VIDEO: Typhoon Nesat shuts down Hong Kong

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 13:19 GMT Help

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Markets see big quarterly falls

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 20:14 GMT By Damian Kahya Business reporter, BBC News Continue reading the main story European and US stocks were down again on Friday, contributing towards one of the worst quarterly falls for the markets in the past decade.

Stocks in France and Germany have fallen in value by more than 25% since the end of June.

Shares in London's FTSE are down 13.7%, the worst quarterly performance since 2002.

Friday's falls follow an unexpectedly sharp rise in the eurozone inflation rate for September to 3%.

Investors had hoped the European Central Bank would move to lower interest rates in the eurozone, after raising them in July to 1.5% to limit inflation.

However, the latest inflation figures may make such a move less likely.

Wall Street's main Dow Jones index ended Friday trading down 2.2% to record its worst quarterly performance since 2008.

Eurozone worries

But Friday's falls were just the latest bout of volatility in European markets, which have failed to regain ground since crashing towards the end of July.

Continue reading the main story Jamie Robertson Presenter, BBC World News

Following all the violent swings in equity markets since the sharp falls at the beginning of August, the main markets have not really moved outside fairly narrow ranges: the FTSE between 5,000 and 5,400 and the Dow between 10,800 and 11,600.

The Nikkei, the Dax and the Cac 40 have been gradually trending downwards by about 6-10% over the past two months. This is almost entirely due to uncertainty over the debt crisis and the fate of the eurozone.

However, even if there is no further bad news on that front, things are likely to get very active for individual companies.

Many of them, particularly ones that move in tandem with the economic cycle such as those in mining, retail, the auto sector and manufacturing, are trading on values that imply double digit growth.

October's results season could upset a lot of earnings forecasts, as markets come to terms with the prospect of near-zero growth in Europe and the US, and companies undergoing what are politely called price adjustments.

Economists say worries over the ability of eurozone countries to pay their debts are sparking concerns of a new banking and credit crisis.

"The euro area debt crisis has potential ramifications to euro area banking sectors in particular," said Grant Lewis, head of research at Daiwa capital markets.

"You've got concerns that a Greek default going wider into something more serious in terms of an Italian default, for example, that would leave banking sectors under-capitalised as well as having a calamitous effect on the economic outlook."

Shares in Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank both lost more than 30% in value since the end of June.

Stocks in French banks fared even worse. Societe Generale saw its stock fall more than 50%, while BNP Paribas saw its share price fall more than 40%.

The share falls have therefore been most pronounced in eurozone countries, with the FTSE falling less than benchmark German and French exchanges.

Brent crude was also set for the biggest quarterly fall since the financial crisis of 2008.

Oil for delivery in one month's time fell just over 8% to $103 a barrel in London as investors worried about a slowdown in the global economy.

Worries ahead Global markets have been hit by a 'toxic cocktail' of factors, says one economist

Despite the record quarterly falls, markets remain up on the levels they reached after the 2008 financial crisis.

"There are certainly widespread indications of pretty serious financial stress, but they are not by and large as dramatic as they were in 2007 and 2008," George Magnus, European economist at UBS, told the BBC.

"Then, the whole edifice of the Western banking system was about to implode. At that point, I think it was far more dramatic than it is now."

But investors and economists fear the situation may deteriorate further.

Markets are likely to look to forthcoming company results and quarterly economic data for their next move.

In the longer term, economists say they are seeking reassurance from politicians.

"I think markets are expecting something of substance to be revealed by the G20 [group of leading nations] in November and if it isn't, we could be in a lot of trouble," Mr Magnus added.

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Hong Kong maid wins landmark case

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 04:40 GMT By Katie Hunt Business reporter, BBC News Foreign domestic helpers are required to leave the country within two weeks if dismissed by employers Hong Kong's High Court has ruled that a domestic helper from the Philippines should be allowed to apply for permanent residency in the city.

The case was brought by Evangeline Banao Vallejos, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1986.

The ruling follows a landmark judicial review and could lead to more than 100,000 other foreign maids winning rights to residency.

The case has sparked widespread debate on equal treatment for foreign maids.

Mark Daly, the lawyer acting on behalf of Ms Vallejos, said that she was very pleased by the ruling, which meant that all domestic helpers now were able to apply for permanent residency.

"When we told her she said 'thank God'," he said, adding that it was a normal working day for her.

"It's a good day for the rule of law," he added.

Mr Daly pointed out that the government had 28 days to appeal.

A spokesman said the government was analysing the judgement and would issue a formal response later in the day.

Public resources

Some critics have said granting residency to domestic helpers would strain the provision of health care, education and public housing.

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We hope it will pave the way for Hong Kong to open its doors to equal treatment for migrant workers”

End Quote Norman Carnay Mission for Migrant Workers While other non-Chinese nationals can obtain residency after working in Hong Kong for seven years, immigration rules exclude domestic helpers from seeking permanent residency.

Human rights lawyers and many domestic helpers argue that this is discriminatory.

Permanent residency means that a person can remain in Hong Kong indefinitely, vote and stand in elections.

But some politicians and commentators warned that allowing foreign domestic helpers to have permanent residency would allow them to bring their children and other relatives to the city, who would require education and housing.

Equal treatment

Norman Carnay, programme officer at the Mission for Migrant Workers said that he welcomed the decision.

"We hope it will pave the way for Hong Kong to open its doors to equal treatment for migrant workers," he said.

But he added that right of abode was not necessarily a priority for many domestic helpers.

"From surveys of our community, the more pressing concerns are wages and working conditions," he said.

There are more than 300,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines. It is thought that around 120,000 have lived here for more than seven years.

They are required to live with their employers and cannot accept other jobs.

Without the right to permanent residency, if a maid is dismissed by her employer, she must find another job as a domestic helper or leave Hong Kong within two weeks.

Hong Kong's domestic workers have a guaranteed minimum wage of 3,740 Hong Kong dollars ($480; ￡308) a month and day off each week, meaning their working conditions are better than other countries in Asia with large numbers of domestic helpers, such as Singapore.

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US economic growth rate at 1.3%

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 13:09 GMT Continue reading the main story The US economy grew at an annualised rate of 1.3% between April and June, the Commerce Department has said in its third estimate for the quarter.

This is higher than the 1% growth it reported in its second estimate, but the same as its first calculation for the three month period.

Consumer spending and exports were both stronger than previously estimated.

Last week, the Federal Reserve unveiled a new plan to try to help the economy.

Under a scheme dubbed Operation Twist, the US central bank is selling about $400bn (￡260bn) worth of bonds maturing within three years and buying longer-term debt.

The sluggish growth in the US economy has not been sufficient to reduce high levels of unemployment, with the jobless rate in August at 9.1%.

For the first six months of 2011 the US economy expanded by 0.9%, the lowest rate of growth in more than two years.

Joe Manimbo, analyst at Travelex Global Payments in Washington, welcomed the latest economic growth figures.

"The final print of second-quarter GDP came out a little bit faster than expected and that suggests the US economy entered the third quarter on a slightly better footing," he said.

Most economists expect the economy to improve in the third quarter, with predictions that it will grow at an annualised pace of about 2%.

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VIDEO: Japan businesses more optimistic

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3 October 2011 Last updated at 01:21 GMT Help

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Oil prices fall on economy fears

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5 September 2011 Last updated at 16:20 GMT Continue reading the main story Oil prices have fallen on concerns that the US could fall back into recession, and continuing anxiety about eurozone debt levels.

With fears about a slowdown in China also hitting sentiment, US light crude had fallen $2.40 a barrel to $84.05.

Brent crude was also lower, dropping $1.66 to $110.67 per barrel.

The falls come after data on Friday showed that the US economy added no new jobs in August, a much worse reading than had been expected.

Analysts had predicted that the non-farm payrolls figures from the Department of Labor would show about 70,000 new jobs had been created.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged in August at 9.1%.

In Europe, the main share indexes were down sharply as concerns continue about the high debt levels of eurozone countries, and how these could impact on the wider economy.

Germany's Dax index and France's Cac were both 2.6% lower in morning trading.

Meanwhile, a report in China said that the country's service sector grew in August at its slowest pace since records began.

"Oil is falling on worries over weak demand, unemployment and talk of a double dip recession," said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

He added that oil prices would be falling further were it not for growing optimism that the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will announce new measures later this month to try to stimulate the US economy.

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European financial tax 'bad idea'

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 12:40 GMT Mr Borg said Sweden's experience of a financial transaction tax was "very bad" A European financial transaction tax is unlikely to raise the sums of money projected as it would encourage firms to move overseas, Sweden's finance minister has told the BBC.

Anders Borg said Sweden abandoned its own transaction tax after most trading companies left the country.

The tax "had a very detrimental impact on our financial markets", he said.

If the European Union introduces the tax, firms could simply move to New York or Asia, Mr Borg said.

'Very bad tax'

Sweden introduced a transaction tax on financial firms in the 1980s.

"Between 90%-99% of traders in bonds, equities and derivatives moved out of Stockholm to London," Mr Borg said.

Continue reading the main story

We are basically taxing growth away from Europe, and that is not a very good idea”

End Quote Anders Borg Swedish Finance Minister "The impact was basically that we did not get any tax revenue. It brought in very little tax money while moving most of the businesses outside of Sweden.

"We abandoned [the tax] because it was a very, very bad functioning tax."

The fact that the US has said it has no intention of introducing a similar tax, meant that firms would be free to move to other financial centres, Mr Borg said.

"So we are basically taxing growth away from Europe, and that is not a very good idea.

"I hope [policymakers] realise they might be losing out themselves. This is not a stable tax base."

Mr Borg said he was in favour of making the banking system pay, and making it more robust, but that any measures designed to bring this about should not push firms out of Europe.

Hard hit

The UK has also been vocal in its opposition to the tax proposed by the European Commission earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the UK Treasury said it would "absolutely resist" any tax that was not introduced globally.

London would be hardest hit by the tax as the majority of banking transactions in Europe come through the city.

However, a number of other European countries are in favour of the tax, including France, Austria, Belgium, Norway and Spain.

The commission has said it will look at implementing the tax just in the 17 member states of the eurozone if other EU members oppose it.

Under the proposals, the financial tax would be levied at a rate of 0.1% on all transactions between institutions when at least one party is based in the EU. Derivative contracts would be taxed at a rate of 0.01%.

The tax would raise about 57bn euros ($78bn; ￡50bn) a year and would come into effect at the start of 2014, the commission said.

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