The original plan obliged all publicly traded companies to fill a quota of 40 percent of women by 2020 or risk incurring fines and sanctions, has now been scrapped. EU lawyers have ruled that mandatory gender quotas are not allowed under the region’s treaties. The EU justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, announced the suspension of the proposal, after months of defending the scheme. There had been vociferous opposition from within the European Commission since the proposal was announced, which was facing a potentially divisive vote within the commission. Nations opposing the notion argued that any quota system should be addressed domestically, by national policy-makers rather than across the bloc. José Manual Barroso, president of the EC, has given Reding a further two weeks to redesign the proposal in a legally compliant way. It has been speculated that the quota system will be re-launched as a target for companies to meet voluntarily, rather than a legal requisite. “We have been fighting now for 100 years,” said Reding. “One or two weeks now doesn’t make a difference.” Somewhat counter intuitively, four of Europe’s most prominent female commissioners, from Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, all opposed the forced quota system. The proposal will be brought back to the EC by the middle of November.

Not since the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 have Japanese exports declined so sharply as this past September, figures from the Ministry of Finance confirm. Overseas shipments from Japan have fallen 10.3 percent year-on-year. The drop in exports is being attributed to the difficult diplomatic relations between China and Japan following a tense stand-off over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. The dispute was intensified by ongoing protests in China throughout the month over Japan’s purchase of the disputed islands from their private owner.  Taiwan also lays claim to the little uninhabited islets. According to the figures, exports of products that are clearly Japanese, like cars- down 14 percent from August- far outstripped that of not clearly Japanese products, like car parts- up seven percent. Japanese brands have seen their stocks plummet as a result, like cosmetics manufacturer Sheseido, down 11 percent and All-Nippon Airways, down 13 percent. The weak demands for exports has exacerbated concerns over the resilience of the Japanese economy as a whole, as the slow in demand from key markets, like China and Europe, and a strong yen have been burdening the exports and manufacturing markets.

Australia’s government has announced AUS$16.4bn in new cuts in order to do good on its promise of budget surplus. The price of commodities in the global market is sliding fast, depriving Australia of billions of dollars worth of taxes. The cuts, to be implemented over four years, are meant to protect against any future economic turbulence and lend confidence to the country’s finances. Australia, one of only seven countries in the world to retain a AAA rating with a positive outlook by all three major credit agencies, has long since pledged to become the first developed country to operate a budget surplus. “Global volatility and substantial revenue writedowns have made returning the budget to surplus in 2012-13 much harder, but the government remains on track to deliver a surplus to help protect against global economic turbulence,” said Wayne Swan, the Treasurer, in a statement. “While global headwinds, a high dollar and changing consumer behaviour are weighing on some sectors, the Australian economy is expected to outperform every major advanced economy this year and next.” There are fears amongst commentators that the new budget cuts will add unnecessary pressure on the economy by taking money out of circulation just as the mining boom subsides. More pressure could result on the Reserve Bank of Australia lowering interest rates aggressively, harming the dollar, which continues to trade in record highs. Swan has revealed a number of potential cuts, including a reduction in private healthcare rebates, limiting the budget for training programmes and lower […]

An accidental email containing Google’s incomplete financial report was sent to the US stock market ahead of scheduled revealing that the internet giant missed growth forecasts. It caused a wave of stunned investors to rush to sell their Google stocks at up to eight percent lower prices, until trading was suspended on the stocks. Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, has said of the incident: “I’m sorry for the scramble earlier today. Our printers said they pressed send on the release a bit early.” Google then asked Nasdaq to halt trading on its shares while the company finalised and released the correct document. The document revealed that while Google’s consolidated revenue grew as much as 45 percent in the third quarter, its net income dropped by 20 percent, reflecting the persistent decrease in online advert prices and the costs from the company’s take over of Motorola Mobility. Google shares had already plummeted around 10 percent by the time Nasdaq halted trading, and though it partially recovered later in the day, the error wiped-out as much as half the price increase for the whole year to date. Adding to the confusion, Nasdaq’s website crashed from the volume of investors rushing to check the value of their stocks.

Data released by the US Department of Commerce has revealed that new home construction has surged in September, growing at its fastest in four years. Housing starts were up 15 percent from August, with a seasonably adjusted annual rate of 872,000. The figure is well above analysts’ expectations of 765,000 new units starting construction. Building permits, an indicator for future construction, was also on the up, rising 11.6 percent in September from the month before; a 45.1 percent year-on-year increase from 2011. Major banks in the US have been hailing a housing market construction. “Importantly, we believe the housing market has turned the corner,” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, said last week. Though housing starts figures are prone to frequent revisions and overstating, other market research seems to corroborate the data. This week the National Association of Home Builders/ Wells Fargo housing market index was up for the sixth month in a row to 41, the highest recorded reading since mid-2006. The index, which is out of 100, with readings under 50 pointing to poor conditions, and though results were still only at 40 percent of their peak in January 2006, the readings are increasing. The Department of Commerce figures come soon after the release of positive jobs figures for September, when unemployment dropped by 114,000, from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent. The two figures signal signs of modest recovery for the US economy.