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World News in brief

By BusinessNews Staff on October 4, 2011

After news that Greece would not receive its next tranche of loans this month, Asian markets were down in overnight trading with Hong Kong and South Korea off about 3.5%. Europe is sharply lower and U.S. futures point to a moderately lower open.

Greece is unlikely to receive its next tranche of loans till November after it failed to meet its deficit targets, and EU finance ministers failed to arrive at a consensus over private sector involvement. A decision on $11 billion ECB/EU/IMF troika aid will take place after October 13, and despite talk about making the EFSF more efficient, Europe is waiting on ratification of the initial expansion plan. Greece is now expected to be at risk of default in mid-November.

Goldman Sachs lowered its global growth forecasts. World GDP is expected to grow 3.8% this year and 3.5% in 2012, down from earlier predictions of 3.9% and 4.2% respectively. Europe is expected to grow 0.1% in 2012, with Germany and France entering a recession, and the U.S. is expected to grow 1.4%.

Franco-Belgian bank Dexia continues to sell-off. It is down 20% this morning, after a 10% slide in the stock yesterday. The bank had an emergency board meeting last night, meanwhile French and Belgian finance ministers said the governments would take necessary measures to shelter account holders and creditors.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is testifying on the economic outlook and recent monetary policy actions at Capitol Hill, at 10 AM ET today.

Apple is hosting an event to reveal the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S today at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. The new phone is expected to have better voice recognition software.

Deutsche Bank announced 500 job cuts and slashed its profit target. The bank is taking a €250 million impairment charge on Greek exposure.

Meanwhile, UBS’ ‘modest net profit’ was worse than expected after alleged rogue trader Kweku Adoboli lost it $2.3 billion and the bank had a poor trading quarter in general.

Yum! Brands will report earnings after the bell today, and Wall Street expects it to make $2.85 per share. But fears of a Chinese hardlanding have hurt the stock, since China is expected to account for 44% of its revenue this year.

BONUS – Olivia Wilde’s divorce to Italian prince Tao Ruspoli has been finalized. Wilde first filed for a divorce in March.