10 Global Events of 2011-2012 that Shook the Stock Market

Global economy saw a great turmoil during the financial year 2011-12. There are a few considerable incidences which have influenced this. Moneycontrol.com has jotted down such events, right from S&P’s cutting U.S. credit rating to the Chinese slowdown. Let’s have a look.

1. May 14, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund, was disgraced and forced to resign. He faced a trial after being accused of sexual assault on a maid in his penthouse suite of New York's Sofitel Hotel. He resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund. He was also a lead-runner at the French presidential election, but after this incidence, his presidential ambitions were ruined.

2. May 17, 2011

Anti-capitalism demonstrations were started in Spain on this day. These protests were a series of ongoing demonstrations in Spain started on 15 May with an initial call in 58 Spanish cities. By September, they spread to Britain and U.S. via Chile, with tens of thousands, representing across 82 countries by October.

September 17, 2011

Occupy Wall Street movement started on started, in Zuccotti Park, of New York City's Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street was initiated by the Canadian activist group ‘Adbusters’ and has led to “Occupy protests and movements” around the world. The Occupy Wall Street protests are against social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the unjustified influence of corporations on government, especially from the financial services sector.

3. August 6

The United States lost its top AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's, a United States-based financial services company. U.S. has lost its rating for the first time in history though there were concerns over the country's deficit and debt. “The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics,” S&P said in a statement to Reuters. The CEO of S&P, Deven Sharma, was soon fired after this.

4. August 23

Gold price rose up to $1911.46 per ounce, which is highest monthly rise since 1999. This eventually happened after some investors sold the yellow metal on a notion of slowing economic growth. Amid crisis, U.S. Fed was taking measures to stimulate the U.S. economy. This made the investors take this decision of selling bullions.

5. September 15, 2011

Rouge trading hit one of Europe’s biggest banks, UBS, costing it up to $2 billion, which almost blow its reputation. This scandalous news pushed down its share by 10.8 percent. Director Kweku Adoboli was held responsible for this and eventually arrested. Sergio Ermotti is the new CEO of UBS.

6. October 5, 2011

World lost a genius and a visionary icon, Steven P Jobs. The Inc Chairman and Co-founder of Apple, who brought a revolution in the tech world of personal computer industry died out of Pancreatic Cancer.

February 29, 2012

Apple's market capitalization soared over $500 billion in trade. Today Apple stands at a market value of $546 billion, with around 63,300 employees.

7. November 6, 2011

Greek PM, George Papandreou, agreed to step down from power amidst crippling debt crisis. He is succeeded by Lucas Papademos, Vice president of the European Central Bank. This was a sign that the country was deep in trouble.

8. November 8, 2011

UN stated in a report that it has “serious concerns” about Iran’s nuclear activities and also has “credible” information that Tehran is working to develop atomic weapons. This notion alerted the West to reinforce sanctions against the Islamic republic.

February 19, 2012

Iran banned oil exports to Britain and France following sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January.

9. December 8, 2011

The European Central Bank gave 489.2 billion euro in cheap, as a three-year loan to 523 banks. This step was taken in effort to seize the financial crisis in the euro zone. Though the markets cheered but this attempt did not fully pay-off and warranted a second round of easing from the ECB.

10 March 11, 2012

China has a trade deficit of $31.5 billion which is the biggest of the decade. This happened as imports increased faster than exports for the nation. China is trying to bring about a standard shift in functioning of the nation, by reducing the dependence only on the export.

Read More

Can Formula One Overtake Cricket As No.1 Sports Passion in India?

Sachin Tendulkar had a unique experience and for one, it had not having to do with breaking his own cricket records. Instead his presence at the first ever Indian Formula 1 Grand Prix was almost as important as the race itself.

Michael Schumacher, Sachin Tendulkar

The Buddh International Circuit saw F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, personally invite Indian batting’s colossus genius, Sachin Tendulkar, for the inaugural event and Tendulkar had the honour of waving the chequered flag as Red Bull’s double champion racing driver, Sebastien Vettel, was the first to cross the finish line for a record eleventh time in the year to match Michael Schumacher.

Tendulkar has been missing in action on the cricket field and was not seen during the England team’s visit to India for the ODI series with a toe injury. However, he turned up at the Noida venue with his wife, Anjali Tendulkar, and daughter Sara Tendulkar for the prestigious event in a major international motorsport event for India.

Sachin Tendulkar also observed a minute of silence along with the F1 drivers by way of condolence for the tragic deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli who lost their lives in two separate motorsport accident at the Indy car racing and Moto GP respectively, once again highlighting the perils of high speed racing.

This though is not Tendulkar’s first brush with Formula One, having met Michael Schumacher, then racing with Ferrari, during the British Grand Prix in 2002 when the latter also presented him with his Ferrari which Tendulkar recently sold for a Nissan GTR car.

Tendulkar was one of the high profile celebrities present at the venue along with Bollywood actors as well as fellow cricketers such as Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh. Tendulkar is said to be have been ecstatic about the prospect of being the one ot wave the chequered flag at the end and tweeted about it as much. Although Tendulkar is perhaps not all that well known across the Formula One world as he is amongst the cricket friendly nation, that he was possibly the highest ranked celebrity outside of the drivers themselves could not be argued.

There is undoubtedly a grand following for Formula One amongst Indians and the fact that the racing was brought to India made it more of a celebration of adrenaline that is not easy to get over as the weekend proved in plenty. However, that it can actually match the crazed following that cricket enjoys in India seems a task even the multi million dollar speed thrill would have earn over time. And that would not be easy with just the one race in India although it would have done a lot towards making more people aware of the sport and perhaps see more viewership from India for more international F1 races, although only two remain in the 2011 season.

While cricket cannot match steps with Formula One racing's worldwide following, it would certainly have a tough task sustaining interest in a sport that will see only one race a year.

Read More