Global Eonomy
Gloom and doom all the way
Stocks fell in September and October as anxieties about the financial system ran higher. Investors reacted fearfully to bankruptcies, failures, acquisitions, and rescues of major financial institutions. Banks abruptly stopped lending to each other or charged exorbitantly high rates, despite efforts by central banks to keep money flowing. 

JCR-VIS Credit Rating
New Allied Electronics Industries (Pvt.) Ltd
TFC: BBB+, Sukook1: BBB+, Sukook2: BBB+, Outlook: NegativeJCR-VIS downgrades ratings of TFC and Sukuk Issues of New Allied Electronics Industries (Pvt.) Limited
JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (JCR-VIS) had earlier revised the outlook on the ratings of the TFC and the Sukuks of New Allied Electronics Industries (Pvt.) Limited (NAEIL) to Negative from Stable. 

GLOBAL MARKETS
Oil follows stock markets, falls below $65
Oil prices fell below $64 a barrel in Asia as renewed concerns about the severity of a global economic slowdown triggered an exodus from stocks and commodities. Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down $1.40 to $63.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by late afternoon in Singapore. Stocks fell throughout Asia, led by Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average, down 6.5 percent. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index dropped 7.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 7.1 percent.

THE NEWS Index
January-October 2008
End of Last End of Net Net
Month Previous Change Change
Month Points %
Composite 6,690.7 6,747.5 (56.9) (0.8) (-)
Financials 3,995.8 4,075.8 (80.0) (2.0) (-)
Industrials 8,000.6 8,036.4 (35.9) (0.4) (-)

IN FOCUS
Boosting industrial production
By M. Sharif
Efforts are afoot to retrieve national economy from the dire straits in which it has landed because of multiple reasons. One of the major reasons being, inability of managers of national economy to upgrade infrastructure for industrial expansion, consolidating the existing industrial base and increasing production of electricity through cheap hydro and coal resources to provide electricity to commercial and non-commercial users at competitive rates during the past five years from 2003 to 2008. 

The rupee's free fall: a review
By Aftab Ahmad
During the last about eight months, Pak rupee has depreciated from Rs62 to around Rs81 a US dollar, approximately 25 per cent. Considering the situation, the exchange rate looks heading for around Rs100 to a dollar. The rupee has, also, depreciated by a significant percentage against other leading currencies such as Euro, Yen and Saudi Riyal.