Calendar Economic State United Yahoo

As predicted in Thursday's Cross Markets Data Reaction report, the existing home sales report for February was met with some level of skepticism. Though the indicator hit the wires with quite the surprise, traders in both the Treasury and equities markets moved their respective asset little considering the reports divergence with predictions. According to the National Association of Realtors survey, the number of existing home sales in February jumped 3.9 percent to a 6.69 million pace. In historical terms, this was the biggest boost in sales in three years and the fastest pace in seven months. At the same time, last month's improvement was not merely a natural rebound from a sharp January contract; rather it followed another significant rise. What does that mean for the market-moving potential of Monday's new home sales indicator from the Commerce Department? Looking back at the previous release on February 28th, it is hard to judge the effect the housing number had on the market.

Climate protection in China: Siemens expects increased demand for ...

China is facing major challenges: rapid economic growth, increasing urbanization and major events like the up-coming 2008 Olympics and Expo 2010 are creating a need for advanced infrastructure. The main focus is on the fields of energy and transportation. At the 2007 session of the People's Congress, the Chinese government announced that conserving energy and raw materials, and protecting the environment were priority issues. Siemens sees this as a major opportunity. “The Siemens portfolio in China is ideally positioned for providing a modern, sustainable and environmentally compatible infrastructure," said Dr. Richard Hausmann, President and CEO of Siemens Ltd., China. “We are optimistic that, by 2010, we will double the sales of our Regional Company in China from their current level of roughly €5 billion."

The technical know-how to handle the climate problem already exists.

Transport fiasco in Chile saps Bachelet's popularity

What Michelle Bachelet promised when she was sworn in as Chile's first female president a little over a year ago was social justice and continued economic stability.

What Chile faces at the moment, though, is a nagging corruption scandal and chaos in the transportation system in the capital, which have combined to sap her popularity.

The corruption allegations, which involve a state sports agency and first emerged late last year, have been a boon to a right-wing opposition tainted by its links to the dictatorship of late general Augusto Pinochet.

But the immediate cause of Bachelet's troubles is a costly new integrated subway and bus system that was supposed to be one of the most modern in the world.

Instead, commuters in the capital region, which is home to more than one-third of Chile's 16 million people, are wasting hours every day getting to and from work.

India trails China, but economic race is far from over

"CHINDIA" is the word coined by the Indian politician, Jairam Ramesh, to denote the two Asian giants that contain 38 per cent of the world's population between them. Nor is size their only similarity. Both are heirs of ancient civilisations; both were, until recently, desperately poor; and both are among the world's fastest-growing economies. Yet the differences are also striking. By looking carefully at them one can learn more about their prospects for continued growth. .

National Policy Would Be Bad for Broadband

In the next few weeks, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will issue its semiannual report on broadband penetration, and America is likely to have a middling ranking (it was 12th out of 30 countries in the most recent OECD numbers of a few months ago). Its standing is fodder for many politicians, including several candidates for president, who say we need a national broadband policy. They are wrong: Industrial policies, including for broadband, are bad ideas.

Rates of technological adoption vary by country, reflecting differences in income, relative prices, and the structure of society not technological sophistication or long-term economic prospects. In the 20th century, economists frequently measured national rates of adoption of household technologies such as automobiles, electricity, telephones, washing machines, televisions, etc.

Spain: economic dynamism and structural deficiencies

As the trend of GNP during 2006 indicated, the last trimester closed with a very positive balance for the Spanish economy. Its strong points were, productivity tied to immigration and the construction sector; however, in 2007, the Country will have to introduce reforms aimed at improving productivity.

22.5m MT wheat output target to be crossed: MINFAL

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (MINFAL) announced on Tuesday that wheat production target of 22.5 million metric ton set for this fiscal year would be surpassed and there would be no inter-provincial and inter-district ban on the movement of the wheat.

The government would not allow the market to crash and to ensure availability of Rs 425 per ton support price the government would continue to procure wheat up to the last available grain. The private sector would be allowed to export wheat according to a target to be set by the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC).

This was said by Sikandar Bosan, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock along with Secretary Food Ismail Qureshi during a media briefing Tuesday. The export of surplus wheat by the private sector would be allowed for which formal announcement would be made once the final figures of the crop are available.

Why SAARC matters to the world

NEW DELHI: It's the season of South Asia here with hundreds of people from neighbouring countries, speaking diverse languages and professing different faiths, descending on the Indian capital in a celebration of shared cultural identity and interlinked destiny of the region that accounts for a fourth of humanity. The 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that began today brought together leaders, officials and common people from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, is joined by its newest and eighth member Afghanistan. It's a landmark summit in many ways that sets it apart from previous ones - it is an expanded SAARC with a global focus that is watched by the world's leading powers. Significantly, the presence of the US, China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union, who are participating as observers for the first time in the 22-yar-old history of the regional grouping, will raise the stakes for a stable and cohesive South Asian region that has the potential to become an economic dynamo.