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Job cuts, sick car sales, weak demand point to European rate cuts
AFP - 45 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - - A new round of job cuts in Italy and Spain, plunging German auto sales and a eurozone report described as "horrible" pointed on Wednesday to further interest rate cuts in Europe, analysts said.
From China came a warning that its sovereign wealth fund had lost confidence in western finance institutions and would no longer invest in them.
The Australian economy was meanwhile reported to have grown just 0.1 percent in the third quarter, its slowest pace in eight years.
With near daily evidence of a crumbling European economy, investors were looking ahead to decisions on Thursday by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
Both institutions are forecast to cut their benchmark rates in a bid to galvanise momentum in the face of recession and as inflation fears have sharply diminished.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy is also to unveil on Thursday a 20-billion-euro (25-billion-dollar) stimulus package targeting the vital car industry as well as housing and household spending.
The fate of the global auto industry is weighing heavily on governments around the world, with predictions that its collapse would doom millions of workers to years of unemployment.
Sales of new cars in Germany plunged by 18 percent in November and will fall further next year, the VDA auto manufacturers federation said.
For the entire year, the federation forecast sales of just under 3.1 million vehicles, and said it expected a slump to 2.9 million in 2009.
That meant German new-car sales would drop in 2008 to "the weakest level since reunification" of eastern and western Germany in 1990, the federation said.
"Car markets have taken a downward flight, which hasn't occurred before with this speed and impact," it quoted VDA president Matthias Wissmann as saying.
"That will also have consequences for workers," he warned during a press conference.
The US auto industry is likewise under severe threat, having just reported calamitous domestic sales declines in November and as its leaders plead with the US government for a bailout.
That possibility improved on Tuesday when US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said a short-term loan programme "is an appropriate way to go."
"I believe an intervention will happen, either from the administration or legislatively.
"I think it's pretty clear that bankruptcy is not an option. It takes too long. What bankruptcy achieves in a year we can do in a matter of weeks, that's why the short-term loan is an appropriate way to go."
Those comments boosted Wall Street on Tuesday and helped fuel a rebound on Asian stock markets on Wednesday.
But the rally did not extend to Europe, where markets had fallen sharply by mid-day on further signs that what began last year as a financial crisis was now infecting the broader economy.
Telecom Italia announced it was cutting 4,000 more jobs in Italy, bringing the total to 9,000, while in Spain flag-carrier Iberia reported plans to slash 1,000 posts starting in January.
The services sector in the 15 nations sharing the euro retreated faster than expected in November, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The sector activity index, compiled by data and research group Markit, fell to 42.5 points in November from 45.8 points in October, exceeding a first estimate of 43.3 points.
Markit said the slump, marking the six month running of decline, brought the index to the lowest level in the survey's 10.5-year history.
"This is a horrible survey across the board, showing that the eurozone service sector is being hit ever harder by the financial crisis, muted consumer spending and markedly weaker activity in key export markets," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
Official European Union data also revealed that eurozone consumer demand fall faster than expected in October.
The volume of retail sales fell 0.8 percent in October over one month and 2.1 percent over one year, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said.
The result exceeded economists' expectations for retail sales to fall only 0.4 percent over one month and 1.5 percent over one year, as polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
China meanwhile said its sovereign wealth fund had lost faith in western finance institutions.
Lou Jiwei, chairman and chief executive of China Investment Corp (CIC), said the fund would now avoid investing in banks and other groups because of "uncertain" foreign government policies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"We don't know when these institutions will be invested in by their governments," Lou said during a panel discussion in Hong Kong, the Journal said.
Lou added he had "lost confidence from the lack of consistent government policies concerning support for western banks. There is really no protection on my investment," the report said.
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