Money Daily Brief: Thin holidays for US retailers
鈥� Updated 3:30 p.m. (20:30 UTC)
鈥oliday gloom: With unemployment near 10 percent and consumer confidence sinking, holiday retail sales in the US will probably drop 1 percent, an industry report predicted. That's not as sharp as last year's 3.4 percent drop, since the National Retail Federation began tracking November-December sales in 1995.
鈥o dollars for oil? The greenback after a British paper said that Gulf Arab states are in secret international talks to eventually stop pricing oil in dollars and use a basket of currencies instead. it held such talks.
鈥ussie rebound: Australia's central bank to 3.25 percent, the first Group of 20 nation to hike rates. Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said , even as policymakers around the world warn against premature optimism. on the news. So did commodities as the dollar slumped. (For a look at interest rates around the world, click on the chart above right.)
鈥heels up: Singapore Air and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific are luring more travelers by slashing fares, but that just . This comes amid signs in the US that . The International Air Transportation Association said last month airlines worldwide may lose $11 billion this year.
鈥n my backyard: South Korea announced next year on economic cooperation with North Korea, boosting its budget to nearly $340 million. A large chunk of that will be spent on the Kaesong complex, a joint factory park on northern soil. Meanwhile, Pyongyang appeared to be , restoring its nuclear facilities while telling China it may conditionally return to six-nation disarmament talks.
-- Ben Hancock is a Monitor contributor based in Seoul. For a look at the magazine industry's awful year, click on Ten biggest magazines closing in 2009.
