Posts Tagged recession
Canada’s recession less severe than other G7 countries
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on April 16th, 2010
Canada experienced a recession that was less severe and shorter than in the other Group of Seven nations, Statistics Canada said Thursday in a special report. Furthermore, it was nowhere near as “severe” or nearly as long as the downturns the country faced in the early 1980s and 1990s.
The key reason, the agency said, was that Canadian companies and governments had better balance sheets compared to their industrialized peers going into the start of the recession — the result of advantageous terms of trade from the commodity bull run.
Between the third quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009, real GDP in Canada fell by 3.3%, compared to a total decline of 3.7% in the United States and even larger declines in Europe and Japan.
“To the degree that the 2008-2009 global recession originated in balance sheets, strong balance sheets in Canada stood it in good stead to endure the recession and emerge into recovery,” said Philip Cross, the agency’s chief economic analyst, in the report. “The recession was shorter and milder in Canada than in other G7 nations, partly because the flow of credit was not disrupted as it was in other nations and a large pool of savings was available to finance spending when income fell temporarily.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Great Recession Continues
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on January 27th, 2010
The December jobs report has doused the hope that we were at the beginning of a sustained economic recovery.
The unemployment rate managed to hold at 10% in December only because of an extraordinary shrinkage in the labor force: Some 661,000 gave up looking for a job.
Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) nonfarm payroll data indicate that December job losses totaled 85,000. But the bureau’s household survey, a better and more comprehensive measure of both the unemployed and underemployed, indicated a loss of 589,000 jobs. Since the Great Recession began in 2007, some 8.6 million jobs have been lost, according to the bureau; and small businesses, the normal source for new jobs, are still shedding workers. Fewer than 10% added employees, while more than 20% cut back—and the cuts averaged nearly twice as many per firm as the hires at the expanding companies.
Unemployment, in short, has graduated from being a difficulty, a worry. It is now a catastrophe, with some 15.3 million Americans out of work, according to the BLS. Read the rest of this entry »
Jobless claims show labor market may slow recovery
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on September 7th, 2009
New claims for jobless aid fell less than expected last week, and the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose – further signs that any economic recovery will be hindered by a weak job market and flat incomes.
Most economists think the recession is over, but they say the jobless rate will keep rising until at least next summer as the economy struggles to mount a sustained recovery. That means household incomes will remain depressed and consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, will continue to lag.
“Firms are still not hiring, and that reflects deep pessimism about the sustainability of the economic recovery once government stimulus programs wear off,”said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.”The lack of job creation remains a big headwind for cash-starved and credit-constrained consumers.”
The nation’s major retailers on Thursday reported lackluster results from August back-to-school sales. Results in established stores fell 2.1 percent in August compared with the same month last year, a compilation of 31 retailers’ results by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs indicated. Some major discounters managed to exceed expectations. Read the rest of this entry »
The U.S. economy makes the worst recession
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on April 29th, 2009
The U.S. economy plunged again in the first quarter, making this the worst recession in at least half a century.
Gross domestic product dropped at a 6.1 percent annual pace, weaker than forecast, after contracting at a 6.3 percent rate in the last three months of 2008, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The report, which reflected a record slump in inventories and further declines in housing, came hours before Federal Reserve officials said the economy continued to contract at a “somewhat slower” pace.
Smaller stockpiles may set the stage for a return to growth in the second half of the year amid signs Fed efforts to reduce borrowing costs and unclog lending are starting to pay off. The contraction persisted even as lower gasoline prices and larger tax refunds helped bring an end to the worst slump in consumer spending in almost three decades.
“We are likely to emerge from this recession very slowly and the recovery will be very weak,” said Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. “The aggressive policy response we have gotten will take time to work, but it will counter the still-strong headwinds holding the economy back.” Read the rest of this entry »
-
Consumer Spending in U.S. Rises More Than Forecast
30 August 2010
Monetary Policy Gets No Respect
19 July 2010
Stocks May Surprise By Year-End
5 July 2010
Is A Global Reserve Currency A Necessity?
28 June 2010
Recent Comments