Lebanon News

Balance of Trade Up To September 2006

On the current account side of the balance of payment, the Higher Customs Council revealed that Lebanon’s balance of trade deficit tightened by $552 million year-on-year in 2006 to $4,979 million as at end of September 2006, down from $5,531 million over the same period in 2005.

UNDP’s Human Development Annual Report

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released this week its 2006 Human Development annual report. The report pointed to some components of the Human Development Index: life expectancy, education and the GDP per capita. According to the report, Lebanon ranked 78th among 177 countries and 8th among Arab countries.

BEMO’s Additional Shares Listed on the BSE

BEMO Bank’s extraordinary general assembly meeting held on March 6, 2006, approved the listing of 66,666 additional shares on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), bringing the number of BEMO listed shares up to 5,400,000.

Morocco’s GDP in the Second Quarter

According to the Moroccan government, real Gross Domestic Product growth expanded to 7.9% in the second quarter of 2006. The government expects GDP growth to expand to 7.3% for the year 2006.

Consumer Sentiment In November

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index contracted by 1.38% in November 2006 to 92.3, from 93.6 in October 2006.

Arab Markets

The Egyptian Stock Market

On a weekly basis, the Cairo Stock Exchange Index fell by 1.44% to a session close of 2,218.24 last week, from 2,250.65 the week before. Among gainers, Orascom Hotel shares added 7.51% to 39.50 Egyptian pounds ($6.91), followed by Vodafone Egypt and Telecom Egypt which gained 4.99% and 3.07% to 96.58 Egyptian pounds and 15.77 Egyptian pounds respectively.

Morocco’s GDP in the Second Quarter

According to the Moroccan government, real Gross Domestic Product growth expanded to 7.9% in the second quarter of 2006. The government expects GDP growth to expand to 7.3% for the year 2006, compared to 1.7% last year. The agriculture output contributed 4% in the GDP growth, while the services sector contributed around 2.3% in the GDP.

U.S. Markets

Trade Gap In September 2006

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported a 6.8% contraction in its September 2006 balance of Trade deficit to $64.3 billion. September’s increase in trade gap outpaced U.S. economists’ expectations of a smaller $66.3 billion deficit. September imports fell by 2.1% to $187.5 billion, while exports rose by 0.5% to $123.2 billion.

Consumer Sentiment In November

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index contracted by 1.38% in November 2006 to 92.3, from 93.6 in October 2006. November’s contraction in consumer sentiment lagged behind U.S. economists’ expectations of a higher 93.8.

U.S. Wholesale inventories In September 2006

The U.S Department of Commerce also reported that inventories at U.S. businesses fell by a small 0.8% in September, while the sales at wholesalers fell by 1.2% in September. In this perspective, the inventory-to sales ratio rose to 1.18 in September below U.S. economists’ consensus forecast. In September, wholesale inventories of durable goods increased by 1.5%, while wholesale inventories of non-durable goods fell by 0.4%. September’s increase in inventory was slightly above the 0.6% expected by U.S. economists.

U.S. Treasury Prices

U.S. Treasury prices closed higher on Friday but this putted pressure on the yield after the debate between the Federal Reserve chairman and the European Central Bank president about the different roles and uses of the money growth and the monetary aggregate. On a weekly basis, the U.S. 10-year Treasury note closed at 100 -11/32 yielding 4.59%, down from 4.72% in the preceding week.

U.S. Market Indices

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.02% to 12,108.43, up from 11,986.04 the week before. Both the NASDAQ Composite and S&P500 closed on positive note last week, 2.53% and 1.22% higher at 2,389.72 and 1,380.90 respectively.