Auto Sales Down, Unemployment Up In Asian Markets
By: Import User
Updated: January 6, 2009
(Tokyo) -- The same credit crunch that caused a more than 30-percent decline in sales for GM and Ford and a 53-percent tumble for Chrysler last month has affected the world's largest automaker too.
Toyota Motor Corp says it will close all of its Japanese factories for eleven days in February and March to offset slumping demand.
Toyota sales were off 37-percent in December.
Hyundai Motors is reporting a 48-percent drop for the month.
South Korea is taking a page from President-elect Barack Obama's book announcing it will create nearly 142-thousand jobs this year with a 38-billion-dollar plan to improve the national infrastructure.
China, meanwhile, is dealing with rising unemployment and potential riots as orders from abroad go into a slump.
In spite of the continuing dire numbers from manufacturers overseas markets are rallying this week.
Japan's Nikkei average hit a two-month high and stocks around the Asia-Pacific region rose for a seventh-straight session Tuesday.
Oil prices are also rising thanks to an OPEC production cut and investor worries about slumping demand.
(Copyright 2009 by Newsroom Solutions)
