibility that political parties opposing austerity measures would rise in the near future. Austerity measures are badly required for this country to qualify for the bailout. Political instability can further reduce the chances of Greece to avail a much needed bailout. This will further have an adverse effect on other markets of the world.

Immediate Effects On Asian Stock Markets

The stock markets in Asia have taken a dip owing to the political crisis in Greece.

Sharp losses in the Blue-chip shares across stock markets Asia were observed owing to the political crisis in Greece. Immediate effects of the Greek crisis were observed in the form of the Nikkei 225 index dropping by 1.5 percent. The companies relying heavily on the European market have suffered major losses. For example, Konica Minolta, the makers of photo films dropped by 3.9 percent and reached a level of 596 yen. The air-conditioning equipment manufacturer, Daikin Industries Ltd. fell by 1.5 percent and reached a level of 2020 yen. Life insurance and real estate sectors also took a hit from this Eurozone crisis. The China Life Insurance Co. and the Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. (listed in Hong Kong) slid by 3.4% and 4.4% respectively. Effects of the Greek crisis were also witnessed in the automotive and electronics industries. Hyundai Motors C0. and Samsung Electronics Co. reported a loss of 3% and 5.6% respectively. Even the mining sector in Australia was not spared by the crisis. The declining commodity prices were mainly responsible for this loss in the stock market. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Ltd. lost 4% and 3.6% respectively.

Future Trends for Stock Markets in Asia

Hitoshi Asaoka a senior strategist at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. opined that cyclical stocks have been worst affected. This is because such kind of stocks are most sensitive to risk sentiment; risk aversion is on a rise and which can make the situation even worse for stock markets. According to analysts at the Hong Kong-based Credit Agricole CIB, the market won’t recover in the near future. Investors would continue to remain under pressure for some time.

The Greek political crisis is the pinnacle of the economic trends reflecting the problems affecting the Eurozone nations. As observed from the statistics presented above, this crisis has wide-ranging implications since most of the Asian stock markets have been affected. The situation in stock markets would continue to remain unstable until a clear verdict in the favor of austerity measures is given by the people of Greece.

Global economic trends over the past few months have been far from encouraging. With real economic growth showing a marked stagnation and stock exchanges being unreliable over this period, it was only a matter of time before the harsh truths came off the graph charts and started haunting us in the real life.

Global Economic Trends Affecting Food Prices

In a short period of past four months i.e. from December to March, the food prices registered a staggering 8% rise. These are ominous signs for the economy of the world. The reasons behind the rise in food prices are many which present before us a complex picture of the happenings on the global scenario. Although rise in oil prices have certainly influenced the food price rise, there are many underlying factors which need to be taken into consideration. The rise in food prices would be largely dependent on whether or not the target of minimum food production is achieved. Due to the perishable nature of food items, it becomes difficult to manage their trade as efficiently as other commodities of the market. Therefore, it results into a situation marred by confusion and panic where no leadership across the world can offer assurances to their country folks about security of food.

The Factors Behind Rising Food Prices

From year 2008 onwards, the developing world was gripped by a series food and energy-related price rises which triggered social unrest. Also the weather conditions have not been favorable for crop production. Bad weather is observed in different regions of the world including United States, Europe and South America. In addition to it, the demand for food in Asia has risen to a great extent. In Africa, import of food items is on a rise. This has lead to increase in their prices. There are also few other factors responsible for inflation. Amongst them are hoarding, trade restrictions on a regional level and bad weather conditions. All these factors have lead to a series of events which culminated into a situation where ban on food exports has been imposed in many countries. These factors coupled with rise in oil price have led to increase in global food prices. The year 2011 was known for one of the highest food price rises in recent years. The Global Food Price Index of the World Bank for 2012-13 was only 6% below the peak that was reached in February, 2011. The World Bank has indicated that there is no foolproof method to predict the food price rise.

This indicates tough times ahead from the point of controlling price rise. If proper steps are not taken to keep a check on food prices, the situation would soon spiral out of control. Shortage of essential commodities like food grains and other such items could wreak havoc and worsen the situation in the world where thousands of children die of malnutrition every year. The concern over food security of millions of people was also expressed by Otaviano Canuto, the vice president of World Bank, who is in charge of economic management and poverty reduction.

It may be a little early to press the panic button as there’s still hope that the problem may be contained. However, it would be wise to gear up for shortages and rising expenses for food items even as we hope for economic trends to improve.

The economic trends from the world over indicate that the global economy is still in a precarious state and far from healthy and dependent on continued support from central banks, in spite of what experts have pronounced to be signs of stabilization.

 Economic Trends Worse in Developed Nations, says TIGER

The vital signs are off for the Group of 20 leading economies, with the advanced (read developed) nations in a more alarming state than the developing ones. These findings have been revealed by statistics revealed by TIGER (Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recover) index.

These conclusions are a validation of the statement made recently by Christian Lagarde, MD of IMF, that regardless of the slight improvements, the risks remain high.

 Economic Trends: The Bridge Between Real Economy and Financial Markets

The financial markets are faring somewhat better than what these inferences suggest, due in large part to the massive cash injection by the European Central Bank.  Almost everywhere except the USA, however, the outlook on the job market and subsequent growth, however are bleaker than the encouraging economic trends from the stock markets suggest. As one expert puts it, the machinery put in place for the economic recovery is running low on fuel due to a variety of factors, ranging from a paucity in steady demand to the inability of political tools already straining at the seams to get things going, but not quite able to. Add political instability and weak financial institutions to the mix and you have a rogues’ gallery worth of suspects as to why the economy is unable to recover.

The TIGER index looks at a wide variety of factors to analyze and draw conclusions from. The methodology is to take a compound view of real economic activity, financial variables and consumer confidence with respect to their upward or downward movements in tandem. Making use of advanced statistical analytical tools, the correlation among movements in economic trends can be detected and deciphered.

The goods production aspect of the economy in Europe is reeling from the rather severe austerity plans implemented in many countries, further stifling demand even before the ill-effects of the 2011 debacle could wear off. The result is that growth is being curbed, the immediate impact being deteriorating debt-to-GDP rations, resulting in untenable political conditions prevailing on a pan-European level. This would further worsen the very same factors that are already taking a toll on the economy, thus completing a vicious cycle of negative economic trends being worsened by political uncertainty.

The slowdown has seeped into the developing markets as well, with the growth  outlook having started to worsen already as industrial productivity has been shown to fall short of expectations in all BRIC nations. Having long defied the disasters that have been plaguing the developed world on and off since the sub-prime crisis, the onus of supporting world growth without support from the once mightly economies has evidently taken a toll on the emerging economies.

The Silver Lining

Recovery of economic trends in the US are by far the more encouraging as compared to Europe, with modest but steady growth being reflected, even as the tendency of susceptibility to shocks remains to go completely.

It is a matter of relief, however, that in 2012, the TIGER index has registered improvements across all the parameters that it uses as confidence indicators. The scenario is not as bleak as it looked in the winter, at least for the European economy.

The worse might seem to be over, but the rise in confidence has to be reflected in terms of improved demand for goods and enhanced production for the real economic indicators to kick off. Keep reading for more on the latest global economic trends and web economy news.

CAIRO: the interim government of Egypt acknowledged plans on Sunday to sign a loan agreement worth $3.2 billion with the International Monetary Fund. According to state media less than a year the government of Egypt had refused the offer of a loan from the international lender which led to downward spiral of the economic trend.

Egypt had turned down the loan last year, saying it did not want to further increase its foreign debt, citing concerns that it would burden the next government with such a large debt that it would amount to an infringement of Egyptian sovereignty; but re-evaluated the same as its economy nose-dived and much of the promises of aid from Arab and other donors did not fall through.

Egypt’s foreign reserves have plummeted from a high of $36 billion, prior to the revolution, to around $10 billion in late January, as the government has spent vast amounts to bolster the currency, which has come under mounting pressure.

The $3.2 billion loan will definitely help to ease the financial crunch that Egypt is currently facing. Egypt is still reeling from a year of economic crisis and social unrest after the ouster of former Egyptian politician and military commander Hosni Mubarak a year ago.

Frequent street clashes between protesters and security forces have killed more than 100 people since October and battered and burned many parts of downtown Cairo, leaving it separated by concrete ramparts and coils of barbed wire.

The most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper the Al Ahram reported on Sunday that The loan will be payed out in three stages over the next year at an interest rate of 1.2 percent ,. The foremost part, around $1 billion, will be disbursed as soon as Egypt signs the agreement.

The state managed daily also went on to say that Egypt was negotiating to borrow $1 billion from the World Bank, in part to make up for financial support pledged by Gulf Arab nations more than a year ago.

The tourism business, which has been boosting the economy through the years, has been on a down spiral since the revolution, and a rise in anti-American sentiment in the state-owned media appears likely to keep tourists at bay.

Indian Economy – The Price Rise

The Indian economy is affected in a big way by the monetary policies made by the Reserve Bank of India with respect to the rupee. The policies are dictated to a large extent by global economic trends and their likely consequences vis-a-vis the Indian economy.

The Reserve Bank of India, also known as RBI which is the central banking institution of India and controls the monetary policy of the rupee as well as US$300.21 billion of currency reserves is trying to reduce persistently high price increases, which have stayed over eight percent for the past eighteen months. It raised interest rates by 0.25 percent to 8.5 percent in the last week. The central bank has increase interest rates by just under 4 percent since March of the previous year. Growth dawdled to almost 8 percent in the three months to June; this is the slowest it has been in the last 2 years.

Indian Economy – On the Supply Issue

When it comes to the Indian economy, the primary reason why inflation in India is so stubborn is supply constraints, stated a well known economist. The lack of basic infrastructure, skills gaps and product markets raise costs. In the meantime, bad irrigation means that unexpected low rainfall will see the prices of food on the rise. As the rupee drops, and thus adds more to the inflation problem, to improve the Indian economy, India must tighten fiscal policy.

Indian Economy – Global # 4

The fourth-largest economy in the world behind the United States, China and Japan is India. Figures from 2010 illustrate that the Japanese economy was worth $4.31 trillion, with India following right behind at $4.06 trillion India might soon fall into the third place by surpassing Japan in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which is calculated in accordance to the domestic purchasing power of the rupee, which is also known as purchasing power parity.

After March’s devastating tsunami and earthquakes, Japan’s economy is widely expected to contract while the Indian economy will grow between seven and eight percent this financial year. The next six-to-eight months may see India surging ahead of Japan. Some leading experts on worldwide economic trends are of the opinion that by that time, in terms of purchase power parity, the Indian economy would be the world’s third largest.

A new study shows that the worth of the web economy in G-20 countries will increase dramatically by the year 2016. The study, by the group for mutual aid and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system, says the web economy presence of $2.3 trillion (in 2010) will grow to more than 4 trillion dollars. This will largely be driven by mobile devices, as mobile phones that can access the World Wide Web are becoming more and more easily accessible. In October 2011, one report put Smartphone penetration in the market at 44% in the United States. This study goes on to show that more than seventy five percent of Internet users in 2016 will be accessing the web with a mobile phone.

Close to three billion people will be using the Internet. Around the end of 2008, there were about a billion Internet users worldwide, and around the end of 2010 that number reached 2 billion. Already, according to the study, more than a couple of million people go online for the very first time eachyear,.

The report found that companies that use the Internet to sell, market and interact, using tools like social media, grow faster than companies that do not. In the United States, businesses with a medium or high Internet presence are expected to grow by seventeen percent over the next few years, compared with twelve percent for other companies. While every business can benefit from economic growth like this, the research identifies certain companies, or  internet ecosystems will try to tie users in to their customized part of the internet”, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Baidu (China), Tencent (China) and Yandex (Russia).

Despite the current value of 2.3 trillion only compromising four point one percent of the total G-20 economies, the concept of a web or digital economy might soon be irrelevant. Digital technologies and the Internet are becoming so deep-rooted in business that the characteristic between the web economy and the economy as one whole is becoming distorted. In G20 countries, a study shows that the dissimilarity might just completely disappear by 2020.

Washington DC: Other than promising to pump billions of dollars into the economy on key areas such as education, transportation and jobs, President Obama’s administration on Monday proposed 2.4 billion US dollars in economic aid to Pakistan for the financial year 2013.

USD 2.2 billion out of the 2.4 billion will be used to strengthen independent and public institutions that present a barricade against radicalism and support joint security and anti- terrorism initiatives, plus eight hundred million for the Pakistan Counter-insurgency Capability Fund, the State Department proclaimed a short time after the White House sent the budgetary proposal to Congress.

The state department continued by saying that the budget also proposes USD 197 million support to the US government’s civilian presence, as well as programs for engagement with civil society .

The budgetary proposals of President Barack Obama provides USD 8.2 billion in total for Overseas Contingency Operations to support the massive and momentary costs of public led programs and operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Before implementation, the budgetary proposals are for the financial year 2013 beginning on the first of October 2012 needs to be accepted by both chambers of the US Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate.

In his proposal for this year’s budget, President Barack Obama also proposed 4.6 billion US dollars for Afghanistan. This comprises 2.5 billion US dollars in assistance for programs related to anti-terrorism-, economic expansion, over and above supporting progress in governance, health and education, agriculture and countering the narcotics trade.

President Barack Obama is working on how voters see his plan to, among other things, improve economic trends and whether or not they believe he deserves another four years in his current seat to pursue. The Republicans in the meantime are gearing up for a protracted battle.

 Data released on February 1, 2012 has revealed economic trends indicating the impact of the European slowdown on the Asian economy. It has been revealed that as a result of the eroding demand from Europe has significantly hampered the export-driven economies of various Asian countries. This has in turn led to more pressure on policymakers to pace domestic growth to make up for the gap in demand. 

The Dragon Feels the Heat

In China, which is a regional manufacturing and export hub, the factory activity showed flickers of improvement according to the government’s purchasing managers’ index, but new export orders have seen a dramatic decline from December and a statement released by the Finance Ministry stated that  exporters faced “increasing difficulties”.

According to official figures, China’s PMI inched up to 50.5 in the month of January from the previously recorded 50.3, just managing to not go under the 50 level that separates expansion from contraction. All indicators seem to be pointing towards the fact the world’s second-largest economy, and a significant driving factor in South Asian economy at large, is feeling the heat from Europe’s debt crises.

Other countries in the region continue to face problems of a similar nature, as export orders are plummeting almost in the manner of a free fall. Even as European countries witness the problems widening into a recession, their troubles look all set to engulf Asian countries halfway around the world as for them, European trade is a mainstay.

Economic Trends in Rest of Asia

In South Korea for instance, the exports  since  January 2011 showed an alarming drop of approximately 6.6 per cent, all the more worrying given that pundits at the time had predicted a 0.7 per cent rise. The country’s exports to Europe in the first 20 days of January 2012 showed a marked depression from the exports of the same period last year.

Data due later on Wednesday is expected to show the euro zone’s factory activity contracted in January for a sixth straight month.

South Korea’s manufacturing sector activity and new export orders both continued to dwindle for a sixth straight month in January, the longest losing run in three years.

In Taiwan, faltering exports bit into factory activity which receded for the eighth straight month. The index rose to 48.9 in January from 47.1 in December.

Economic Trends: India Fares Better Among Regional Peers

The fact that India has managed to buck the sordid economic trends prevailing has presented a perfect example to regional counterparts as to how manufacturing that’s driven by domestic demand can withstand pressure from external factors.

Factory activity in India has grown at the fastest pace in eight months. Unlike most of its Asian peers, India’s economy is primarily driven by domestic factors and it is far less exposed to flagging export demand.

The PMI reading of 57.5 in January marked almost three years of expansion in the manufacturing sector and gave reason for cheer to an economy hurt by stricter monetary policies and the government’s policy paralysis.

Strategic management is concerned with measures that organizations take to work around the opportunities, pressures, alterations, and challenges in varying economic trends.

Strategic management is a continuing process of putting together strategies that brings profit to the organization as well as creates a harmony between the organization and its environment. It lists the strengths that the organization already possess for the achievement of its objectives; weaknesses that hinder the achievement of goals; opportunities and markets that can be exploited in favor; and threats that are at hand in the external as well as internal environment: in short this is called a SWOT analysis. Strategic management is a level of managerial activity under setting goals and implementing the plans so as to achieve it.

Like mentioned before, strategic management can and will influence the organization’s performance during economic crisis. The following are the ways by which Strategic Management will be helpful in economic crisis:

1.  Mission, goals and strategies:

Mission defines the organization’s purpose, their reason for being in business. It is also important to identify goals, because they are the foundation of planning and give managers a way to measure the performance their success. Finally, a manager needs to know the organizations strategies, to evaluate them and make the necessary changes.

2.  External Analysis:

Strategic Management here is carried out as per the economic crisis. A study of all the aspects related to economic crisis must be done as it acts as a base for the managers to take the next step.

The manager must know all the environmental changes that are taking place so he can adapt to it accordingly.

3.  Internal Analysis:

The manager has to go through SWOT analysis. It includes an analysis related to the organization’s resources, capabilities, and spot the strengths and weaknesses in order to improve his decisions.

4.  Formulate Strategies:

The managers can now formulate various corporate, business and functional strategies.

5.  Implement Strategies:

The next step after formulation of strategies is to implement them. The plan that is made must be executed.

6.  Evaluate the output:

All the efforts that are taken to implement the strategies will go in vain if the results are not evaluated. The results must be constantly evaluated to improve and to sustain in economic crisis.

Strategic management comprises of various approaches that can be put into action to survive in a financial predicament. A manager may go for trimming down manpower, increasing the line of credit by means of banks, offer discounts for early receivables, and compete on quality, cutting costs, and a whole lot more. Thus the importance of strategic management has to do with the persistently changing situations that organizations face in these times, because it helps the management to scrutinize relevant factors before they actually decide which course of action to take, thus helping them to better cope with uncertain environments like an economic crisis.

Forex is a method of trade also commonly recognized foreign market exchange or FX. Those concerned in the foreign exchange markets are some of the biggest companies and banks from all over the globe, trading in currency from various countries to create a balance as some are going to grow and others are going to lose. The fundamentals of forex are comparable to that of the stock market in any nation, but on a far bigger, impressive scale, that involves the public, currencies and trades from all over the globe.

Currency rates keep changing every day. The value of the United States dollar may soar on a particular day and then drop the very next. If you are going to invest a large sum of money into it, trading on the forex market is one that you have to watch closely or you may end up losing it all even before you know it. London, New York and Tokyo are the chief trading areas for forex, but forex trading does that place at many more places, but not at such a large scale.

There happen to be loads of currencies that are used all over the world, but there only a small number of currencies that are traded actively in the forex market. Only the most economically, politically stable and liquid currencies are demanded in sufficient quantities in currency trading,. For instance, owing to the size and strength of the United States economy, the American dollar for many years has been the world’s most actively traded currency.

Among the other commonly traded currencies, such as the British Pound Sterling, the Japanese yen and the United States dollar, one currency can be traded against another to build up interest everyday

The outcome of any forex trading in one nation may possibly have results and differences in what happens in additional forex markets as the countries take turns opening and closing with the time zones. Exchange rates will vary from forex trade to forex trade, and if you happen to be a broker, or if you are learning about forex markets you want to know what the rates are on that particular day before making any trades.

The stock market is by and large based on products, prices, and other factors within businesses that will alter the price of stocks. If somebody happens to know what is going to happen before the common population, it is called inside trading which is basically using trade secrets to buy stock and make a bundle – which by the way is against the law. There is diminutive amount of trade secrets, if any at all, in the forex trading market.

Each and every currency that is traded on the forex market has a three letter code linked to that particular currency so there is no mistake about which currency or which country one is investing with at the time. If one happens to be interested in getting in touch with a broker and getting into the forex markets you can find quite a few brokers or internet economy advice columns online where you can review company information and transactions before getting involved in the forex markets.