Thread: Across the economy, the news just gets worse

Across the economy, the news just gets worse

Friday, 7 November 2008

Motor industry: New car sales worst since 1996

New car sales are at their lowest since 1996, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, with potentially devastating results for the 850,000 people dependent on the auto trade for their livelihoods.

The slide of 23 per cent in the year to October was the sharpest fall since June 1991 – the bottom of the last recession.

Private sales were down 29 per cent, but sales of cars to business users were down 44 per cent, reflecting the pressure on companies to slash spending.

New car sales have now been in decline for six months in a row. And, although 80 per cent of cars sold in the UK are imported, the news is still unwelcome for British producers. Yesterday BMW's Mini subsidiary announced a cut in production, with workers at its factories in Oxford and Swindon told the two-week Christmas shutdown is to be extended to four weeks.

Nissan, Land-Rover, Honda and Ford have also implemented short time working at UK plants. Earlier this week, Jaguar Cars said that it is extending its voluntary redundancy scheme.

The credit crunch has restricted the availability of car loans and many manufacturers have had to offer their customers finance instead. The recent high cost of fuel and the squeeze on spending power have had an especially severe effect on sales of luxury cars and SUVs, although Volvo and Jaguar sales rose.

The SMMT once again called for help from the authorities and the banks: "Cuts in interest rates that are swiftly passed on to consumers, scrapping planned increases in vehicle excise duty and maintaining public expenditure on new vehicles are essential."

The SMMT's forecast for new car sales in 2008 has been trimmed, again, to 2.15 million vehicles, against about 2.4 million last year. But 2009 looks even gloomier, with the SMMT predicting sales of 1.92 million. The British car industry now exports around three-quarters of its production, and it is the worldwide economic downturn that has pushed so many makers into contraction. Concerns are growing that the UK's remaining manufacturers may face even tougher times. Roger Maddison, national officer at Unite, said: "We have robust agreements in place to protect our members as much as possible but we are keeping a close eye on developments."

Sean O'Grady

Manufacturing: Steel-maker slashes 400 jobs

The British steel-maker Corus announced 400 job losses at its distribution division yesterday. The proposed cuts will be spread across the country, with 100 jobs going in the West Midlands, 100 in Shotton, north Wales, 50 in south Wales and 50 in Leeds. Corus said demand for steel had slumped since September, as the economic slowdown hit car-making, construction and engineering. "Corus Distribution has introduced a series of actions to cut expenditure," it said. "However, these actions will not alone be sufficient to offset the decline in the market."

Property: UK homes lose 15% of their value

House prices fell by 2.2 per cent in October, Halifax Bank warned yesterday, as the slump in the property market continued. Halifax said the average UK home is now worth 15 per cent less than 12 months ago, which means this downturn is now even more dramatic than the housing market collapse of the early Nineties.

While yesterday's interest rate cut should eventually reduce the cost of borrowing, providing a boost to the property market, experts believe prices still have further to fall.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "With mortgage finance still in short supply, the likelihood is that the picture will continue to deteriorate in the near term."

Halifax warned yesterday that the price falls would continue into the new year, with the market likely to fall 20 per cent before bottoming out.

Retail: Worst Christmas for decade

High Street shops are preparing for the worst Christmas trading for more than a decade. Analysts at Mintel yesterday predicted retail sales over the festive period would be no higher than last year's totals, which is a potentially devastating result for chains that have seen Christmas spending increase by at least 5 per cent in every year since the turn of the century.

"The slowdown in sales is taking a long time to develop but is now starting to take hold," warned Richard Perks, Mintel's research director.

This week alone, retailers including Marks & Spencer and Next have warned of a sharp slowdown, while the jewellery specialist Signet said yesterday that its sales in both Britain and the US had slumped over the past few weeks.

Leisure: Hotels hit by downturn

Hotel bookings have fallen dramatically this autumn. Sales at Millennium & Copthorne,below, one of the world's largest hotel operators, had been relatively resilient – until October, the company revealed yesterday. Bookings were down3 per cent last month, it warned, interrupting a long period of growth.

While recent falls in the oil price have provided some relief to the hard-pressed airline industry, the global economic downturn is now proving even more of a headache. More than 20 airlines have gone bust this year, with British Airways and Ryanair, the UK's two largest operators, now warning they will be lucky to break even in 2008.

Finance: City sees no sign of let-up

There is little sign of any respite for the City, with both Man Group and 3i, respectively the country's largest hedge fund and venture capital businesses, yesterday reporting serious falls in their investment returns. Philip Yea, 3i's chief executive, said: "The outlook for the global economy continues to weaken."

The finance sector is already reeling from thousands of job cuts announced at investment banks, while unions expect as many as 20,000 bank workers to lose their jobs following the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS. Henderson, the fund management company, also warned yesterday that it would be shedding jobs in the run-up to Christmas.

Media: NewsCorp profits down

Shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation fell by up to 16 per cent in early trading yesterday after the media conglomerate warned its profits were down by 30 per cent over the three months to the end of September.

NewsCorp was hit by a slowdown in advertising in the UK, US and Australia. "You will see even leaner operations," Murdoch said, fuelling fears of job cuts.

Television companies are also feeling the pinch. ITV expects advertising sales to be 9 per cent down over the final three months of the year.

Reports by David Prosser

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 98188.html

It's everywhere for sure. We just had a Circuit City hear it was going to close and by the next day, the doors were gated.....no going out of business sale, nothing. Linens and things is closing and we're seeing more and more space for rent signs in what were full strip malls. Not looking good. I know they were saying this area always pretty much went through past recessions fairly easily, but not this time. People are scaling back big time.

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

Media: NewsCorp profits down

Shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation fell by up to 16 per cent in early trading yesterday after the media conglomerate warned its profits were down by 30 per cent over the three months to the end of September.

NewsCorp was hit by a slowdown in advertising in the UK, US and Australia. "You will see even leaner operations," Murdoch said, fuelling fears of job cuts.

Television companies are also feeling the pinch. ITV expects advertising sales to be 9 per cent down over the final three months of the year.

Now why don't I feel at all bad about this? In fact if their profits went to zero it would make my day!

Well thank Bush, Karl Rove and the other band of nazi's who have orchestrated the perfect new world order... The newscasters on CNN, MSNBC are now free to talk about globalization in order to get us comfortable with those words.

It will not be too long before we have one currency, and you and I can now pay for all the dental work the French people forgot to get over the past 100 years..... My inlaws are from Belgium. They just spent a month with us and I was amazed to see they took about 15 pills each (doctor prescribed) before each meal. They pay $15.00 per month for medical care, including their prescriptions. But times are tough there... Neither of them work, and everything is paid for on their behalf.. So naturally, when a country exhausts all their resources, it has to find another country to pick up their tab. So goes globalism... The Europeans do not believe the USA is doing its' share in paying for their health coverage (among other things) and it is causing undue trauma and stress to their Kings and Queens.

So get ready to open your wallet and your home. There are millions of people ready to rape your savings account, destroy your life in the interest of the "new world order". These countries are ready, willing and able for you and yours' to pick up their tab, and you have no choice in the matter.

My worry at the moment is that I live in a neighborhood which does not allow chickens or a milk cow in my backyard. I don't have enough land to grow enough fruit and veggies for canning for the winter.
These next few years are not going to be pretty, especially in this country with our open borders where the rest of the world swarms in to rob us of what we have spent our lives building.