Sensex keeps a down note as IT and Banking sector slip

Benchmarks were witnessing a fluid session with negative bias Monday beforehand of public holiday tomorrow and January series termination and


Intervening term choices of the day

 Rather a few exponent heavy weights will be announcing their Q3FY10 solutions today. A truncated trading week and the expiry of the derivative takes for the January series will pave way for some volatility. Monetary policy announcement by the RBI on January 29 will be another key trigger to watch out during the week.

Nifty continued to trade below the 50 DMA placed at 5118. The index closed at the support line of a rising stick being formed on the weekly charts. Last week we broke down over a similar pattern on the daily charts which is a fractal of the rising wedge. A close below 5000 level in the coming week might touch off further failing in the market and the index is expected to test 4900 level. The universal trend in the market has become bearish which would negate only on close above 5225,  said Edelweiss report.

National Stock Exchange s Nifty was at 4996.25, down 39.75 points or 0.79 per cent. The index reached an intraday low of 4983.05 and high of 5034.70.

Venezuela step closer to Mercosur

Brazil's Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved Venezuela's request to join the South American trade bloc Mercosur.

The committee voted by 12 to five in favour of Venezuela's application, and the proposal will now go before the Senate to gain full approval.

Paraguay's parliament must also approve Venezuela's membership before it will be allowed to join Mercosur.

Venezuela has been trying to join the bloc for three years.

The country officially teamed up with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as part of their Mercosur trading bloc in July 2006.

But, so far, its membership has only been approved by the Uruguayan, Argentine and Venezuelan parliaments.

Correspondents say a rejection by Brazil's Foreign Relations Committee would have been severely embarrassing for the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is visiting Venezuela this week.

Mercosur was established in March 1991.

Nokia 'seeking Apple royalties'

Mobile phone maker Nokia is suing Apple to try to extract royalty payments, an analyst has suggested.

Nokia said on Thursday that it was suing Apple for infringing patents on mobile phone technology for the iPhone.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates that the Finnish company might be looking to force royalty payments of 1-2% on every iPhone sold.

With more than 30 million sold, that would work out to $6 to $12 per phone sold, or as much as $400m.

That would be a relatively small amount compared with Apple's income.

Apple recently reported profits of $1.67bn (£1bn) for the three months to 26 September - partly due to a 7% growth in iPhone sales.

Nokia did not say in the lawsuit what form of penalties it was seeking.

'Uncertain' resolution

Mr Munster, a respected Apple watcher, called the maximum figure of $12 a phone "unlikely" and said even if it was enforced in court, it "would not change our positive thesis on the iPhone and Apple".

"Ultimately, the resolution is uncertain," he said.

An Apple spokesman told the BBC that the firm did not comment on pending litigation.

The 10 alleged patent infringements, which apply to all models of the iPhone since its launch in 2007, involve wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.

Nokia accused Apple of "trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation".

First woman wins economics Nobel

Elinor Ostrom has become the first woman to win the Nobel prize for economics since it began in 1968.

Ms Ostrom won the prize with fellow American Oliver Williamson for their separate work in economic governance.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is the last of the six Nobel prizes announced this year. Since 1980, it has gone to Americans 24 times.

Last Friday, US President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - though this aroused some controversy.

World financial crisis 'not over'

The US economist widely credited with having predicted the financial crisis has warned we are already "planting the seeds of the next crisis".

Nouriel Roubini told the BBC that he is concerned about the growing gap between the "bubbly and frothy" stock markets and the real economy.

Over the last six months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen about 45%.

But Mr Roubini says he sees an economy where consumers are "shopped out" and "debt burdened".

'Crisis not over'

Based on the run up in share prices in recent months, investors appear to be betting that good times are around the corner. A view not shared by Mr Roubini.

"The crisis is not yet over," the New York University professor said."I see an economy where the consumers are shopped out, debt burdened, they have to cut back consumption and save more.

"The financial system is damaged... and for the corporate sector I don't see a lot of capital spending because there is a glut of capacity."

Mr Roubini believes US house prices have further to fall, straining America's fragile recovery.

India to invest up to USD 10 bn to supplement IMF resources

As part of efforts to have a greater say in the running of the international financial institutions, India has decided to invest up to USD 10 billion from its reserves to supplement the IMF resources.

"India has decided to invest up to 10 billion dollars of its reserves in notes issued by the IMF," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters at London on Friday night after the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) ministerial meeting ahead of a G-20 conference.

Mukherjee said "the G-20 egged governments on to adopt an aggressive monetary and fiscal stance, and was particularly successful in raising reforms for International Financial Institutions that played a major role in stabilising developing country markets.

The communique issued at the end of the BRIC Finance Ministers' meeting said "for us, IMF notes or bonds are the best option to provide immediate resources to the IMF without undermining the quota reform process.

"We are together contributing USD 80 billion to supplement the resources of the IMF. The IMF is a quota-based institution and should remain so. We propose that the next quota review should at least double the overall size of quotas."



China accounts for USD 50 billion of the USD 80 billion contribution and the rest would be borne by India, Russia and Brazil.

Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega told newsmen that the BRIC countries would like to have a greater say in the running of the IMF and other international financial institutions such as the World Bank and are prepared to have a larger share of quotas and voting.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner joined part of the meeting, which Mukherjee said was an acknowledgement of the group's emergence as a key voice in global economic and financial issues.

Need to regulate financial market but no protectionism: Pranab

India has said when there is a need to regulate the financial market; the same should not be used to devise any kind of protectionism.

"We shall have to strike a balance. First of all, I would like to... in the name of the financial regulation and to regulate the markets and as I started off, I mentioned protectionism need not come. Yes, there is a need of regulating the financial market," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in an interview to a news channel at Washington.

"At the other side of the picture, these instruments need not be used to devise protectionism in some forms. Therefore, there too, we shall have to keep in view the federal reserves -- the larger social interests -- interests of the society as a whole, not fragmented and fractured internally," he said.

Noting that there is no consensus among major economies on the lessons learnt from the current global economic crisis, Mukherjee said: "But if we look at the way G-20 responded and we have ourselves been made to address only those issues where there is the possibility of consensus."

The Finance Minister felt that G-20 should not pick up those issues where consensus is elusive.



"That there should not be, in the name of financial agreement...it should not be too much constructionist policies in the grab of another form of protectionism," he said.



Responding to a question, Mukherjee said India shall have to come back to the fiscal conservatism.



"That's why in my medium term plan, I have indicated that I am ending the year with a 6.8 percent of fiscal... but I will come around to 5.5 and four percent in the next two years," he said.

Russia, China, Brazil endorse India's stand on protectionism

India's stand that protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and emerging economies need to guard against tendencies in some developed nations to extend it beyond trade to financial markets and investment has been endorsed by Russia, China and Brazil.

A joint communique issued at the end of the two-hour meeting of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries'

Finance Ministers on Friday evening asserted that "protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and

should be avoided, both in direct and indirect forms."



Addressing a press conference along with his counterparts from Brazil, China and Russia, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that "emerging markets also need to guard against tendencies in some developed countries to extend protectionism beyond trade to financial markets and

investment."



He said it could "collectively undermine not only growth in developing countries but also the hard earned welfare gains from globalisation."



The communique also emphasised that the reform of international financial institutions is crucial to ensuring a stable and balanced global economy.



"For the IMF and the World Bank Group, the main governance problem, which severely undermines their legitimacy, is the unfair distribution of quotas, shares and voting power. Priority should be given to a substantial shift of quotas and shares in favour of emerging markets and

developing countries," the communique said.



"We propose the setting of a target for that shift of the order of 7 per cent in the IMF and 6 per cent in the World Bank Group so as to reach an equitable distribution of voting power between advanced and developing countries," it said, adding "this would lead the overall share of emerging markets and developing countries in the IMF and World Bank to correspond roughly to their share in world GDP."



Emphasising that emerging markets were not the cause of the ongoing financial crisis as their financial systems were conservatively regulated, Mukherjee said "their growth prospects have nevertheless been badly damaged. It is particularly gratifying that BRIC countries are leading the global recovery."



Stating that he expected India to grow between 6-7 per cent in both 2009 and 2010 on the back of strong fiscal and monetary measures that saw the central bank repeatedly lowering its benchmark interest rates by 425 basis points over a short period following the Lehman debacle, he added that government has also tried to cover the fall in private demand through fiscal stimulus equipment to 3-4 per cent of the GDP

in 2008-09, and this is being carried through to 2009-10.



Mukherjee, however, cautioned that a return to earlier levels of 9 per cent trend growth in India on a sustainable

basis hinged on stabilisation of western markets.



"The recovery would be greatly assisted if international trade is kept open. In this context, we are keen for an early, successful conclusion of the stalled Doha Round," he said.



The BRIC countries expressed their support for an open and merit-based selection of IMF and World Bank management.



"The next Managing Director of the IMF and the next President of the World Bank should be elected in such a manner, irrespective of nationality or any geographical preference," the communique said.



They also supported a revision in the composition of the executive boards of the IMF and the World Bank, of the IMFC and of the Development committee to allow for a more adequate representation of the emerging markets and developing countries.

Blackberry 'fastest-growing firm'

The maker of the Blackberry mobile phone, Research in Motion (RIM), is the world's fastest-growing company, according to business magazine Fortune.

Canada-based RIM has come top of the magazine's latest annual guide to the 100 fastest-growing businesses.

In second place was US chipmaker Sigma Designs, with Chinese internet business Sohu.com coming in third.

Fortune rates a firm's growth on a combination of its profits, turnover and investment return over three years.

Nigeria sacks heads of five banks

The Nigerian central bank has injected 400bn naira ($2.6bn; £1.6bn) into five banks and sacked their managers.

The regulator said the banks were undercapitalised and posed a risk to the entire banking system.

Governor Lamido Sanusi said Afribank, Finbank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank and Union Bank would be run as normal until new investors were found.

The move was unprecedented in Nigeria, sending the naira down 2% to 156.9 versus the dollar.

'Questions'

"The banks have lost their money in bad loans," Mr Sanusi told reporters in Lagos. "We have questions about the management, so we have put in new management."

"We assure every depositor that no-one will lose money and we will continue to support the banks and all Nigerian banks," he said.

Armed police secured the buildings of the five banks to protect their assets.

Mr Sanusi took over as head of the central bank over two months ago, pledging to clean up the banking system that has fuelled growth in Nigeria.

Among the executives removed were senior members of Nigeria's corporate elite, long seen as almost untouchable by the political establishment.

"The banking sector is a critical part of any economic system and we believe the steps being taken will deliver an effective solution to a very serious set of challenges," said Michael Hugman, a strategist at Standard Bank.

The five institutions account for 40% of banking sector credit in Nigeria.

Bad loans

Mr Sanusi said the five banks had accounted for almost 90% of exposure to the central bank's so-called discount window, which allows banks to borrow in the short-term from the central bank to meet their needs.

"The excessively high level of non-performing loans in the five banks ... was attributable to poor corporate governance practices, lax credit administration processes and the absence or non-adherence to credit risk management practices," he said.

Mr Sanusi added the Nigerian government had no intention of nationalising the five banks and that this was a temporary measure.

The central bank has completed audits of 10 banks, including the five being rescued, and the Central Bank of Nigeria will now probe all of the country's 24 banks, Mr Sanusi said.

Global markets rise on G20 deal

Stock markets have rallied after world leaders reached a $1.1 trillion deal to tackle the global economic crisis at the G20 summit.

London's FTSE 100 index closed up 4.3%, Germany's Dax index gained 6.1% while France's Cac 40 rose 5.4%.

US markets also took heart as the global efforts unveiled added to optimism that the worst might be over for the world economy.

In New York, the Dow Jones rose 2.8%, or 216.5 points, to 7,978 points.

Stocks were also boosted as the US announced changes to accounting standards that would give companies more freedom in valuing assets and reporting losses.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) approved the proposals, which could help boost bank balance sheets.

Earlier, shares in Asia closed higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 4.4% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 7%.

'Buying mood'

Recent upbeat economic data on the US housing market and on the manufacturing sector has cheered investors.

"Everyone is in a buying mood," said Eric Ross, director of research at brokerage Canaccord Adams.

"Everyone is feeling good."

Hopes that the global downturn might be easing also pushed oil prices up almost 10% to above $50 a barrel.

US light, sweet crude was up $4.25 to $52.64 a barrel, while London Brent crude rose $4.31 to $52.75 a barrel.

"There seems to be a G20 factor," said Tony Machacek, an oil broker at Bache Commodities in London.

"The stock markets are strong and the dollar is weaker. That is also helping the market."

Sony Ericsson braced for losses

Sony Ericsson has said that it expects to make a loss in the first three months of this year as sales continue to suffer in the economic downturn.

The company predicts a net loss before tax of between 340m euros (£320m; $466m) and 390m euros for the quarter.

Both retailers and distributors are cutting their stock, said the firm.

Other mobile phone firms have also seen sales fall as demand slows. Earlier this week, Nokia said that it would shed 1,700 jobs due to poor sales.

And previously mobile phone giant Motorola said it would cut 4,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its workforce, to reduce costs.

Sony Ericsson said it was likely to ship around 14 million phones during the first quarter.

It is due to announce its full quarterly results on 17 April.

IMF predicts a global recession

The world economy is likely to shrink for the first time in decades this year, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's prediction is gloomier than that the IMF's current official forecast of 0.5% growth.

He added that trade was falling at an alarming rate and business and consumer confidence had collapsed.

He was speaking at a conference in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss how Africa should respond to the crisis.

"The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes," Mr Strauss-Kahn said.

The World Bank, the IMF's sister institution, on Monday said it also expects the world economy to shrink in 2009.

'Severe'

Mr Strauss-Kahn also warned that Africa's economic growth will be affected by the continuing world downturn. The IMF predicts that growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow to about 3% in 2009, half the growth rate it previously thought.

Mr Strauss-Kahn said even this rate may be "too optimistic".

"Even though the crisis has been slow in reaching Africa's shores, we all know it is coming and its impact will be severe," he said.

"We must ensure that the voice of the poor are heard. We must ensure that Africa is not left out."

The conference will discuss what external support the IMF and other Western donors may be able to provide to help mitigate the impact of the crisis on Africa, which has the highest poverty rate of any region in the world.

Not at fault

The IMF's managing director, Dominique Strauss Kahn, told the BBC on Monday that the conference would be a "milestone" and that he wanted to build a different kind of partnership with Africa, as well as providing additional funds.

Africa has little direct exposure to the credit crisis. Its banks have not invested much, if at all, in the problem financial assets at the heart of the crisis.

But the global downturn has undermined demand for many industrial commodities, which are important exports for several African countries. - including oil in Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, and copper in Zambia.

Less than a year ago, the IMF's forecast for sub-Saharan Africa was economic growth of 6.7% in 2009, an increase on the 5% growth enjoyed in 2008.

Now the low growth forecast means that many African countries are likely to see very little increase in living standards, and could fall further behind in meeting poverty targets.

It says that 15 of the 21 countries which it judges most vulnerable to the crisis are in Africa.

Economy fears send stocks falling

Global stock markets fell on Friday amid fears over the state of the world economy and the banking industry, with finance firms among the main fallers.

The Dow Jones index was 1.8% lower in afternoon trade on Friday after seeing its lowest close since 9 October 2002.

Investors are worried over how long the slowdown will last, despite government intervention to boost their economies.

France's Cac 40 fell 4.25% to its lowest since April 2003, the FTSE 100 shed 3.2% and Germany's Dax shed 4.7%.

The Paris-based benchmark index ended at 2,750.55. The FTSE closed at 3889.06.

The Dow Jones industrial average declined 133.25 points to 7,332.70 just after noon in New York, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.84% to 764.58.

Japan's Nikkei index ended 1.8% down and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2.49%.

'Lack of clarity'

South Korea was among the worst hit in Asia. Its main stock index fell 3.7%, while its currency, the won, weakened on fears about the health of local banks.

This week , US President Barack Obama signed a $787bn (£548bn) stimulus plan into law, but there is uncertainty over how much this will help boost the ailing banking sector.

Bank of America shares fell nearly 17%, while Citigroup shed more than 21%.

"We're going through a tug of war between optimism and pessimism," said Wasif Latif, portfolio manager at USAA Investment Management CoLatif.

"When there is a lack of clarity, it becomes more of an emotional or psychological environment. The mood can sway on any given day, based on the flow of news coming out."

Wine and spirits firm bucks trend

Drinks maker Pernod Ricard has reported a rise in half year net profits as consumers continue to buy wine and spirits despite the economic downturn.

The French group said profits rose 5% to 615m euros ($793m; £547m) for the six months to the end of December 2008.

Sales for the period rose 13% to 4.2bn euros, and the firm forecast "strong organic growth" for the full year.

Shares in Pernod, whose brands include Jacob's Creek wine and Absolut vodka, were up 6% in early trade.

"Although visibility is limited for the second half of the year, we anticipate that the wine and spirits sector will on the whole continue to show excellent resilience," Pernod said.

Pernod is the second biggest alcoholic drinks group in the world after Diageo.

On Thursday Diageo reported a 3.2% rise in half-year profits but cut its forecast for the full year.

Intel announces $7bn plant plan

Computer chipmaker Intel has announced plans to build new plants worth $7bn (£4.78bn) weeks after announcing the closure of five plants.

The world's biggest chipmaker says the investment will fund 7,000 jobs in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.

Last month, Intel said it was cutting up to 6,000 jobs in response to slowing consumer demand for computers.

It also aims to increase production of faster chips. Two of the plants being closed make older-style chips.

"Spending this money will lower our costs and give us more competitive products. It's something that's fundamental to our business model," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini.

"From our perspective this is a cheaper, better technology," he said.

Nanometer race

Intel has the advantage of the being the largest chipmaker and is using its bigger purse to expand while some of its rivals scale down.

California-based Intel is hoping to boost its fortunes by using the new plants to produce 32 nanometer chip technology, which will lead to its products performing faster and more efficiently.

A nanometer is one billionth of a meter and the majority of Intel's chips use 45 nanometer technology.

Intel's nearest competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is already busy upgrading plants, though it is still lags some way behind Intel. AMD is phasing in 45 nanometer technology to replace 65 nanometers.

Intel said in January it would close five plants in California, Oregon, Malaysia and the Philippines with the loss of between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs.

It said the two US factories were based on older microchip technology.

Intel's plans come as joblessness in the US soars. In January the US unemployment rate reached 7.6%, the highest level since 1992.

Shares fall after US banking plan

Global investors have given the $1.5 trillion (£1.02 trillion) US bank bail-out plan a muted response, following sharp falls overnight on Wall Street.

Analysts says there is scepticism over whether the proposal will work, and worries over both a perceived lack of detail and the sums of money involved.

At the core of the plan is a new $500bn fund to absorb toxic bank assets.

The UK's FTSE 100 was down 0.4% in early trading. America's main Dow Jones slumped 4.6% on Tuesday.

"This is not a clear-cut plan," said analyst Bucky Hellwig.

Mr Hellwig, who works for Morgan Asset Management, added that it wasn't "what investors are looking for", and that the package was "convoluted".

Dow slump

In early Wednesday trading in London, the FTSE 100 was 0.4%, or 18 points, lower at 4,195, while France's Cac had lost 1%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 431 points, or 3.1%, in afternoon trading at 13,450.

Meanwhile, the top index of Australian shares closed down 10.3 points, or 0.3%, at 3,418. The Japanese stock market was closed for a public holiday.

The falls came after the US Dow Jones index slumped 382 points, or 4.6%, to 7,889 on Tuesday.

Mr Geithner said the new bank bail-out package was vital as "critical parts of our financial system are damaged".

"Instead of catalyzing recovery, the financial system is working against recovery, and that's the dangerous dynamic we need to change," he added.

Glaxo 'to cut thousands of jobs'

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline is set to announce thousands of job cuts as it faces increasing competition from generic drug makers, reports suggest.

More than 6,000 jobs are set to go according to reports in the Observer, The Sunday Times and The Telegraph.

A spokesman for the company could not confirm or deny the reports, saying simply that Glaxo "was in the middle of a restructuring programme".

Some of the cuts will be made from the UK workforce, the reports say.

The company employs around 100,000 people across the world, including 18,000 in the UK.

The company is suffering from increased competition from cheaper, generic drugs as patent protection runs out on a number of its household drugs.

'Restructuring'

The "restructuring programme", designed to cut costs and boost profits, was announced in October 2007.

At the end of 2008, Glaxo announced around 800 job cuts in the UK.

This included 200 at its factory in County Durham, and more than 600 as a result of the closure of its factory in Kent in 2013.

The company has manufacturing operations across the UK, including sites at Ware, Maidenhead and Worthing.

Last week, rival AstraZeneca said it would cut an additional 6,000 jobs on top of thousands of cuts already announced.

Glaxo reports its annual results on Thursday of next week.

Job cuts

These job cuts would be the latest in a long line of recently announced lay-offs as UK companies struggle in the recession.

On Saturday, a CBI survey showed that small and medium-sized manufacturers in the UK are laying off workers at a faster rate than at any time since the early 1990s.

In total, 38% of UK firms surveyed cut jobs during the final quarter of 2008.

The latest unemployment figures show that there were 1.92 million people unemployed in the UK between September and November last year, the highest level since September 1997.

Davos starts in very gloomy mood

A gloomy economic outlook dominates discussions as global political leaders and business people gather for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.

Economists are warning that global recession and trade protectionism will be dire for developing countries.

A poll of business leaders suggests any recovery could take three years.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian PM Vladimir Putin are to speak on the first day of the summit, which is themed "shaping the post-crisis world".

Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, has warned the crisis is nowhere near over yet.

Over 70,000 job cuts announced in a single day

The deepening global economic recession claimed over 70,000 jobs in a single day, with six companies, ranging from manufacturing to telecom across the US and Europe, announcing job cuts.

With the bloodbath in the job market on Monday, the tally of total jobs lost in January so far crossed two million.

Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar, pharma major Pfizer, telecom firm Sprint Nextel Corp, home improvement retailer Home Depot were among the six major firms that announced massive job cuts.

A total of 207,120 jobs have been lost so far this year. Nearly 2.6 million people were rendered unemployed through 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

Caterpillar said it would cut 20,000 jobs amid a "very challenging global business environment".

The company had already planned to lay off 15,000 workers since the fourth quarter of 2008.



It added another 5,000, bringing the total to 20,000. Pfizer would be cutting 10 percent of its 81,900-strong staff and close five of its manufacturing plants.

Further, about 15 percent of the workforce would be laid off in a second round, from the combined Pfizer/Wyeth staff of 120,000, taking the total to 26,000 jobs lost. The company already cut 4,700 jobs in 2008.

Sprint Nextel would cut about 8,000 jobs by 31st March, it said in a release, adding, it plans to reduce internal and external labour costs by about 1.2 billion dollar annually.

The world's largest home improvement retailer Home Depot announced it would eliminate its EXPO design centre business and cut 7,000 jobs, or two percent of its total workforce.



It said lack of demand for big ticket design and decor projects hit its sales.



Texas Instruments said it would slash its workforce by 3,400 employees to deal with weak demand.



More than half of those cuts would be layoffs while "voluntary retirements and departures" would make up the rest.

Dutch financial group ING also announced about 7,000 job cuts. ING employs around 1,30,000 people across 50 countries.

Deere & Co, the world's leading farm-equipment maker plans to cut nearly 700 jobs between factories in Brazil and Iowa.



Last week, 40,000 cuts were announced across multiple industries. BHP Billiton, Clear Channel Communications, Intel, Rohm and Haas Co, UAL Corp and Williams-Sonoma announced job cuts totaling over 27,000 positions.

Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Entertainment said it would cut about 800 jobs, or 10 percent, of its worldwide staff in the upcoming weeks, while Microsoft announced its plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs -- 5.5 percent of its global workforce.

Massive layoffs as gloom deepens

Workers around the world face losing their jobs as several big corporations announced more than 70,000 layoffs in one single day.

The biggest cuts came in the US where construction equipment maker Caterpillar said it would cut around 20,000 jobs.

In Europe, electronics group Philips, financial firm ING and UK steelmaker Corus announced cuts.

The announcements underscore the depth of the global downturn.

"Without a doubt, 2009 will be a very tough year," said Caterpillar chief executive Jim Owens.

Many of the companies making layoffs unveiled poor financial results and issued gloomy outlooks for 2009.

Caterpillar said its fourth-quarter net profit fell 32% from a year ago to $661m (£482m).

Stimulus plan urged

US President Barack Obama cited the layoff announcements as he urged Congress to approve an $825bn economic stimulus package of tax cuts, emergency benefits and public spending projects.

"Those are not just numbers," he said, but more working men and women "whose families have been disrupted and whose dreams have been put on hold".