Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Daily Verdict: November 6th, 2008

Markets drop significantly
The Dow suffered a 10% drop over two days after Obama’s victory, the largest drop ever on Wall Street after the election of a new President. Dow closed down 443 points, FTSE100 was also down 258 points, with the CAC40 also down 230 points. The IBEX closed 610 points in the negative, the DAX suffered a 353 point blow while the Nikkei lost a massive 622 points. Oil also hit a record low within the last 20 months, dropping to around 57 dollars per barrel. All this came after bleak corporate outlooks and huge drops in sales of major US retailers. A further job loss report due out tomorrow is expected to drop markets even further tomorrow.

Iranian President congratulates Obama
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s well known President, has offered his congratulations to Barack Obama for his victory. He followed a long list of world leaders who congratulated the new President-Elect and said that he hoped for a drastic change in foreign policy from the new leader. This comes as a surprise even though Obama has stated he favous dialogue with the sanctioned nation. Obama returned some congratulatory calls yesterday and spoke to 9 world leaders who had left him a message.

Obama begins transition
The Obama transition team has already begun its work. Obama’s first major appointment was Rob Emanuel as chief of staff, an Illinois Congressman known for his aggressive politics as well as creative fundraising. Emanuel’s legend is famous throughout Washington and popular media, with the Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman from the famed television show The West Wing being based on him. He is a Clinton alumnus having served as a top advisor to President Clinton during his stay at the White House. The young and successful politician appears a good choice for Obama as he will protect the President and his interest while keeping everyone in line. His appointment was lambasted by Republicans and conservatives with them saying Obama’s promise of change is contradicted with the appointment of an old-time Washington power player. Other appointments by Obama include his trusted advisor David Axelrod as a top aide as well as Tom Gibbs as Press Secretary. Further positions as well as Cabinet members are expected to be announced in the upcoming days.

Congo conflict still ongoing
News of renewed violence in Congo came today as pictures of images of summarily executed bodies were shown on major television states across the world. This new round of violence comes after the President’s rejection to negotiate with rebel leaderse. UN calls for peace and intervention in the region have remain largely unanswered with more violence still expected. It seems this situation will go from bad to worse as no imminent peaceful resolution is fathomable.

Zimbabwe recevies 3 billion dollars with warning
Reuters reports the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will give up to $3 billion in funds to fight the diseases but has warned Zimbabwe it will be very firm in the way it expects the country to manage the funds. Inflation in the country is officially at 231 million % with no end in sight to the ongoing government power-sharing battle.

Taiwan and China relations progress
Reuters reports that Taiwan’s president met briefly a Chinese official in the highest-level contact between the two sides since the Chinese civil war. The two countries have recently signed agreements on opening up trade and transport as the two countries focus on improving relations. This is seen as a major step towards stability in the region as the two countries have been on the brink of war on several occasions over the last several years.