31'st Consecutive Drop on Department Store Sales

October 18, 2010

Japan Department Store Associatation released a data that states that Japans department store's sales went down nationwide by 5.2% to 446.3 billion yen this September.

Here is the breakdown of sales by individual categories:

Clothing: 34.7% of total sales, sales down 8.9% from a year ago

Personal Effects: 12.8% of total sales, down 7.2%

Miscellaneous Goods: 15.3% of total sales, down 3.5%

Household Goods: 5.2% of total sales, down 2.9%

Food: 25.3% of total sales, down 3.1%

Services: 1.2% of total sales, up 1.9%

Other: 2.3% of total sales, up 21.1%

Gift Certificates: 3.5% of total sales, up 8.2%

http://www.japaneconomynews.com/2010/10/18/japan-department-store-sales-down-for-31st-consecutive-month-in-september/#more-994

China rate rise triggers market falls

China's central bank raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday. China need scale back the huge stimulus injected into its economy during the financial crisis to slow this economy down.
Jun Ma, an economist at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, said the decision was the start of a cycle of rate hikes. It showed that “a policy consensus has been reached to tolerate lower growth” and that the government’s willingness “to use interest rate policy to contain speculative property demand”.
However, Mark Williams at Capital Economics said that the decision was a short-term adjustment by a “government increasingly concerned about the pace of lending growth” in recent weeks and which wanted to send a strong signal to the banks. As a result, it would not lead to significantly lower growth.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-11/china-reaches-lewis-turning-point-as-labor-costs-rise-update1-.html
Wen Zhang

China keep implementing pro-growth policies

China's central bank said on Saturday it had done a good job promoting economic growth and would keep implementing pro-growth policies. "We have sent timely signals for ensuring economic growth and stabilizing market confidence, and we have forcefully promoted the stable and rapid growth of the national economy," the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website (http://www.pbc.gov.cn/).

"Appropriately relaxed" monetary policy is one of China’s stimulus packages in the global economic downturn. I believe the "Appropriately relaxed" monetary policy can support economic growth.

In easy monetary conditions, there is an adequate money supply and low interest rates. The monetary conditions encourage more investment and domestic spending, such as real estate investments. Increased consumption creates more job opportunities. "Appropriately relaxed" monetary policy maintains the stable development of the economic and prompts the economic recovery.

Wen Zhang

People of Italy – Request for resignation

Approximately around 1,500 Italian citizens in Rome protested on Saturday in request for the resignation of the Prime Minister; Silvio Berlusconi. The rally was supposedly arranged by the “Purple People” also known as Popola Viola; which happens to be an Internet movement with no political party affliated.

These people were seen to be wearing purple clothing such as purple T-shirts and scarves. In addition, they were also carrying placards that said “Dimettiti!” and “Licenziamolo!” which means “resign” and “let’s sack him!” respectively.

Some protesters claim that nothing has been improved in Italy since last year. Protesters are also demanding for a new electoral law and early elections. On account of this, the protesters goal is to put pressure against the Parliament to focus on the real problems of Italy instead of the personal interest of the Prime Minister.

The rally consisted of speeches and a concert by lawyers, journalist, and other civil figures. A similar rally about the same situation regarding Berlusconi took place last year in December.

In comparison to both events; the event that happened this year attracted less of a turnout than last year’s event. The protesters were reported to arrive from hundreds of buses and some ferries.

Work Cited:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i-KMr7R6RkiJL_svD2cnGBbOdr7Q?docId=CNG.7bb3329fbab3923d23b175eda2b0410f.7b1
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1588616.php/Thousands-take-to-streets-in-Rome-against-Berlusconi

Italy's flag in depth

National Anthem:
"Inno di Mameli Mameli's Hymm"
Official name:
Repubblica Italiana
Flag ratio:
2:3
Capital:
Rome

Each country is represented by a flag. Consequently, we should take into account the distinct meaning that each flag has.

The designs of the flags varies for every country and have a significant meaning associated with it: history, beliefs, communications, identification, values, and etc.

If we take a look at Italy's flag, we can simply say that it is made up of three different colored stripes which are vertically positioned; green, white, and red. These tricolors have been used ever since the 1700s.

Some believe that that Italian flag is based on military uniforms from Milan. In addition, The Italian flag is said to be inspired by the French tricolor.

It is also stated that when Napoleon dominated the kingdom of Northern Italy, the flag was used to represent this domain.

There is no definite meaning to the colors found in the flag of Italy. However, the following information are commonly believed of what each color represents:

The green stripe represents:
1) Hope
2) Joy
3) Italy's plains and hills

The white stripe represents:
1) Honesty
2) Peace
3) Italy's Snowy Alps

The red stripe represents:
1) Charity
2) Bravery
3) Strength
4) The blood that was lost in the Wars of the Italian Independence
5) Bravery during the Roman times.

Many Italian experts have different interpretations on the meaning of each colours. There many arguments and different perspectives regarding this situation.

Work Cited:
http://www.italylogue.com/about-italy/italian-flag-what-the-colors-mean-a-little-history.html
http://www.initaly.com/gene/flag101.htm
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/potpourri/italian-flag.asp
http://www.ehow.com/about_4578583_italys-flag.html

The monetary of France

Every country has its means of trading; even the currencies have different value in the economic world. The monetary of France is based on decimals, with the primary units of currency which is Euro:

• One coin=0.01 of a Euro


• Two coins=0.02of a Euro


• Fifty coins=0.5 of a Euro (About.com)

According to the Encyclopedia of the Nations, “The French franc is one of the reserve currencies of the world. However, its influence is nowhere close to that of the United States dollar” (nationsencyclopedia.com).

In 1999, France as well as other certain European countries agrees to have a common currency in Europe just like the US dollar in Unite State. (nationsencyclopedia.com)
Exchange rates: France
Euros per US$1

As we can see from the chart, the exchange rate of France changed a lot after 1999-the time when European countries agree to use same currency. The exchange rate is fluctuating up and down of 1:1.

Source: http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/World-Coins-Gallery-Index/French-Money---Coins.htm
Source: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/France-MONEY.html
Source: http://www.qikan.com.cn/Article/scxd/scxd200727/scxd200727243.html
Source: http://www.qikan.com.cn/Article/scxd/scxd200727/scxd200727243.html
Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/france/economy_profile.html

The overview of France (Unemployment rate and inflation rate)

By the end of 18th century, France is one of the richest countries. Industrialization started to be the trend in France just like in other European countries. However, France failed to maintain its movement and still remain as an agriculture nation at the end of 19th century.

However, even its slow movement and stimulation of World War, France finally became one of the economically nations of the World.

According to Index Mundi, the unemployment rate of inflation was defined as “This entry contains the percent of the labor force that is without jobs. Substantial underemployment might be noted” (indexmundi.com).

The unemployment rate of France shows below from 2000 to 2009.










Inflation Rate
According to Index Mundi, the inflation rate of inflation was defined as “This entry furnishes the annual percent change in consumer prices compared with previous year’s consumer prices” (indexmundi.com).

According to Trading Economics, “The most well known measures of Inflation are the CPI which measures consumer prices, and the GDP deflator, which measures inflation in the whole of the domestic economy. This page includes: France Inflation Rate chart, historical data and news” (tradingeconomics.com).

Following below is the inflation rate chart of France from 2000 to 2009. We can easily tell that the inflation rate of France jumping between the “healthy ones “ and “ unhealthy ones”









Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=fr&v=74
Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=fr&v=71
Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Inflation-CPI.aspx?Symbol=FRF

China's yuan hits new high against US dollar

The central parity rate of the yuan, China's currency Renminbi (RMB), hit a new high at 6.7172 per U.S. dollar, gained by 9 basis points Friday, extending the Chinese currency's gains to seven consecutive trading days, according to the data released by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

The Chinese currency has seen increased volatility since the central bank announced on June 19 this year to increase exchange rate flexibility.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on China to allow significant, sustained appreciation over time in testimony prepared for congressional hearings on China's currency policy.

"Adding pressure will not resolve trade issues between China and the US the country's exchange rate reform will only be pushed forward in accordance with economic conditions and balance of international payments," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a media briefing.

Work Cited:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-09/17/c_13516348.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-09/17/c_13516432.htm