BUSINESS BRIEFS
Recession here and likely to last, Buffett says
Advertiser News Services
BERLIN — Warren Buffett, whose business and investment acumen has made him one of the world's wealthiest men, was quoted in an interview published yesterday as saying the U.S. economy is already in a recession.
Asked by Germany's Der Spiegel weekly whether he thinks the U.S. could still avoid a recession, he said that as far as the average person is concerned, it's already here.
"I believe that we are already in a recession," Buffet said. "Perhaps not in the sense as defined by economists. ... But people are already feeling the effects of a recession."
He added, "It will be deeper and longer than what many think."
The 77-year-old chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was in Europe for what he called a "deferred shopping tour" for possible acquisitions.
STOCK MARKETS IN ASIA DOWN AGAIN
Asian stocks fell for a fifth day today as rising oil prices sparked concern that higher costs will reduce consumer spending and erode profits.
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, slumped the most in four days in Tokyo and Samsung Electronics Co. had its biggest drop in a week in Seoul, South Korea. Nissan Motor Co., the third-largest automaker in Japan, retreated after Merrill Lynch & Co. cut its stock rating.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.9 percent to 149.18 as of 9:59 a.m. in Tokyo, extending a four-day decline.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 1.8 percent to 13,752.98. The dollar retreated against the yen, renewing concerns that exporters' profits will be eroded.
BRITISH, U.S. UNIONS MERGING
LONDON — Britain's largest union is merging with United Steelworkers, creating the first trans-Atlantic labor organization, the two said yesterday.
UNITE, which represents more than 2 million workers in Britain's transportation, energy and public sectors, among others, is set to join United Steelworkers, which has some 850,000 members in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
UNITE spokesman Andrew Murray said the unions have joined forces because both have been left behind by globalization.
"We're dealing with global companies that can move capital — and employment — around the world, at will in many cases," he said. "While big business is global, and labor is national, we're going to be at a disadvantage."
MEXICO TAKING TARIFFS OFF GRAIN
MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderon said yesterday that Mexico is eliminating tariffs on wheat, corn and rice as part of a plan to counter rising food prices that have provoked street protests.
Calderon blamed high food costs on global factors, including rising energy prices, soaring food demand in China and India and the use of corn for ethanol production.
But some Mexicans point to the elimination of import protections under the North American Free Trade Agreement, and several agricultural leaders said Calderon's initiative will only hurt national producers.
GRENADA TO ALLOW OFFSHORE BANKS
ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada — Grenada is amending its finance laws as it prepares to relaunch its offshore sector six years after shutting it down because of a massive fraud.
Angus Smith, chief of the Caribbean island nation's financial regulatory body, said yesterday the Offshore Act Amendment bill will allow the attorney general to take immediate court action against any offshore entity suspected of fraud.
In 2002, Grenada suspended its financial sector's operations, and later revoked the licenses of all offshore banks, in the wake of a fraud scheme that collapsed the First International Bank of Grenada and cheated investors out of $170 million.
