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/ 10 March 2008

Recession, credit woes rattle investors

Recession fears following the biggest United States job losses in five years mixed with strains in the credit market on Monday to depress stocks and the dollar and drive investors to search for safety. European shares got off to a poor start and Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index closed at a two-and-a-half year low.

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/ 8 March 2008

US recession fears rise on more job cuts

United States employers unexpectedly cut jobs in February at the steepest rate in nearly five years, a second straight month of employment losses that heightened fears the world’s largest economy has skidded into recession. ”The question appears no longer to be are we going into a recession but how long and deep it will be,” said economist Joel Naroff.

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/ 25 February 2008

Stocks, dollar rise on bond insurer rescue hopes

World stocks and the dollar rose on Monday as talk of a rescue plan for a United States bond insurer and comments that Qatar is interested in investing in European banks eased concerns about the banking industry. Energy and commodity prices remained firm, with geopolitical concerns in Iran and Turkey lifting oil prices above a barrel.

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/ 30 January 2008

US economic growth weakest in five years

United States growth skidded lower in the fourth quarter and was the weakest in five years for all of 2007, according to a government report on Wednesday that highlighted the toll an enfeebled housing sector has taken on the national economy. The dollar’s value declined against other major currencies on the soft GDP data.

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/ 30 January 2008

Crisis inflicts fresh wounds, UBS cut deepest

Fresh write-offs at big European and Japanese banks on Wednesday drove investors’ attention firmly back onto the credit crunch after days gazing at Société Générale’s stunning losses, which it blames on a junior trader. With the Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates for the second week running, Swiss bank UBS illuminated the depth of the crisis.

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/ 30 January 2008

JSE boosted by miners, ignores CPI

The JSE ignored CPI data that came in slightly higher than market expectations and continued to gather momentum by midday on Wednesday on news that power had been restored to the mining industry. December CPI came in at 9% year-on-year, while the market expected 8,9%, and CPIX came in at 8,6%, against the expected 8,5%.

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/ 28 January 2008

Global equities deep in gloom

Asian and European stock markets fell sharply again on Monday as investors worried about possible recession and a forthcoming interest-rate call in the United States, analysts said. The Paris market fell amid anxiety and tension after an alleged -billion fraud was unearthed last week at French bank Société Générale.

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/ 24 January 2008

World stocks surge

Global share prices rocketed on Thursday, though fears of an economic slowdown lingered as Société Générale revealed a massive €4,9-billion fraud-related loss it attributed to one of its traders. Europe’s leading share indices surged in morning deals, with gains of between 4% and more than 5% after a recovery on the Japanese market.

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/ 23 January 2008

Economic woes dampen Davos party

The annual Davos gathering of the world’s political and business elite opened on Wednesday with the fragile state of the world economy and stock-market turmoil casting a pall over the glitzy get-together. In recent years the annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort has been held against a backdrop of bumper corporate profits, strong economic growth and tame inflation.

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/ 22 January 2008

Fed slashes US rates in bid to thwart recession

The United States Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed a key interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a percentage point, the biggest cut in more than 23 years, after a two-day global stocks rout sparked by fears of a US recession. ”The Fed is very, very, very worried,” said John Tierney, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

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/ 22 January 2008

Fed slashes US interest rates

The United States Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed benchmark US interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point in an emergency bid to lend support to a US economy some fear is on the verge of recession. The Fed’s action took the key federal funds rate, which governs overnight lending between banks, down to 3,5%.

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/ 17 January 2008

Fed Express steams on as Venus stutters

Roger Federer stepped up his unrelenting charge towards a third successive Australian Open title with an emphatic win on Thursday, but Venus Williams had to dig deep to reach the third round. The Fed Express, chasing a 13th Grand Slam title, crushed wily Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, playing in a record 62nd Major tournament, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.

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/ 15 January 2008

Record-breaking gold could hit $1 000

The price of gold is hitting new record highs owing to the troubled United States economy and a cocktail of other supportive factors, leading some analysts to predict  000 per ounce could happen soon. In recent days the precious metal has blasted past in a record-breaking run. On the London Bullion Market on Monday, gold blazed a trail as high as ,30 dollars per ounce.

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/ 9 January 2008

‘Fed Express’ looks to Slam number 13

Roger Federer is poised to advance to within one Grand Slam of Pete Sampras’s record of 14 in the year’s opening major tournament at the Australian Open, which gets under way in Melbourne on Monday. Federer has been unchallenged as world number one since February 2004 and won three of last year’s four Grand Slams for the third time in four years.

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/ 18 December 2007

Federer eyes Sampras’s grand-slam record

Roger Federer again came close to winning the Grand Slam in 2007, reaching the final at all four major tournaments and winning three of them. This year, however, the top-ranked Swiss also came close to losing his record 54-match winning streak on grass at Wimbledon, and then struggled a bit after winning the United States Open.

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/ 17 December 2007

Stocks slide as US rate-cut hopes fade

World stock markets slumped on Monday on worries that resurgent United States inflation would reduce the chances of further US interest rate cuts to shield the economy from a credit crunch, dealers said. European and Asian shares sank into the red with losses of up to 3,5% as investors took their cue from Wall Street’s sell-off on Friday.

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/ 14 December 2007

JSE softer as banks fall on concerns

A weaker bank sector forced a positive JSE to pull back into the red by midday on Friday, leaving the all-share index 0,14% lower at noon. The JSE’s bank index was down 1,38% at midday as local and international traders questioned whether the move by the central banks to inject liquidity into financial markets was enough to settle global credit concerns.

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/ 23 November 2007

Dollar hits fresh record low against euro

The dollar hit a new record low against the euro on Friday in a market worried over lower forecasts for United States growth, dealers said. Europe’s single currency struck a new record peak of ,4922 in morning Asian trade, up from the previous record of ,4875 reached on Thursday. The unit was created in 1999.

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/ 22 November 2007

Oil steady above $97

Oil steadied above a barrel on Thursday, after falling just shy of the milestone in the previous session, as the dollar tumbled to fresh record lows. United States light crude for January delivery was down one cent at ,28 a barrel by 2.40pm GMT. Oil briefly surged to a lifetime peak of ,29 a barrel on Wednesday.

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/ 7 November 2007

Euro soars to another new record

The euro soared to another record high against the sagging dollar on Wednesday, climbing above ,47 for the first time, while the British pound reached ,10. The 13-nation euro hit ,4730 in afternoon European trading before slipping back to ,4682 — still well above the ,4554 it bought in New York late on Tuesday.

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/ 5 November 2007

Wall Street cringes as Citigroup revives fears

Fear and mistrust gripped Wall Street on Monday after Citigroup’s CEO quit in the wake of mounting credit losses and an influential money manager called the subprime mortgage market a ”-trillion problem”. US stocks followed European shares lower, while safe-haven bonds rallied and even the downtrodden dollar ticked up.