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Gross Domestic Product

If you throw all the products we buy and the services we use in one basket, then add up the price tag, that's the Gross Domestic Product, which is the primary metric economists use to assess the economic health of a country or region.

The easy part of calculating GDP is the calculation itself: C+I+G+(X-M)=GDP. Got it? No? Well, add Consumption, Investment by companies, Government purchases, and then take the product of eXports (calling it 'E' would lack sexiness) minus iMports ('I' was taken). Viola! GDP.

Still don't get it? Well, knowing the components helps. Consumption is the biggest component, and it's a tally of the cost of all the goods and services we buy. Investment is what companies spend on the real assets they own, plus the value of the inventory that we haven't gobbled up through consumption. Government purchases are what the Feds pay money for (whether it be highways or fighter jets, though big social programs, like welfare, aren't counted). And then we calculate the difference between the goods and services we¿re sending to other countries and the stuff we're bringing in.

Good. That explains it, except there's a catch. Inflation has a habit of distorting the numbers, so economists talk about either Nominal GDP or Real GDP. In fact, Real GDP isn't necessarily "real" for most folks, since it takes any inflation out. Nominal GDP includes the effects of inflation. (There's something called the implicit price deflator which is a calculation using the two, but we'll spare you the details.)

So, now that we know GDP, why do we want to? Well, it's good to compare different markets. And watching the trend shows whether a given economy is growing (good), stagnating (not so good), or shrinking (very not so good). When GDP goes down two quarters in a row, we're officially in a recession.

For the record, GDP is released at the end of each month, with most reporting ¿preliminary¿ data for the previous month. But you won't get final GDP numbers for the fourth quarter of a year until the very end of the first quarter of the next year. After all, it's not an easy number to calculate.

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Avox and Xinhua Finance Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide Business Entity data

 
Comtex
 

SHANGHAI, China, July 2, 2008 /Xinhua-PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Avox Limited, the business entity data specialist 75% owned by the Deutsche Borse, and Xinhua Finance (TSE: 9399; OTC: XHFNY), China's premier financial information and media services provider, today announced the signing of an agreement creating an exclusive strategic alliance providing worldwide business entity data to financial institutions in mainland China and Taiwan. The partnership will allow users in the region to utilize fully verified and timely international business entity data, and in particular meet the increasing demand for reliable data services from China's qualified domestic institutional investors (QDIIs) who are investing overseas.

Avox's timely and complete business entity data is developed through its global network of contributing clients including some of the largest and most respected financial institutions in the world, its first class research team, authoritative sources and global news feed partners. Data is updated daily, complete with an Avox generated audit trail used to verify data accuracy, in line with international regulatory requirements. The Avox-Xinhua Finance partnership enables Chinese financial institutions to enhance the quality and continual availability of their data, which is of significance in operational efficiency, timely compliance, customer service and risk control. Clients are able to freely distribute the Avox business entity data across business units and geographical locations.

"We are delighted to find a partner like Xinhua Finance who shares the same passion and ambition of bridging China's financial markets and the world by promoting transparency," said Ken Price, CEO of Avox. "Moreover, given Xinhua Finance's in-depth knowledge of the Chinese markets, strong sales capabilities, and its impressive clientele of financial institutions and corporations, we will be able to reach more clients in mainland China and Taiwan, and at the same time better understand client demand in the region."

"Business entity data has long been an overlooked area without authoritative sources or generally accepted global standards. Avox offers a compelling proposition filling the gap in the market with its technology, data content and data governance standards," said Dr. Chen Chunghsing, Head of Ratings and Research, Xinhua Finance. "Chinese firms who have gained their QDII 'Foreign Trading' license are facing an increasing challenge to access trustworthy international business entity data. We believe that these Chinese QDII clients will be able to make their investment, trading, partnership, and compliance judgments with more confidence than ever, by leveraging Avox's collaborative industry utility."

As the Chinese markets continue to open and evolve as part of the global economy, the requirement to improve business entity data accuracy and timeliness is intensified by global standards such as Basel II, anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing of terrorism (CFT) regulations. Financial institutions will be required to prove that they have a documented and auditable data management process as a part of compliance. The Avox- Xinhua Finance partnership addresses these needs.

Notes to Editors

About Xinhua Finance Limited

Xinhua Finance Limited ("XFL") is China's premier financial information and media service provider and is listed on the Mothers Board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (symbol: 9399) (OTC ADRs: XHFNY). Bridging China's financial markets and the world, Xinhua Finance's proprietary content platform, comprising Indices, Ratings, Financial News, and Investor Relations, serves financial institutions, corporations and re-distributors worldwide. Through its subsidiary Xinhua Finance Media Limited (NASDAQ: XFML), XFL leverages its content across multiple distribution channels in China including television, radio, newspaper, magazine and outdoor media. Founded in November 1999, XFL is headquartered in Shanghai, with offices and news bureaus spanning 12 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.xinhuafinance.com .

About Avox ( http://www.avox.info )

Avox Limited utilizes an entirely new approach to validating, correcting and enriching business entity data. The firm has established a shared pool of business entity data regularly contributed by a growing number of clients including SWIFT, Calyon, Citigroup, Bank of Scotland, Barclays Capital, Nomura and Standard Bank. This industry data is combined with up-to-date content from other authoritative sources including regulators, business registries and company filings. Changes made by any of Avox's clients to a data record are immediately revalidated by an Avox analyst and, if proven correct, they are broadcast, complete with a full audit trail, to all other clients holding the same record. The data in Avox includes corporate hierarchies, address information, industry sector codes, company identifiers, regulatory content and links to issued securities.

This is a press release to the public and should not be relied on as information to make an investment decision by any investor. Investors should read the Company's Securities Report filed to Tokyo Stock Exchange and consider the risk factors together with other information contained therein when making an investment decision. This press release contains some forward- looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results, performance, achievements of the Company or industries in which it operates to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

 For more information, please contact: Media Contact Xinhua
   Finance Ms. Joy Tsang Tel: +86-21-6113-5999 or +86-136-2179-1577 Email: joy.tsang@xinhuafinance.com Avox Walter Allwicher
   / Leticia Adam Tel: +49-69-2111-1500 

SOURCE Xinhua Finance Limited

http://www.xinhuafinance.com
   
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
 
 

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