depression

Macquarie Infrastructure Group's CEO John Hughes told investors in a  presentation on end-2008 results that their capital position is strong, but that at its present share price it doesn't have a mandate to take on new toll projects. The group downvalued its assets by A$1.72b (US$1.08b @A$=63c) in the second half of 2008 (2008H2) or by about 18% reflecting lowered forecasts for earnings.

Traffic on US roads in September at 232.8b VM (vehicle-miles) was down 4.4% (10.7b vehicle-miles less than 200709's 243.6b VM), the lowest September number since 2001 and down a full 5% from the 2006 Sept high of 245.1b VM. The 4.4% decline is somewhat smaller than the month-on-a-year-ago drop in August (-5.6%) but larger than that in July (-3.7%).