Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct 2008, Don Lee and John Glionna
""I think the good times are over for Asia," said Masaru Hamasaki, a strategist for Toyota Asset Management in Tokyo, as he watched the Nikkei stock index plunge 9.6% on Friday, an even steeper drop than the 9.4% slide on Wednesday that was the worst in more than two decades. The catalyst for the sell-off was the losses on Wall Street, but the Nikkei was also dragged down by bankruptcy filings Friday by a life insurance company and a real estate investment trust in Japan."
""The world is caught up in a financial storm, and dark clouds fill our immediate horizon," Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Friday. Singapore's economic activity shrank 6.3% in the third quarter on an annualized basis, after falling nearly as much in the second. The key culprit, analysts said, was reduced output of electronics, pharmaceuticals and other goods."
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