Business Leap Frontier

The price of gold broke above US$1,000 an ounce on Friday for the first time as stocks continued to fall and other securities seen as more risky. Gold futures for April delivery rose as much as $23.80, or 2.4 per cent, to $1,000.30 an ounce. The elevated price of gold is a sign of how terrible the overall state of the financial system is. Investors are upset by the failing banking industry and rising unemployment as it becomes increasingly unclear where the bottom is for other investments.

Analysts anticipate the gold rally will continue as investors drop confidence in their economic assets. Carlos Sanchez, precious metals analyst at CPM Group said in New York that,

With the Dow down to a six-year low and concerns about financial and economic stability worldwide, $1,000 seems to be the new resistance level.

After receiving $17.4 billion loans from Bush administration the two giant automakers General Motors and Chrysler are now seeking more government loan to stay alive. But it will be a problem for the two titan of the automaker to get the loan from the new government.

The new request of GM and Chrysler say’s that they will need another $21.6 to keep alive in the auto market. But specking of the loan, for President Barack Obama’s month-old administration, there are no easy answers. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said “There can’t be a bottomless pit to this. There aren’t the resources to deal with it,” he also added that “We have to get a sustained path to that restructuring to ensure that there isn’t a constant necessity for continued government intervention and money from the taxpayers,”

At risk is much more than the future of the PT Cruiser or the Saturn Vue. Jobs at assembly plants, car dealers, parts suppliers and the small businesses that serve them could be at risk in an exhausted economy in which nearly 12 million people are unemployed, including about 600,000 who got pink slips last month.

Even though Obama meets GM and Chrysler’s requests for an additional $14 billion in loans and the companies carry out the turnaround plans they released Tuesday, it would come with a painful price: An estimated 50,000 workers worldwide would lose their jobs and five more U.S. plants will be closed.

GM and Chrysler, which initially received $13.4 billion and $4 billion, respectively, are now asking the government for a total of $39 billion more, saying they need more loans due to a U.S. auto market where sales have fallen to lowest point not seen in more than a quarter century. GM said it will run out of money within March if the company does not receive any additional support.

A strong breeze now blow on  Sri Lanka’s tourism industry as tourist bureau of the country has noted the strongest growth visitors have recently come from different countries of middle east such as UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran and Lebanon. Heightened customer awareness in the Middle East created a 24% surge in Middle Eastern tourists in 2008.

To maintain the huge amount of tourist Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has recently been upgraded to include wellness, spa, culture and adventure travel. On the other hand, Arabs traveling with families have been attracted by declining costs and good child care and maid facilities as well.

In a recent time, there is big fall of profit in the automobile industry. The giant car manufacturer companies such as GM, Toyota, Ford are facing so much constrain for their business. All of the famous and big car manufacturers cut their production more or less. Moreover, in this year there is a big crisis all over the world business.

But you will be astonished to know that South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai makes surprising profit in China. Hyundai Motors has had record monthly sales in China. China has the world’s second major car market, which also suffered sluggish sales growth last year in the midst of slower economic factors.

The sales figures for the Chinese unit have increased 35 percent year-on-year to 42,790 autos in January. The record monthly sales were credited to a tax cut by the Chinese government for the consumers of small automobiles. Now Hyundai is hopeful for their new sales, raised its sales target to 185,000 cars for 2009.