Market-Affecting News January 11, 2009

turns out that the key US jobs report that was released on Friday there shows the recession is indeed deepening as job losses has reached 2.6 million in 2008, and unemployement has touched 7.2%.  It also looks like the trend is likely to continue and may hit 10% soon.

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are negotiating a merger of their wealth managment business in order to bolster Citi’s cash reserve in this challenging times.  This deal also tells us that the business environment is deteriorating fast and strenghtening cash reserve is a high priority for most big companies.

In the local front, BN and PKR have been working over time to secure votes for the upcoming by-election in Kuala Terengganu on February 17, 2009.  A victory to BN will give them a bigger voice to trump the opposition, calling them rejects of the rakyat, while if PKR manage to wrestle this seat from the ruling coalition it will further strenghten the message that the rakyat is continuing to reject the current government.  “A parliamentary by-election is not to gauge the state government. Instead, it is an opportunity for the Chinese voters to vote PAS as a protest against Umno and BN’s bad policies at the national level,” said Teja assemblyperson Chang Lih Kang (PKR) who has been campaigning here since nomination day.  The outcome of this by-election would probably affect the moods of investors here.