Asian economies are recovering faster than previously thought and will lead the charge out of the worst global downturn since the 1930s, according to new forecasts by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – a Manila-based institution that promotes economic and social progress in the Asia-Pacific region.

After slashing its forecast for the region in March, the ADB reversed course in its updated Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2009. The bank said developing economies in Asia would grow by 3.9% this year, up from its previous forecast of 3.4%.

“Despite worsening conditions in the global economic environment, developing Asia is poised to lead the recovery from the worldwide slowdown,” said ADB Chief Economist Jong-Wha Lee.

However, the growth will not be evenly distributed. Economic growth in East Asia will be driven largely by China’s dynamic economy. But economic growth in Southeast Asia will be sluggish, because the recoveries of Vietnam and

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Currencies trade in a tight range again…U.S. Retail Sales are a clunker! RBA’s Stevens is upbeat! Thoughts on Brazil…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! The end of the week… It’s been a tough week for yours truly, as I’ve hobble around in pain all week. But, as I recall, I promised 2 years ago that I would not complain about these things in the future… So! I carry on!

Well… Front and center this morning… The currencies are trading near levels they were when I signed off yesterday morning. They did have a brief rally, after the U.S. Retail Sales data showed some real rot

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China’s economy grew by 7.9% in the second quarter, exceeding most analysts’ expectations, and lending credence to Beijing’s goal of 8% annual growth. Now, with the nation awash in liquidity and the economy picking up steam, the only task ahead of the central government is deciding when to rein in lending and let the economy stand on its own two feet.

The momentum behind China’s economy is staggering.

“China is increasingly becoming a responsible citizen in the global community,” economist Allen Sinai of Decision Economics told The Associated Press. “No longer lawless, no longer difficult to deal with, much more responsible. It is now a powerhouse among economies and finance. And it’s a rich country.”

In just the past few weeks, two of the world’s key global institutions – the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – and a large swath of investment banks raised their 2009

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Over S$27.5b invested in Marina Bay from private and public sector

SINGAPORE: More than S$27.5 billion has been invested so far in the new business and financial district in Marina Bay and the government is planning to pump in a further S$1 billion in infrastructure works there over the next 10 to 15 years.

Singapore’s National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced this at the topping out ceremony for the construction of the Marina Bay Financial Centre on Wednesday morning.

He also said there are some signs of speculation in the recent frenzy in the property market.

The government announced in April that Marina Bay had attracted total investments of over S$22 billion of which S$5.7 billion was from the government, and S$16.5 billion was from the private sector.

And just three months later, that figure, which includes government and private sector investments, has risen to over S$27.5 billion.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority said

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A Dow Jones report published last week quoted Standard & Poor’s Financial Services as theorizing that the $700 billion global Islamic finance industry would “weather the financial crisis” and moreover would resume its growth on the support of “high demand for Shariah-compliant products, which are considered less risky than convention debt.”  While the global issuance of sukuk fell 35% to $5.3 billion in Q2 compared with last year, a 164% surge in volume in this year’s second quarter compared to the first signaled renewed and robust interest, according to analysts.  In fact, Standard Chartered Bank’s CEO of Islamic banking predicts a primary market of “close to $10 billion” by year’s end.  The biggest sukuk issuers YTD have been Malaysia and Indonesia, followed by Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the largest Middle East economy.

Facilitating sukuk’s global growth will be certain legal changes (i.e., tax system overhauls) currently

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The base metals were mostly lower on Friday. Copper sank from the pre-dawn hours to the New York open, bottoming at $1.96, rallied back to $2.02 by late morning, but then sagged again to finish at $1.9969/lb., down nearly 2 cents.

Nickel followed much the same pattern, eventually closing little changed at $5.5444/lb., down 2¼ cents. Zinc fell precipitously around the noon hour, ending near its intraday low at $0.6579/lb., down a penny. Aluminum posted a modest loss, shedding a quarter of a cent, to $0.6743/lb., while lead bucked the trend, adding almost a penny and a quarter, to $0.6634/lb.

Copper led the industrial metals through a day of relatively modest changes, giving ground late in the day as, according to Reuters, “mixed economic data from Europe and the U.S. underscored concerns about the health of the global economy and fed a price correction from over-heated levels that may extend into the

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How come?  The Economist explains:

The ironic truth is that the country’s double curse, of chaotic internal politics and being located in a nasty neighbourhood, are proving helpful for a change. For one thing, they have made Lebanese bankers unusually wary and resourceful. Four years ago, for instance, the Banque du Liban’s (central bank) stern and far-sighted head, Riad Salameh, banned any dealing in such tricky foreign instruments as mortgage-linked securities. And while banks, property developers and service vendors raked in business as private cash spilled out of the oil-enriched Gulf, competition between influence-seeking powers brought a windfall in aid for reconstruction following the ruinous 2006 war with Israel. Iran alone has injected perhaps $1 billion to rebuild the heavily bomb-damaged parts of Beirut run by its protégé militia, Hizbullah.

Lebanon’s economy gets as much as $6 billion in remittances a year from about 10 million Lebanese living abroad,

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China to grow 8%? An end for Mark-to-markets?  What will the ECB do today?  Gold at a discount…. And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

We have the Bank of England (BOE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting today. Look for rate cuts from both of them, as recessions are deepening in both camps. The BOE doesn’t have many arrows in their quiver, while the ECB has held some in reserve. I doubt the ECB would go for a “huge honkin’” rate cut today, as they are normally more stick in the mud thinking… The

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U.K.-based Standard Chartered Bank has opened its first village bank, Inner Mongolia Helingeer Standard Chartered Village Bank, making it the first foreign bank to enter China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This is also the first rural bank that Standard Chartered has opened anywhere in the world. At present, its financial strategy in China's rural areas is [...]

What’s Keeping Obama up at Night?

by Don Miller Contributing Writer, Money Morning

Editors Note: Inevitably the fanfare and excitement about our new administration will die down, and they will have to get down to work. President-elect Obama may have a laundry list of urgent jobs, but fixing the economy is priority one. The market’s problems are about to become his problems. Money Morning gives us a taste of the economic data that’s been keeping the president-elect and Wall Street up at night – and what we should be paying attention to as well.

Stock Market Gyrates as Reports Show Economy Deep in Recession

The stock market struggled to recover from a tumultuous 2008 yesterday (Tuesday) while digesting a trio of downbeat economic reports from the manufacturing, housing and service sectors.

The reports included separate data on factory orders and pending home sales for November, as well as the Institute of

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