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Stocks rise even as grim economic news pours in
AFP - 30 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Massive stimulus efforts to stave off a global recession steadied stock markets on Thursday, but grim outlooks in China and elsewhere indicated the economic crisis still had a long way to run.
With stock markets in the United States closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, London and other stock markets rallied one day after the EU unveiled a 200-billion-euro (260 billion dollar) stimulus package and China announced its biggest interest rate cut in a decade.
China's top planning minister, Zhang Ping, said his country's economy slowed further in November, and warned of the dangers of mass unemployment and social unrest.
Elsewhere, Spain became the latest major economic power to unveil a stimulus plan, pledging 11 billion euros (14.3 billion dollars) for infrastructure projects.
Companies worldwide delivered a storm of job cuts and profit warnings.
Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corporation slashed its net profit forecast for the current financial year by 90 percent due to weak sales.
Norinchukin Bank, the de facto central bank for Japan's farm and fishery cooperatives, announced a 10.5-billion-dollar capital hike to shore up its finances -- the biggest yet by a Japanese bank during the financial crisis.
Automakers announced more layoffs to cope with the industry slump. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation said it would cut 1,100 jobs in Japan while Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries will axe 800 posts.
GM Europe boss Carl-Peter Forster wrote to staff telling them that the troubled US auto manufacturer needed to cut European costs aggressively if it was to survive as vehicle markets slump.
International airlines -- another sector on the front line of the economic downturn -- saw passenger traffic fall for a second consecutive month in October, the industry association IATA said on Thursday.
"The situation of the industry remains critical," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association.
In Britain, retail group Woolworths said it was close to bankruptcy as it appointed independent administrators to try and save the business and its 25,000 employees.
A survey in Europe showed that, with so much bad news around, consumers and businesses were losing confidence -- which threatens to reinforce the already gloomy economic conditions.
Consumer and business confidence in the European Union slumped in November to the lowest level in 23 years in the face of the looming recession, according to the European Commission's EU economic sentiment indicator.
Markets pinned hopes on steps by policy makers to revitalize the world economy in the face of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The US Federal Reserve announced Tuesday it would buy up to 600 billion dollars in mortgage securities, with another 200 billion dollars allocated for asset-backed securities to help get credit flowing again to consumers.
The head of the Davos economic forum, Klaus Schwab, said Thursday that the crisis had cost five trillion dollars as he announced a record presence of world leaders at the conference in January.
In Europe, London shares gained 1.77 percent, Paris added 2.54 percent and Frankfurt rose 2.3 percent.
Stocks Thursday rose 1.95 percent in Tokyo, 3.3 percent in Seoul, 1.4 percent in Sydney and Hong Kong, and 1.05 percent in Shanghai.
In Latin America, markets were mostly up Thursday on light trading due to the US holiday.
The Ibovespa stock market in Brazil, the largest in the region, was down 0.7 percent after three straight days of gains.
The IPSA index at the Santiago Bolsa de Comercio was up 0.4 percent, while the Bolsa de Valores in Mexico City was up 0.88 percent and the Merval index on the Buenos Aires stock market closed up 1.8 percent.
Share prices also got support from hopes of steps by US president-elect Barack Obama to shore up the US economy, dealers said, as US data suggested the world's biggest economy was sliding into a deep recession.
US consumer spending dropped 1.0 percent in October, the steepest fall since September 2001, while key durable goods orders plunged 6.2 percent and weekly jobless claims rose to a fresh 16-year high.
Against the tide of gloom, researchers at UBS bank said that some plunging industrial forecasts in Europe were heading for a gradual recovery.
"We... expect surveys to bottom out during the next few months," they wrote in a report.
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