Prospects for Singapore rig builders in 2010 look dim as sizeable orders for new rigs may not be placed until 2011, says Daiwa, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Cites increasing pessimism among drillers about deepwater utilisation in 2010, concerns on whether Petrobras able to pull off its made-in-Brazil programme for 28 rigs.
Improving economic prospects may help Singapore shares begin their first trading day of 2010 on positive note, with participation likely to pick up as investors return from festive break.
Still, the pullback on Wall Street last Thursday may cap upside, with some traders saying market expectations could also be tempered by gradual withdrawal of government measures introduced to help companies weather impact of last year’s recession.
Palestinians on Sunday said Washington’s backing of Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, buoyed by new-found support from the Obama administration, urged the Palestinians to “get a grip” and drop their settlement freeze precondition for restarting talks suspended since December.
South Korea’s economy rebounded strongly in the second quarter
South Korea recorded real GDP growth of 2.3% quarter on quarter in the second quarter of 2009—a stronger performance than the Economist Intelligence Unit expected. Monthly indicators also suggest that the rate of economic contraction is slowing. As a result, we have revised up our real GDP forecast for 2009 to a relatively small fall of 1.8% (compared to our previous forecast of a 4.4% decline). We forecast real GDP growth of 2% in 2010.
Although South Korea’s economic prospects are improving, the financial and economic environment abroad remains extremely challenging and will have an adverse impact on the performance of all components of South Korean GDP. We expect private consumption to contract by 1.5% in 2009, before recording modest growth of 0.8% in 2010. This weakness reflects a number of factors. The unemployment rate is expected to rise, and the weakness of the labour market will put downward pressure on wages. In addition, economic uncertainty will undermine consumer confidence. …
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called himself optimistic about Microsofts marketplace prospects over the next 12 months, but declined to give the audience at the companys Financial Analyst Meeting any specific numbers to back his public enthusiasm. Despite considerable declines in earnings, Microsoft is positioning itself for increased revenue in the latter half of 2009 as it rolls out a number of flagship products, including Windows 7 and Office 2010.
– Microsoft
CEO Steve Ballmer characterized himself as
cautiously optimistic about the next year, telling those assembled for the
annual Financial Analyst Meeting on July 30 that Microsoft had quot;great
prospects on the map. quot;
However, Ballmer also refused to suggest any hard numbers, such…
A Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) report on healthcare was a “devastating blow” to the bill’s prospects, a key centrist Democrat argued Friday.
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The growing political and economic clout of Arctic peoples
LAST month Greenland celebrated the devolution of more powers from Denmark but translating nominal political power for the mostly Inuit population into real independence will take a long time, and economic clout. The Inuit of Canada won some powers a decade ago, while the Sami, Komi and Sakha peoples also have some autonomy. Climate change, oddly, may boost Inuit bargaining power. Thinner sea ice is making it easier to drill for oil and gas in the region: the United States Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic could hold 90 billion barrels of oil and 47 trillion cubic metres of gas, much of it off Greenland (though other surveys are more modest). But would-be extractors will also have to take into account the determination of local people to claim a share of the action, as well as heeding the state interests of Canada, the United States and (for the time being) Denmark. In northern Norway the Sami, having won legal rights to some local resources under a 2005 law, are pushing for more compensation from firms exploiting minerals and oil and gas.
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