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Dollar rangebound in Asian trade |
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Friday, 09 May 2008 |
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by Agence France-Presse TOKYO -- The dollar was narrowly mixed against other major currencies in Asian trade on Friday as market players waited for fresh leads on prospects for the US economy and interest rates, dealers said.
The dollar dipped to 103.61 yen in Tokyo morning trade from 103.68 in New York late Thursday.
The euro gained to $1.5408 from $1.5393 and to $159.78 yen from $159.65.
"It's natural for the dollar to take a break" after its recent rebound, said Yosuke Hosokawa, head of forex at Chuo Mitsui Trust Bank.
"Although dollar positive sentiment has eased slightly, a lot of players still believe the greenback is well supported" as bad news related to the US economy appears to be abating, he said.
The dollar was supported earlier in the week by speculation that the next move in US interest rates could be a hike.
The US Federal Reserve has slashed its key rate to 2.0 percent, down sharply from 5.25 percent last September, in a bid to boost the flagging US economy which has been hit by a housing slump and related credit crunch.
Market players continued to weigh prospects for eurozone interest rates.
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet on Thursday warned of potential inflation risks, dampening speculation of a possible rate cut.
"Players used Tricket's remarks to confirm that the ECB won't change its tight monetary stance in the short term, which prompted them to buy back the euro," Hosokawa said.
The ECB left the bank's benchmark lending rate unchanged at 4.0 percent Thursday and Trichet said people in the eurozone should get used to higher energy costs, which have been stoked by rocketing crude oil prices.
Dealers were closely watching crude oil prices, which surged to new highs above 124 dollars a barrel after the OPEC cartel insisted the market was well-supplied and being driven by speculators. |
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Fewer Latino Migrants Send Money Home, Poll Says |
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Saturday, 03 May 2008 |
Slowing Economy,
Legal Crackdowns
Said to Cut Flows
By MIRIAM JORDAN
May 1, 2008; Page A4
The economic downturn and efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants in many U.S. communities are prompting fewer Latin American immigrants to send money back home, a survey found.
The survey, released Wednesday by the Inter-American Development Bank, found that the percentage of immigrants who report sending remittances to their country of origin has dropped to half in early 2008 compared with 73% two years ago, even though migrants continue to flock to the U.S.
Also Wednesday, the Central Bank of Mexico reported that remittances from the U.S. dropped 2.9% for the first three months of the year compared with the first quarter of 2007.
The findings by the Inter-American Development Bank marked the first decline in the number of immigrants sending money home since the institution began tracking them eight years ago. "Since 2000, increasing numbers of Latin American immigrants had been sending money home," said Donald Terry, a senior bank official who studies remittances. "That pattern has now stopped."
If the trend is borne out the rest of the year, the number of immigrants sending money to Latin America will drop to an estimated 9.4 million in 2008 from 12.6 million in 2006, the bank said. Such a decline would adversely impact millions of families from Mexico to Argentina.
"You will see an increase in poverty levels in Latin America that perversely could lead more people to leave" for the U.S., said Mr. Terry.
The bank, which finances infrastructure and other projects in Latin America, surveyed about 5,000 Latin American immigrants, both legal and illegal, in February. |
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Shortage of Laborers Plagues India |
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Saturday, 03 May 2008 |
Skills Gap Drags
Down Economy;
Mr. Sheetal's Tent
By ERIC BELLMAN and JACKIE RANGE
May 1, 2008; Page A1
India, a nation of 1.1 billion, has a chronic labor shortage, in the area where it needs workers most.
As it grows rapidly -- tilting from a stagnant, rural economy to a developing, urban one -- India is building thousands of new homes, offices, malls, airports, roads, ports, power plants and industrial parks.
LABOR WOES
• The Issue: India, which is trying is to improve its infrastructure, has a shortage of skilled and semiskilled construction labor.
• The Background: Spending on major infrastructure is projected at more than $60 billion annually for the next six years.
• The Bottom Line: The labor shortage is causing delays in projects and may slow India's economic growth.
So many projects are now under way in India that the pool of workers with even the most basic skills is running dangerously dry. The shortage of bricklayers, rod benders, welders, wall painters and other skilled and semiskilled laborers is threatening to slow the construction of projects that are key to the nation's economic growth.
Improving its decrepit infrastructure is one of the most pressing issues India faces. It is crucial for unclogging chokepoints that are stoking inflation, which is rising fast. And it will determine whether India can keep growing at a pace that will allow it to fulfill its aspirations of becoming a commercial superpower to rival China.
"The shortage of labor is hurting everyone," says Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp., India's largest housing lender, and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd., a government-owned infrastructure financing company. "It's hitting the construction companies, the road projects and it's slowing down the infrastructure. The repercussions are a longer time to complete projects and slower [gross domestic product] growth."
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