01/06/2012 World Business Report

celebrations. Those are the latest headlines.

Welcome to World Business Report. Fears mount about the eurozone and

the wider global economy. Four trillion dollars has been erased

from global stock markets. Asian stock markets are Stan -- I

keeping losses into June. They are stunned by further weakness in

China's manufacturing sector. The thoughts turn to the US and the

latest employment figures. The recovery is losing momentum.

Growing fears over the eurozone crisis and the direction of the

broader global economy. It has been the worst month for global stock

markets in eight months. Shares around the world were down 10% in

May, losing four trillion dollars in value. For the Dow Jones, it was

the worst month in two years. Commodities have been even harder

hit. Demand for perceived safe havens has hit record levels.

June is off to a bad start in Asia. No rest for the weary. Stock market

investors in Asia, today there were stunned by more weakness in China's

manufacturing sector. The index came in above 48, for the month of

May, which is the lowest since March of 2009. Any number below 50

indicates a contraction. These numbers are so just the slowdown in

the world's number two economy may be worse than expected. -- numbers

suggest. All the stock markets are in negative territory. But Hong

Kong and mainland China shares are looking resilient. Investors hope

that China will launch more action to help its economy. But they were

not spend the same amount of money, which is $600 billion, four years

ago during the global financial crisis. Emergency -- emerging Asian

currencies are also feeling the pressure.

I am joined by a market strategist. Is this the turning point for

global stock markets? When you look at what is going on, not just in

the eurozone, which is where things are dominating, but with the US

slowing down, there are numbers out of India that are not looking good.

Those countries were the ones that were supposed to save the world.

The story out to China about no stimulus has boot to the market. --

has frightened. The markets hate uncertainty. You get in negative

results. We have got huge uncertainty around the world, the

biggest being the eurozone. Nobody knows what the outcome of all the

stories are going to be. When we get to June 17th, the issue with

the Greek election, we probably still will not know. There is no

surprise that the markets are not finding anything positive to grab

onto. To the problem stemmed -- stem from the eurozone? If there

could be some kind of stop to the crisis, you will see markets

stabilise? Yes, but what we have also seen, the markets become numb

to a lot of the stories. There is so much going on about Greece and

Spain, we have been talking about to -- about it for two years, and

when the stories come out, there is not too much of a market reaction.

But when you get all the news coming together, negativity from

the US... this is the first concrete sign that diggers and

crisis appears to be affecting eurozone crisis. The US recovered

and managed to ignore the eurozone. But now it is having a knock on

effect. It is a global problem again, not a eurozone problem.

Global investors will be looking to the US on Friday within the short -

- with offi - with offioyment figures for May. April was the weakest

month for job creation in six months. Estimates for the US

economic growth in the first three months of the year were downgraded.

We have been speaking to graduates in York to find out where their day

job prospects are any better now. - - in New York.

The air was filled with optimism at his graduation ceremony at Queen's

College New York. Something that was in short supply when the

Then, 2008. Then, the housing bubble had burst,

the men bro the men bro collapsed, and there were few jobs available.

Lehman Brothers. I was positive, I kept the positive attitude. I know

that I would be in school when the worst of the crisis was happening,

school right when things started getting better. I believe that is

the case. T the case. T starting to improve a little bit. Once a

college education guarantee to a well-paid job. It is not so today.

He still cannot find full-time employment. I was looking for a

full-time job. But seeing how the job market is, and see how you can

work your at way up or two part- time jobs, it makes the

opportunities unfold for you, and get you into the business.

recession's impact on recent graduates is not immediately

confined it to their recent job prospects. It can also affect their

future earning power. When you enter the labour market at a lower

wage, it is difficult to ever catch up, because your labour market

history, as we call it, follows you around. So unless you change job

and you get a huge promotion, you are not necessarily going to catch

the ball restarted at a higher level. -- catch the people who

started. America's unemployment rate remains above normal, at 8%.

The ceremony is over, but for the graduating class of 2012, the

challenge of finding a job in a tough economy has only just begun.

The Russian President will visit Berlin and Paris on his first

foreign tour since returning to office for a third term. Syria will

top the agenda with Russia under pressure to drop support for the

regime, but the crisis in the eurozone is also a major worry for

the Russians. The EU is its number one oil market and also its top

trading partner. I suspect there will be a battle as

to what will top the agenda. The Russians are looking for a very

different agenda than the Europeans. That a reputable prefer to discuss

business interests, Moseley energy issues. -- and Vladimir Putin. But

it is likely that the Syrian crisis will dominate the agenda. Is it

likely that one will influence the other? When it comes to business

interests and energy issues, he tries to continue with his message,

that he values Germany and France, and that he would probably tried to

degrade the Syrian issue to a wider geographical context. He will

probably steered the conversation to the eurozone crisis. Especially

in the light of the developments in a new project. AB we have learnt,

this alternative gas pipeline has been shut off. It was supposed to

diversified the EU's energy input, and to bring non Russian gas into

it. But it has been shut off. It means that Russia's position has