One company (Dubai World) said last week it wouldn’t be able to service its debt for six months and equities indices around the world plunged, currencies went into somersaults, commodities began to gyrate furiously and CEOs of trillion dollar conglomerates went into huddles to decide strategies.

Besides Russia and Brazil, Japan has also started feeling the heat as the yen shot up to 85 last week. Toyota, Canon and Sony, who get nearly three fourth of their revenues from abroad, expected yen to stay in the 90-95 range. Every one per cent gain by the yen causes a loss of US$370 mn to Japanese manufacturers. Sony and Panasonic have eliminated 48,000 jobs since last Sep. What will happen if the euro begins to buy two dollars?

US public debt is fast approaching equality with GDP as its real economy refuses to obey Obama’s orders; restaurant sales are still plunging, 124 banks have already failed and a further 400 are in the pipeline, and small businesses are learning to walk street CH-11 like their big brothers.

Europe appears to be relatively calm, despite the rising euro, largely because trade within the euro zone is steady. Europeans rejected the high profile Tony Blair and chose the unassuming Herman Van Rompuy (Belgian) as the first full time EU president. However, Rotterdam is making arrangements for parking idle and cargo-laden ships owned by hoarders and speculators, and Swiss watch exporters are frowning at falling sales in Hong Kong, their biggest market.

China is ignoring analysts’ apprehensions as its economy is actually performing better than before; it is pushing domestic consumption, which implies rising living standards, and is continuing to expand its foreign reserves at the same time.

Mexico’s debt has been downgraded by Fitch to BBB because of declining oil production and tax revenue, unemployment in Argentina rose from 7.8 to 9.1% in Q3, and inflation in Venezuela is up 20% this year, though that has not had any impact on the beauty business in the country known for having produced the largest number of Miss Universe winners.

Nigeria is asking oil giants to undertake community programs for getting oil leases renewed and Shell has even agreed to provide business training to former militants. Uganda is figuring out a way of controlling its population, which is growing at a rate of over 3% and is expected to treble by 2050. Russia has cut interest rates to stem the rising ruble. Philippines is finding the going smooth as remittances from Filipinos living abroad (8 mn) are still growing.

Because of the growing overlap between PCs, laptops and cell phones, Dell and Acer are due to launch cell phones and Lenovo is buying back the handset unit it had sold in 2007, while Nokia is close to launching a low-cost netbook. The question that needs to be asked, and answered, is whether it is technically possible to type out all one has to on the small qwerty keyboards of cell phones.

The war between Google and Microsoft is hotting up and the possibility of an ugly turn can hardly be ruled out now. Microsoft is reportedly willing to pay NewsCorp to take its content away from Google but wouldn’t that be like taking it off the net?

Mexican brewer FEMSA is being eyed by SAB, Heineken and Kirin, Cadbury is considering inviting competitive bids from Hershey, Ferrero and Nestle, and France Telecom, stung by 25 of its employees having committed suicide in the last few years, has decided to set aside a billion dollars to help senior employees continue working on a part time basis.

Eni of Italy has bought oil assets of Heritage Oil of Uganda and is in talks with Ghana and Congo for strategic alliances, Sony is planning to offer content and services that would be made available exclusively through its own hardware, with target revenue of over $3 bn, and China Shipbuilding is to raise nearly a billion dollars to fund expansion of engines and parts facilities. Chinese shipbuilders are growing furiously even in lean market conditions.

Toyota has announced recall of 4 mn vehicles because of defective gas pedals and expects to incur a loss of $2.2 bn in 2009-10, GM has decided to keep all four Opel plants in Germany open but may close its Antwerp unit, and Geely of China has reached a deal with Ford for Volvo patented technologies.

Hitachi is aggressively working to take France’s TGV head on in EU market for bullet trains as a large part of rolling stock is due for replacement, and is expecting big growth in the US where Obama is pushing several high speed rail corridors. Incidentally, even in EU, bullet trains carry only 100 mn passengers a year, compared to over 300 mn in Japan.

2.1 million cribs produced by Stork Craft are being recalled because infants can get trapped and suffocated in them, Americans are expected to pay nearly $3 bn in baggage fees to airlines this year, California flower growers are asking consumers to reject roses brought in by 747s (Buy American), and a survey says a negative review on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube can make a company lose 30 existing customers. Number of Americans suffering diabetes is estimated at 24 mn. A couple successfully gate crashed into a dinner hosted by Obama last week. A recent research says CFOs in US and EU didn’t know until recently that it is important to keep counting cash also, besides earnings.

The horizon is as full of uncertainties as ever. Japan’s willingness to let the yen rise is an interesting development. Euro zone too doesn’t appear to be unduly worried about the dollar’s decline. Even China appears to be softening its stand on the yuan. The question is whether the US will be able to produce as much as it consumes, or China can consume as much as it produces, even if the DXY plunges from 75 to 50.

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