Japanese exports dropped more than forecast in October, Singapore said its growth may slow to 1 percent next year and China signaled the global economy faces an extended slide.
The reports may raise pressure on policy makers in export- reliant Asia to implement further stimulus measures. A record of the Bank of Japan’s Oct. 27 meeting today showed one board member favored adding 10 trillion yen ($130 billion) in asset purchases, and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said his nation must adopt more “forward looking” and flexible monetary policy.
“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. economist in Singapore. “Export growth will slow across Asia and we may see financial shocks coming through. Asian policy makers are going to become stimulatory all over again.”
Japan’s finance ministry reported today that shipments abroad fell 3.7 percent in October from a year before, the first drop in three months and an indication the nation’s rebound from the record March earthquake will slow. Singapore’s trade ministry said the nation’s gross domestic product may rise 1 percent to 3 percent in 2012, after a 5 percent gain this year, in a projection that didn’t incorporate a European recession.
The world economic situation is “extremely severe,” China’s Wang said at a financial work meeting in Hubei province, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Nov. 19. “The global economic recession triggered by the international financial crisis will be long-term,” Xinhua cited Wang as saying.
Stocks Fall
Stocks in Asia dropped, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 1.3 percent as of 5:45 p.m. in Tokyo. Futures contracts on the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 1.4 percent after the congressional panel charged with forging a bipartisan fiscal-tightening plan signaled that an agreement won’t be reached by the Nov. 23 target date.
Later today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is scheduled to release a gauge of U.S. economic activity in October. The Chicago Fed national index, which draws on 85 economic indicators, was below zero in August and September, signaling below-trend-growth in the national economy.
The euro region reports on its current-account balance for September. The area’s deficit narrowed to a seasonally adjusted 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in August from 6.8 billion euros in July. The Netherlands is due to release September consumer spending figures, and Poland has October industrial production, forecast to show a 2 percent drop, according to the median of 11 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.
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