The Galaxy Tab weighs 380 grams (about half the size of the iPad) and will be released in Europe in mid-September at a price which at present has not been announced.
Toshiba on the other hand, present Folio 100, which has a 10.1-inch screen using also the Android as operating system. We should mention here that iPad uses the operating system of MAC iOS developed of course by Apple.

Folio will be in European stores in the fourth quarter of 2010 and reports estimate that its price will be 399 Euros. Moreover, the Korean LG Electronics has already announced that it will release its own tablet PC using also Android until December this year. Even Microsoft is rumored that will reveal soon its own tablet PC – the Courier-, while Hewlett-Packard and Dell also developed their owns tablet Pc’s, the Slate and the Stealth respectively.

The tablets PC’s have created a new category of devices, as they are smaller in size and memory in relation to desktop or laptop computers, but have much more capabilities compared to the “smart” mobile phones. The main innovation they offer is mainly the touch screen user interface plus easy to use options to watch video, to listen music, to play games or just to read emails or surf the internet.

“Usually, unemployment rates begin to rise as the summer ends”, said Minister of Economy Elena Salgado to an interview to the Cadena Ser radio station. However, she appeared optimistic as she noted that “current data suggest that the labor market begins to stabilize. This means better news in the area of unemployment to the coming months”. The Spanish Minister of Economy also stated that the increase of VAT helped the country to almost half the budget deficit during the first 7 months of 2010, a clear indication that the austerity measures are successful.

In May, the government adopted a package of austerity measures amounting to 15 billion Euros for 2010 and 2011, including reduction in government salaries, zero increase in pensions and increased VAT by two percentage points to 18%. The Spanish economy emerged from an 18 months recession in the first quarter of 2010 and the government now expects growth in all quarters of this year. However, international economists and analysts do not share the optimism of the Spanish government as they estimate that it is extremely difficult to meet the targeted objectives.

“This is the largest-ever agreement that has been achieved”, stated today the Brazilian Minister of Economy, Mantegka Guido, to reporters. According to Petrobras announcement, approximately 3.1 billion barrels reserves will come from Franco oil rig off the coast of Brazil, 600 million barrels of oil well Iara , 467 million barrels of oil well Florim and 428 million barrels from Taupo Northgouest. Additionally, 319 million barrels will come from Guara East and 128 million barrels from Taupo Sula oil rigs.

Mantegka announced the value of the agreement to 42.5 billion dollars which equals to 8.50 dollars a barrel. The value is higher than the estimations of the UBS AG and Frost Investment Advisors analysts who anticipated the price per barrel reserved to $7.50.

We should note here that billionaire George Soros sold during the second quarter all the shares held of Petrobras. BlackRock Inc. and Banco BTG Pactual SA also sold their shares of Petrobras during the previous quarter.

After the announcement for the agreement, company’s shares increased by 97 centavos, or 3.7%, reaching the 27.03 real in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange(1 Brazilian real = 0.573066 U.S. dollars).
Petrobras, which plans to sale the shares by the end of this month, announced today that the terms of the share offer will be announced on September 3rd. The company plans to issue enough shares to allow both government and other investors to retain their shares. The sale was scheduled for June but it was postponed as both the company and the government were expecting the estimations for the oil reserves by independent agents.

The new way of share exchange is part of the new rules issued last year, by the country’s president Luís Inacio Lula da Silva in order to increase the government control over the company, following the discovery of the biggest oil reserves of the company during the last three decades. Lula asked the calculation of oil reserves by two separate and independent authorities on 19th of August. In June, Petrobras announced that the management of the shares sale will be handled by “Banco Bradesco SA”, “Citigroup Inc.”, “Unibanco Itau Holding SA”, “Bank of America Corp.”, “Morgan Stanley” and “Banco Santander SA” while “Banco do Brasil SA” will manage the sale of shares to the investors in the domestic market.

On August 13th, the financial director of the company, Almira Barbasa said that “the sale of shares is required in order to replenish the capital after the increase in the deficit”. Debt, as shares percentage increased to 34 % in the second quarter from 32% which was in the first quarter and 28% in the corresponding period last year, according to the Petrobras report. The financial credibility ability of the company downgraded to BBB- by S&P, Fitch Ratings Ltd classified it a level higher to BBB while Moody’s Investors Service ranks the company two levels higher at Baa1.

Tokyo’s Nikkei index dropped by 7.5% during August, while an overall assessment of the MSCI World shares Index indicate the worst monthly performance in over three months, with losses of 4.1%. Under pressure was also the crude market, which expanded its losses in August to 6.5%, recording the biggest monthly decline since May. Concerns about the state of the global economy dominated yesterday the stock markets, as the Nikkei index in Tokyo showing the biggest one-day drop in three months of 3.6% since the first attempt of the central bank of Japan to stop further rise of the yen.
Losses of more than 1% displayed as well in Europe during the early stock market sessions, but eventually – in the wake of positive data on U.S. consumer confidence and housing prices- markets closed with positive sign.

Good news for the U.S economy as the consumer confidence index strengthened in August while housing prices rose more than expected in June, providing a little breathing space to those who are worried about the state of the U.S. economy. In the foreign exchange market, the yen was once again near 15 years high against the dollar and the euro touched a record low against the Swiss franc. The sterling fell 2% against the Swiss franc, to the lowest levels in nine months.

The 10-year German yields of government bonds recorded a new low record while at the same time, Reuters survey showed that investors showed a preference for bonds in August, slightly reducing their investments in shares.

The announcement of the economic data, lead the Australian dollar to strengthened to 89.69 cents compared to U.S. dollar from the 89.49 cents that was early in the morning today. The yield on the two years bond was strengthened three base points to 4.31% – a base point equals to 0.01%.

In the Stock Exchange the S&P / ASX 200 Index extended its rise after the announcement of data at a rate of 1.9% reaching the 4487.8 points. Additionally, exports increased by 5.6%, adding 1.1% to GDP while household spending rose by 1.6%, contributing 0.9% to GDP.

However, one of five analysts have downward revised their forecast after amid concerns that the U.S. economy enters a new recession period once again. Suffice it to say that the S&P 500 index has decreased about 14% since its highest peak while for 2010 it records losses of 5%.

Nevertheless, David Bianco, a strategic analyst of Bank of America states that the market has already anticipated the possibility of a new recession – a possibility which he thinks is unlikely to happen -and therefore, he doesn’t revise his original estimations that the index will close the year at 1300 points – one of the highest goals in the Wall Street.

However, the highest estimation for the S&P 500 index is offered by Binki Tsanta, analyst for the Deutsche Bank who expects the index to close at 1375 points, which means that it will rise by 30% by the end of the year!

Last month, the analyst pointed out that 120 units of the earnings of S&P 500 would come from positive macroeconomic data, such retail sales and durable goods, in the U.S. However, his estimations were not correct as the results were disappointing.

The S&P 500 index is currently around the psychological barrier of 1,050 points. Many analysts believe that there will be a period of instability if the markets open lower than this level. On the other hand, if investors decide that the U.S. economy is not heading for recession, then the market would move upwards.

The purpose of Obama’s administration was to put an end to the practices of banks, which led to the global financial crisis. They set strict rules of operation of the financial institutions and strengthen mechanisms for their supervision. The banks, however, do not seem willing to abandon their favorite habit: the risk.

According to a report of New York Times, banks have already found loopholes that allow them to enter into “risky bets”, using the official reason that the “risky bets” made on behalf of their customers.

The framework formally prohibits banks to speculate with their money. Therefore, since equity is not compromised, typically there is not a problem. Banks can act freely. Such practices which circumvent the strict regulatory framework have already been tested. Clear examples are the cases of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs; each one suffered losses of over 100 million dollars in transactions that are handled on behalf of their clients during April to June.

Despite the fact that given the size of the aforementioned banks these recent losses are very small; are examples of a disturbing trend, which if enhanced could trigger new turmoil causing devastating results.

The increase shows that the economic recovery remains strong during this early third quarter, although analysts warn that the perspectives remain uncertain. “Economic activity in the region will probably decrease in the next few weeks”, estimates Mr. Jean Claude Maninis an economist of the Conference. “The instability of confidence indices, in combination with the different economic performance between the North and South countries in the eurozone, reveals that the recovery remains fragile”, he said.

Germany
In Germany, consumer sentiment index is expected to be better than October 2009 as unemployment dropped significantly. The GfK institute’s index, which is based on consumer expectations for the next month, increased slightly to 4.1 points. “The decline of unemployment and the return of many workers in full time status boosted the confidence of consumers”, said Mr. Rolf Berkeley, analyst of GfK. In Italy, however, the consumer sentiment index of the ISAE institute fall in August to its lowest level of the past 15 months.

Spain
At the same time in Spain, the government revised slightly upwards the estimations of the economy for the second quarter. According to revised data, Spanish GDP fell by 0.1% compared to the initial estimations of 0.2% contraction. Madrid seeks ways to reassure markets that will not stray away from the path of fiscal discipline. The Spanish Minister of Public Works, José Blanco, said that in 2011 spending on infrastructure will be reduced by 700 million Euros over original estimates of 500 million. The newspaper «Bild» claims also to an article that the German government might also reduce the spending on infrastructure by 5 billion Euros for the next year. However, many fear that insisting in rigor measures will set back the economic recovery.

Foreign Minister of Finland Alexander Stubb – who served as adviser to former President of European Commission Romano Prodi – said in an interview to Bloomberg that the adoption of stricter budgetary rules of the European economy will produce better results than the U.S.

But today, the indications changed again. Many analysts express their concerns that the global economy will slip back into recession. They base their estimations to data showing decreased growth rates in major developed and emerging economies. The massive shift in U.S. government bonds, the recovery of the dollar and gold and pressures on oil prices is the first evidence of the investors shift. The next move, as analysts warn, could be a massive sell off shares amid panic.

Not everyone agrees with this view, however. Analysts appear divided. Recently, HSBC analysts expressed the view that investors will soon realize that the fears for global recovery is exaggerated and will return to strong equity markets in the fourth quarter.

On the other hand, however, yesterday’s drop of Japan’s Nikkei index below the psychological barrier of 9,000 points – for the first time since May 2009 – is a rather ominous development. Investors responded lately with a massive selloff in the risk of stagnation of the Japanese economy, which is already facing the nightmare of deflation. Something similar could happen in the Western markets. “The most important threat facing the U.S. today and the rest of the West is to follow the fate of Japan; to watch their economies and their enterprises losing their value year after year”, warns analyst Ian Campbell in Thomson Reuters.

If something like this happen, will return the indices of international stock markets back to levels at the peak of the financial crisis. A devastating refutation of these scenarios, however, would offer the international shares the “surge” which now is lost.

The first lies in the Chinese market. Thanks to the impressive growth, the consumption and construction activity in the country constantly rises. At the very same time however, rapidly rises the lending of Chinese households, as well as the real estate prices. The rapid credit growth and the increased prices of the real estate market is something that concerns deeply the analysts and Beijing. It is well noted that the Chinese shares recorded profits of 300% over the last 15 years.

The second bubble is located in the U.S. sovereign debt. In a period of increased uncertainty about the prospects for global economic recovery, investors seeking safety in U.S. Treasuries, which have seen their prices strengthened 14% this year but their performance to fall to historically low levels despite the fact that U.S. has issued a $3.3 trillion debt in the last two years. Many believe that as the U.S. deficit is increasing at unprecedented levels, bond prices may soon suffer a major value loss.

The third high risk investment is the gold market. The price of the precious metal increased by 150% within five years while it continued to record successive profits during last year. The price decreased in July but this was just temporary as the gold price rising again.
Fortune’s analysts also consider the investment on the energy stocks and mining industries – especially the ones of the natural gas companies – as high risk because the equity prices are engaged in a relentless rally in the last two years.

The last high risk investment by the analysts is the cotton; its value has nearly doubled last year to 80 cents a pound. Economists estimate that it is not possible to maintain the price at these levels; therefore they expect a drop below 50 cents within 2010.