Shaw Capital Management Korea: Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 1

Japan’s economic recovery appears to have faltered unexpectedly sharply during the second quarter of this year. The government’s preliminary GDP statistics put the real quarter-to-quarter growth rate at 0.1%, which translates into an annualised 0.4%, marking an expansion for the third consecutive quarter.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 1 - This represents, however, a striking slowdown from the 0.4% quarterly growth, or annualised 4.4% growth, recorded in the preceding three months. It also fell far short of the median forecast of private-sector economists of annualised 2.3% growth over the preceding period.

Moreover, in nominal terms Japanese GDP has fallen behind China’s: US$1,336.9 billion for China against US$1,288.3 billion for Japan for the quarter.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 1 - Looking at individual demand components, the domestic economy was sluggish, with the exception of private capital expenditure. Private non-residential investment grew by 0.5%, almost the same as in the previous quarter, on the back of improved profits. However, private residential and government investment spending declined sharply by 1.3% and 3.4%, respectively.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 1 - The contribution of inventories to GDP growth declined by 0.2 points. This is a bit surprising given the acceleration in imports, and might indicate that there is still room for an upward revision of growth at the next release.

Officials were particularly disturbed by the slowdown of personal consumption. Although the growth in consumer spending had been shored up by the government subsidies, such as those for the purchase of energy-efficient cars and the eco-point incentive program for purchasers of eco-friendly home electric appliances, the effects of these policies apparently wore off during the quarter.

The eco-car subsidies and eco-point system are due to end by the end of September and the end of this year respectively. Meanwhile, even though major corporations are awash with cash, they are extremely cautious about capital investment in view of uncertainties about the domestic and overseas economic situation.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 1 - Exports, the prime driver of growth, rose 5.9% on strong demand from Europe. But the pace of growth slowed from a 7.0% rise in the previous quarter amid signs of an economic slowdown in China, one of the biggest destinations for Japanese exports.

It is well-known that Japanese GDP data are volatile and subject to drastic revisions in both directions. Nevertheless, these data suggest that the economy has slowed considerably.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 1 - This has raised concern that the nation’s economic recovery may come to a standstill in the latter half of the fiscal year in the midst of an evident global slowdown of recovery.

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Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 2: Shaw Capital Management Article

Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 2: Shaw Capital Management Article - Japan’s economic recovery appears to have faltered unexpectedly sharply during the second quarter of this year. The government’s preliminary GDP statistics put the real quarter-to-quarter growth rate at 0.1%, which translates into an annualised 0.4%, marking an expansion for the third consecutive quarter.

It is well-known that Japanese GDP data are volatile and subject to drastic revisions in both directions. Nevertheless, these data suggest that the economy has slowed considerably.

Japan’s Economic Growth Slowed Again Part 2: Shaw Capital Management Korea - This has raised concern that the nation’s economic recovery may come to a standstill in the latter half of the fiscal year in the midst of an evident global slowdown of recovery.

Shaw Capital Management Korea Newsletter - Export growth is expected to weaken in line with the slowing of world trade and recent strength of the yen. Even the Chinese economy is slowing down. On the other hand, corporate profits have been good, but the appreciation of the yen and stagnation in the domestic market might reduce the appetite of Japanese firms for investment at home. Indeed, private machinery orders, an indicator for capital investment, have been very weak. There are increasing signs that many firms are sending more of their production offshore.

Shaw Capital Management Korea - Under these circumstances, the government is reported to have started considering an additional stimulus package to deal with the appreciation of the yen, the decline in stock prices, and deflation.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will have a talk with State Minister for National Policy Satoshi Arai, Minister of Finance Yoshihiko Noda, and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima on the shape of a new package, which may be announced in early September, according to the press.

Shaw Capital Management Korea Newsletter - Economists and observers criticized the government, and the central bank, for failing to take appropriate measures and urged them to craft bolder policies to decisively face up to the wobbly state of the economy. In particular, they emphasized the importance of preventing any further appreciation of the yen and demanded that the government and the Bank of Japan act first of all to put a brake on the yen’s rise in preparation for the growing fear of a second dip in business.

“The yen’s rise not only squeezes exporters’ profits but also, if left as it is, will encourage manufacturing companies to shift production bases outside Japan, resulting in an irrevocably adverse influence on employment and other segments.

Shaw Capital Management Korea Newsletter - The Finance Ministry should not hesitate to intervene in the foreign exchange market”, said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. With the currency recently rising to a 15-year high against the US dollar, speculation has increased that Japanese authorities may act soon to slow the surging yen. BOJ officials have opposed the idea of more aggressively using their balance sheet because of worries that it could increase market concerns about Japan’s fiscal discipline and that the anti-deflation drug could prove too effective, causing prices to rise out of control. Many analysts believe that the BOJ will make a move in the foreign exchange market soon.

Shaw to Assist Toshiba in Providing Support Services at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

BATON ROUGE, La., Mar 22, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- In response to the tragic events in Japan, The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) will assist Toshiba Corporation in providing support services for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan.

As an extension of the relationship the two companies have shared since 2006, Shaw will assist Toshiba with mitigation, remediation and recovery services at the plant. A team of experts from Shaw's Power and Environmental & Infrastructure Groups has mobilized to provide services both on the ground in Japan, as well as engineering, analysis, assessment and design from the U.S.

"The people of Japan have experienced an extraordinary tragedy. It is our hope that Shaw's nuclear, remediation and emergency response expertise will assist in bringing prompt resolution and relief to the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station," said J.M. Bernhard Jr., Shaw's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our relationship with Toshiba spans the globe. We are ready to help our partners and friends in their response to the events that resulted from this unprecedented natural disaster."

Shaw has extensive experience in nuclear, environmental and natural disaster services. In the aftermath of some of the largest disasters in recent history, Shaw rapidly and effectively mobilized its workforce to provide support following the events at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plants, hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and earthquakes in Haiti, Northridge, Calif., and Sumatra.

The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SHAW) is a leading global provider of engineering, construction, technology, fabrication, remediation and support services for clients in the energy, chemicals, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response industries. A Fortune 500 company with fiscal year 2010 annual revenues of $7 billion, Shaw has approximately 27,000 employees around the world and is the power sector industry leader according to Engineering News-Record's list of Top 500 Design Firms. For more information, please visit Shaw's website at www.shawgrp.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information about our current and future prospects, operations and financial results, which are based on currently available information. Actual future results and financial performance could vary significantly from those anticipated in such statements.

Among the factors that could cause future events or transactions to differ from those we expect are those risks discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2010, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended February 28, 2010, May 31, 2010 and November 30, 2010, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Please read our "Risk Factors" and other cautionary statements contained in these filings. Our current expectations may not be realized as a result of, among other things:

•             Changes in our clients' financial conditions, including their capital spending;

•             Our ability to obtain new contracts and meet our performance obligations;

•             Client contract cancellations or modifications to contract scope;

•             Worsening global economic conditions;

•             Changes to the regulatory environment;

•             Litigation or arbitration decisions;

•             Failure to achieve projected backlog.

As a result of these risks and others, actual results could vary significantly from those anticipated in this press release, and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, the occurrence of certain events or otherwise.

SOURCE: The Shaw Group Inc.

The Shaw Group Inc.

Gentry Brann, 225-987-7372

gentry.brann@shawgrp.com

Foreign Exchange Markets 2010 Part 3: Shaw Capital Management

The recent State of the Union message to Congress by President Obama included a request for the approval of a further fiscal stimulus package this year amounting to around $100 billion to help to tackle the unemployment problem, and he has also presented a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that is likely to maintain the overall deficit around the $1.35 trillion level expected this year.

Foreign Exchange Markets 2010 Part 3: Shaw Capital Management - Much will depend on the attitude of overseas holders, and especially on the attitude of the Chinese and Japanese authorities. For the present they seem to be prepared to maintain and even increase their dollar exposure; and if this continues, and the problems of other major currencies remain unresolved, it should be enough to allow the dollar to “improve”. The euro struggled to recover in the early part of January from the big fall that occurred in December; but the recovery did not last very long, and it has subsequently fallen sharply again, to leave it value against the dollar around 10% below the level in early- December.

There has been no significant change in the underlying economic background, although there is some evidence that the fragile recovery that was developing is losing some momentum.

Foreign Exchange Markets 2010 Part 3: Shaw Capital Management Korea - But there has been a serious deterioration in the financial background as the fears have increased that Greece and some other periphery countries in the euro-zone may be unable to fund their massive fiscal deficits, and service their sovereign debts. There is also considerable uncertainty about the intentions of the European Central Bank and the stronger countries if conditions continue to worsen, and so overseas holders have started to withdraw funds from the European capital markets to await developments.

The present lack of urgency at the central bank and amongst the key politicians suggests that this trend will continue, and that the euro will fall still further; but there is still some hope that the seriousness of the situation will finally produce a support operation that will ease the situation.

Shaw Capital Management News - All the available evidence continues to point to a slow, two-speed recovery in the euro-zone economy. Germany and France appear to be performing reasonably well, although there are some signs of slowdown in Germany; but Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and even Italy are struggling to escape from recession, and are expected to keep overall output in the euro-zone this year around the 1% level.

Shaw Capital Management News - There is also considerable uncertainty about the intentions of the European Central Bank and the stronger countries if conditions continue to worsen, and so overseas holders have started to withdraw funds from the European capital markets to await developments.

Retail sales remain depressed, and fell by 1.2% between October and November to reflect the continuing caution of consumers; and industrial orders in Germany rose by much less than expected in November, after a very disappointing result in October, to indicate some weakness in export prospects that had been expected to provide significant momentum to the economy.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Indian’s Economy

The Indian economy will grow by 7.2% in fiscal year 2010 (April to March)

as a surge in manufacturing and a rebound in services blunt the impact of

a drop in farm output. The recovery became increasingly private sectorled

during the second half of the fiscal year, which bodes well for its

sustainability. The government expects the Indian economy to grow by

8.5% in the next financial year that begins April 1, 2010 and to reach its

goal of 10% annual economic growth in the coming years.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Indian’s Economy - Inflation in India has spurted in recent months, as the worst rains in nearly four decades exacerbated supply shortages. The wholesale price index rose

a provisional 8.56% — higher than the 8.5%, which the Reserve Bank of

India expects to be reached by the end of the year through March. As petrol

and diesel prices have been raised in the last week of February, the inflation

rate may rise to 9.8% by the end of March. The IMF expects the wholesale

inflation rate to reach 8% by March, before easing to 5.5% in March 2011.

India’s exports rose sharply in January while non-oil imports also surged.

Higher growth in non-oil imports vis-à-vis exports shows that domestic

investment and consumption demand continues to be strong, outpacing

rising global demand for Indian exports.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Exports in January rose 11.5% from a year earlier to $14.34 billion, after

having increased 9.3% to $14.61 billion in December. Imports surged 35.5%

in January to $24.70 billion while oil imports galloped 56% to $7.05 billion.

The steady recovery in shipments, coupled with rising bank credit and

accelerating inflation, may prompt the RBI to raise policy rates at its next

review meeting in April.

The central bank had refrained from raising overnight rates at its last

meeting in January but ordered banks to set aside a greater share of deposits

as reserves, absorbing 360 billion rupees ($7.84 billion) from the banking

system.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: The Finance Minister presented his budget on February 26th. He reduced

personal taxation in middle-income households and rolled back some of

the fiscal stimuli provided to industry. He increased excise taxes and brought

more services under the tax net. In the world of rising concerns over

sovereign debt, he projected the deficit to come down to 5.5% in FY11 from

a revised 6.7% in FY10.

Markets have approved the government’s actions, as it laid out a medium

term plan for fiscal consolidation, aiming to reduce the deficit to 4.8% in

FY12, and to 4.1% in FY13. The deficit is 6.9% in the current fiscal year.

Ratings agencies have also liked the proposed fiscal consolidation road

map, but are in no hurry to change the country’s rating.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: The government borrowing — which would have crowded out credit markets

this year, making it difficult for the private sector to raise capital and

putting pressure on interest rates — has been contained to net borrowing

of about $80bn (£52.5bn).

This figure is 20% lower than many industry figures and analysts had

expected. The stock market has gained more than 3% since the budget was

presented.

Shaw Capital Awarded Contract for Proprietary Technology and Engineering for New Ethylene Plant in India

Get the latest news and learn about how Shaw capital and its management help clients go green, avoid scam, fraud and designed to help customers achieve regulatory compliance, reduce environmental impact and create long-term benefits.
BATON ROUGE, La., Dec 08, 2010 --The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) today announced it has been selected by GAIL (India) Limited (GAIL) to provide its proprietary technology and basic engineering for a new 450,000 tons per annum ethylene plant. Shaw also will provide support during detailed engineering, procurement and construction, and commissioning and startup of the plant, which will be part of GAIL's petrochemical complex in Pata, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Get the latest news and learn about how Shaw capital and its management help clients go green, avoid scam, fraud and designed to help customers achieve regulatory compliance, reduce environmental impact and create long-term benefits.
"Shaw provided technology and basic engineering for GAIL's first 400,000 tons per annum ethylene plant at Pata in the late 1990s. The performance of that plant, coupled with our ability to integrate it with the new parallel plant, will result in capital and energy savings for our customer," said Lou Pucher, president of Shaw's Energy & Chemicals Group.
The undisclosed value of the contract was included in Shaw's Energy & Chemicals segment's backlog of unfilled orders in the first quarter of fiscal year 2011.
Shaw has designed and/or built more than 120 grassroots ethylene plants worldwide. Five of those plants are in India, where Shaw also has participated in numerous projects to revamp or expand existing facilities. Shaw recently announced full commercial operation of a 1.3 million metric ton per year ethylene plant for Eastern Petrochemical Company (SHARQ) in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SHAW) is a leading global provider of engineering, construction, technology, fabrication, remediation and support services for clients in the energy, chemicals, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response industries. A Fortune 500 company with fiscal year 2010 annual revenues of $7 billion, Shaw has approximately 27,000 employees around the world and is the power sector industry leader according to Engineering News-Record's list of Top 500 Design Firms. For more information, please visit Shaw's website at www.shawgrp.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements and information about our current and future prospects, operations and financial results, which are based on currently available information.Actual future results and financial performance could vary significantly from those anticipated in such statements.
Among the factors that could cause future events or transactions to differ from those we expect are those risks discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2010, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended November 30, 2009, February 28, 2010, and May 31, 2010, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Please read our "Risk Factors" and other cautionary statements contained in these filings.Our current expectations may not be realized as a result of, among other things:

• Changes in our clients' financial conditions, including their capital spending;
• Our ability to obtain new contracts and meet our performance obligations;
• Client contract cancellations or modifications to contract scope;
• Worsening global economic conditions;
• Changes to the regulatory environment;
• Failure to achieve projected backlog.

As a result of these risks and others, actual results could vary significantly from those anticipated in this presentation, and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, the occurrence of certain events, or otherwise.

Shaw Capital Management: Brazil’s Economy

Brazil’s economy emerged from a deep but short recession in the second

half of last year. The economy is expected to grow by at least 5.5% this year.

But along with economic growth, expectations of higher inflation have also

returned.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Brazil’s  Economy - The government’s target for annual consumer price inflation is 4.5%. To contain inflation Brazil’s central bank has raised banking reserve

requirements on term deposits from 13% to 15%. In addition to the increase

in reserve requirements, the bank also restored additional charges on cash

and term deposits to 8% from 5% and 4%, respectively.

According to the Central Bank President Henrique Meirelles, the changes

were necessary to neutralize the impact of excess liquidity brought by

reserve requirement reductions made in 2008, amid the onslaught of the

global financial crisis. However, for the central bank it would be a politically

difficult task to raise interest rates in the run up to Brazil’s presidential,

congressional and other elections in October.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Brazil’s  Economy - The government has launched a new investment trust to invest in the domestic Brazilian economy. BM&F Bovespa, the São Paulo equities and

derivatives exchange is to raise its stake in the CME Group of Chicago, the

world’s biggest exchange group, to 5% in an attempt to attract more

institutional and retail investors to Brazil.

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Brazil’s  Economy - The plan for the two exchanges is to work together to develop a new multiasset electronic trading platform based on the CME’s Globex system.

President Lula da Silva, the most popular President in Brazilian history, would like to see October’s presidential election as a plebiscite on his eight years in power. He is asking voters to transfer his success to Ms Dilma

Rousseff, his chief minister, whose candidacy has been endorsed by his Workers’ party (PT).

Shaw Capital Management Korea: Brazil’s  Economy - Ms Rousseff is further to the left than the present administration, but she has pledged not to make a sudden change of direction. The investors and

voters believe her so far.

We look forward to working with you and being the open architects of your financial well being.

Our goal is to provide consistent quality investment advice to our clients. Although the stock market provides many facets of opportunity for today's investor, there are always just a few stellar markets or niche companies at any given time. It is true that in a healthy market, investments yield favourable returns in a given growth area. The key is to pick those investments that are driving the trends and will become tomorrow's brightest stars.

One problem is proper allocation of research resources. It is true there is power in numbers, and teams of researchers will generally spot and confirm trends that the individual investor would miss. But on the other hand, too broad of an effort will squander research resources and loose sight of those special investments in an overwhelming sea.

Developing Strategic Research Capital. By having broad and robust resources, then viewing and deploying those resources in a multi-dimensional fashion, a balanced research model is created yielding greater and more focused results. In short, Research Capital. To achieve this result, research is targeted to different dynamics of the market rather than a flat view of just general market trends.

Market trends are viewed across a broad spectrum for change and interaction with associated segments, and then for life and duration of changes.

From this initial analysis comes the ability to focus resources on those segments and opportunities that will shine brightest and meet your investment goals. This is the result of a properly developed research program yielding the greatest return of Research Capital, in short a wealth of specific focused knowledge to provide the depth of advice you need to make the right decision.

At Shaw Capital Asset Management your investment is important to us. That same care in managing our Market Analysis Research Strategy provides you with the information you need to make the right choice.