GDP of EU (27 countries)

data, 2008 year (for some countries predicted values)

The German economy is largest in EU. 19.4 % of EU’s GDP accounts for Germany. 15.2 % of the GDP of EU gives France, 14.1 % - United Kingdom, 12.3 % - Italy, 8.5 % - Spain.

The Russian currency has ceased to decline in relation to leading world currencies. Since the beginning of the year the ruble dropped by 17%.

Now € - 46.6 roubles, $ - 36.1 roubles, £ - 53.2 roubles.

U.K. mortgage approvals fell to the lowest in 14 years in November as the contracting economy discouraged buyers and financial institutions declined to pass on the central bank’s interest-rate cuts, the British Bankers’ Association said.

Banks granted 17,773 loans for house purchase, down 61 percent from the same month in 2007, the London-based BBA, which represents the U.K.’s biggest banks, said today in a statement. The number of home loans was 20,767 in October.

The British economy shrank 0.6 percent in the third quarter, more than previously estimated, the statistics office said today. While the Bank of England has reduced the benchmark interest rate to the lowest since 1951, banks that have been stung by the global financial crisis are reluctant to lend against houses as their value declines, and potential buyers are concerned about losing their jobs in the slump.

Major U.S. car companies may become bankrupt. They did not manage to get help from the U.S. government.

Shares of General Motors tumbled more than 35 percent to hit a 70-year low on Thursday as prospects dimmed that lawmakers would reach a compromise on a proposed $25 billion bailout for U.S. automakers before Congress adjourns this week. In this minute shares of GM up 30 cents to $ 2.08. The fall dropped from 35% to 26%.

Shares of Ford fell 7 cents to $ 1.19 (-6 %).

Over the past 2 quarters of Ford lost $ 8.8 billion, for the year - $ 11.5 billion. Loss GM over the past year amounted to $ 23.1 billion.

UK GDP in the third quarter of 2008 decreased compared to the previous quarter at 0.5%, reported Bloomberg News, referring to preliminary data from the National Statistical Office. This is the first decline in GDP since 1992.

Experts had expected the reduction of the rate at 0.2%.

The increase in GDP of Great Britain on the third quarter of 2007 was 0.3%. The experts predicted increasing that figure to 0.5%.

Economic activity in the service of Great Britain, which accounts for 75% of GDP, declined in the last quarter to 0.4% in the manufacturing sector - by 1%.

The financial crisis spread to all areas of the British economy - from banking to construction, and reducing the rate of GDP shows that the country is on the eve of the first recession since 1991.

This week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time acknowledged the likelihood of a recession in the economy. The package of government assistance to banks in the amount of 500 billion pounds ($ 805 billion) as well as lowering the base interest rate the Bank of England to 0.5 percentage point, perhaps it was too late to stem further decline in the economy.

UK house prices fell for a 12th month running in September to stand 6.2 % lower than they were a year ago.
The drop of 1.0 % on the month to 165,300 pounds (decline in August was 0.9 percent).
In August, prices were 5.3 percent lower than a year ago.
On Sept 2, the government raised the threshold above which tax is paid on a home purchase to 175,000 pounds and announced measures to help first-time buyers and those struggling to make mortgage repayments.
Since then, strains in the banking sector have intensified, dealing a further blow to confidence and prompting a number of lenders to raise their mortgage rates.
The survey showed there was a decline both in the number of buyers registering with estate agents and the number of new properties coming onto the market.
Properties in September typically took more than 11 weeks to sell — almost twice as long as last year — and the percentage of the asking price being achieved fell to 90, the lowest level since the survey began.

P.S. If real estate prices in the UK are falling, the real estate prices in Bulgaria are continuing to grow.

Evraz Group has raised a five-year revolving credit facility of $550 million and a five-year term loan of $175 million to refinance the debt of its North American division Evraz Inc. NA.
The Russian steel maker said interest on the two loan facilities was LIBOR + 2.5% and LIBOR + 3.25%, respectively. The loans are secured by the assets of Evraz Inc. NA and its subsidiaries.
RBS Greenwich Capital and GE Capital arranged the credit facility and RBS Greenwich Capital the term loan.

Consumer prices shot up in July at twice the expected rate, pushed higher by surging energy and food costs. The latest surge left inflation running at the fastest pace in 17 years.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose by 0.8 percent last month, twice the 0.4 percent gain that economists had been expecting.

It marked the third straight month of oversized inflation increases following jumps of 0.6 percent in May and 1.1 percent in June. And it leaves inflation rising by 5.6 percent over the past year, the biggest 12-month gain since January 1991.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3 percent in July, slightly higher than the 0.2 percent increase that economists had expected. For the past 12 months, core inflation has risen by 2.5 percent, the highest 12-month change since February.

The inflation surge presents a major problem for the Federal Reserve: Will inflation force it to start raising interest rates even as the economy struggles to avoid a recession?

The big rise in inflation left consumers even more squeezed. The Labor Department said that average weekly earnings, after adjusting for inflation, fell by 3.1 percent in July compared to a year ago, the biggest year-over-year decline since November 1990.

The Labor Department also reported that the number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 last week to 450,000. The decline was less than expected and showed the labor market remains under severe stress from the weak economy. The four-week average for claims rose to the highest level in six years.

On Wall Street, stocks were mixed, torn between worries about inflation and bargain hunting among the hard-hit financial sector. In early trading the Dow Jones industrial average rose 6.68, or 0.06 percent, to 11,539.64. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.99, or 0.08 percent, to 1,284.84, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.29, or 0.18 percent, to 2,432.91.

The 0.8 percent rise in consumer prices reflected big increases for energy and food, a pattern that has been happening for months.

Energy prices jumped by 4 percent last month, driven upward by a 4.1 percent rise in gasoline prices. In July prices at the pump were 37.9 percent above where they were a year ago.

There could be some relief on the way, however, as gasoline prices, after hitting a record at $4.11 per gallon in mid-July, have been falling in recent weeks. They now average nationwide around $3.79 per gallon, according to the survey by auto club AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Crude oil prices are also down about $30 per barrel from a peak in early July and analysts are hoping that this decline will help relieve some of the pressures on energy costs.

Food costs shot up by 0.9 percent in July, reflecting higher costs for a wide variety of food products. Over the past 12 months, food prices have risen by 6 percent, reflecting surging commodity prices. The Agriculture Department reported this week that this year’s corn and soybean harvests will be among the largest in history, though, easing fears that had been fueled after heavy flooding in the Midwest in June.

The core inflation figure was driven higher by a big 1.2 percent jump in clothing costs, the biggest increase in this area since August 1998. Airline ticket prices, which have been surging because of higher fuel costs, jumped another 1.3 percent in July.

CPI