This Week’s Big News

Hong Kong shocked Asian investors this weekend with the announcement that they have entered their first recession since the deadly SARS epidemic. Hong Kong’s government economist, Helen Chan, said that demand for Hong Kong services have been "severely hit by the outbreak of the global financial tsunami that caused significant jitters in the local asset markets."

Economists predict Hong Kong’s downturn will be deep and will worsen next year. "This is only the beginning of the economic aftershock, and the territory will likely continue to suffer from tremors in the coming quarters," says DBS economist Connie Tse.

Not since the Great Depression have we seen such horrendous volatility and uncertainty shaking stock markets and financial institutions worldwide. It’s not over yet, but we see important global changes emerging from the current meltdown.

In the search for the causes of the current crisis, the financial world is only getting started. Historians will argue for decades about the triggers and the systemic flaws that brought us to the edge of a financial abyss.