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will citigroup break itself up?
no. vikram pandit, citigroups new chief executive, may be tempted to split up the bank assembled by sandy weill. citigroups problems in 2007, which led to the departure of chuck prince, have raised questions as to whether it is simply too big to manage.
mr pandit is an investment banker by training, as is sir win bischoff, citis chairman. both of them know they might be able to drive up citis shares in the short term by spinning off its investment bank. but there are obstacles: it would have to raise more capital, and tax would be an issue. as important, mr pandit will realise that, if citi did not exist, someone would be trying to invent it: financial companies are consolidating. citis problem is not that it exists but that it does not work well enough.
will hillary clinton be the next us president?
most likely, yes. barring a remarkable upset, the democratic nominee will win the election, so great is the unpopularity of this administration - and mrs clinton will be the nominee.
barack obamas surge in iowa and new hampshire shows voters grow to like him more the better they know him. americans want a change, and he is fresh. also, there are signs of clinton fatigue. for all her talents, the former first lady is not new - and leaning on her husbands popularity whenever her campaign misfires underlines the fact.
even so, mrs clintons grip on the nom-ination is tighter than the obama bounce suggests. if the nomination contest were fought primary by primary mr obama might be favourite to win - but it is not. in february the elections arrive in a rush, and the candidates are spread thin. mrs clinton will not give up if she loses the first two votes: her drive and ambition forbid it. her lead among democrats is big and wellentrenched. overturning it is likely to be beyond even mr obama.
willthere be a us recession?
the us will skate along the brink of recession in early 2008, but should avoid tipping over the brink, in part owing to continued strong exports to the rest of the world. nonetheless, the economy will not bounce back quickly and will instead endure a protracted period of weak growth, during which time it will be vulnerable to any further economic shocks.
house prices will continue to fall nationwide, with big declines in california and florida. however, the negative wealth effect on consumers will be partly offset by adequate earnings growth in a resilient jobs market. unemployment will edge up, but not by much. the federal reserve may end up cutting interest rates by more than it thought it would, but its ability to do so will be constrained by inflation risk, especially if oil and food prices remain high or move higher.
and what about vladimir putin?
mr putin has chosen dmitry medvedev, his close associate and deputy prime minister, as his candidate for the march presidential election. given mr putins personal popularity and the kremlins backing, mr medvedev will win by a mile. he will then make mr putin his prime minister.
at this point, parliament, dominated by mr putins united russia party, may well vote to change the constitution to transfer power from the president to the prime minister. but even if it does not, real power will remain in mr putins hands as he is the focus of almost all his administrations public popularity. however, he is not in a position to become a dictator: power is divided among competing groups of senior kremlin officials, who owe their allegiance to the president but not their absolute loyalty. stefan wagstyl
progress on a kyoto replacement? there will be real progress on climate change in 2008, but it will often feel as if the world is taking a few steps back for every stride forward. although the us agreed at last in bali to launch negotiations, with a view to wrapping up a kyoto replacement by the end of 2009, the ink was scarcely dry before the bush administration started voicing serious concerns about the role of developing nations in future talks.
that will be the pattern of negotiations this year, as officials fill in the details of the bali roadmap. progress will be accompanied by recriminations, from the us and the european union, and from developing countries fearful of being landed with a bill for rich countries emissions. fiona harvey
what about eurozone interest rates? they will fall - but it is a close call. the european central bank ends the year in a hawkish mood. inflation is way above its comfort zone and the data suggest that eurozone growth remains robust. if that continues, the ecb could still raise official borrowing costs next year. equally, the ecb would be quite happy to do nothing for an extended period, leaving its main rate unchanged at 4 per cent.
but inflation should fall in 2008 and the ecb may prove over-optimistic about growth. a weaker us economy as well as the higher financing costs caused by the credit squeeze will only have a braking effect. another surge in the euro would further curb the ecbs hawkishness, and who knows what else lurks ahead? as inflationary pressures ease gradually, the ecb will move towards cutting rates.
what will google do next?
the google juggernaut will gather even more momentum, pushing its share of the search business up to 75 per cent worldwide, its revenues to $18bn and its stock price past $1,000. now it has seen off microsoft and yahoo and proved it can grow exponentially without missing a beat, a severe econ-omic downturn remains the main threat.
by the end of the year googles massive, and spreading, influence should start to force a realignment of the online landscape. the first result: a merger dance between microsoft, yahoo, aol and ebay, as the rival search, advertising and e-commerce companies adjust to deal with the new reality. but googles achilles heel will also be revealed this year as official concerns over online privacy reach new heights, with european regulators leading the way. richard waters |
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