2008

Ontario's economy shrank last quarter with GDP adjusted for inflation declining by 0.3%. With the largest economy in Canada in tatters, the mining boom in Alberta and BC is ever more important.From the Globe & Mail:Ontario's economic…

No one is paying a whole lot of attention to Australia right now because of the massive busts in the US, the UK, Spain and Ireland. But, Australia has had a property boom as well. And this boom looks like it's coming to an end.IN further…

The latest bit out from the U.S. is that the services sector has unexpectedly contracted.From Bloomberg News:U.S. service industries unexpectedly contracted in June as a gauge of prices soared to a record and employment reached an all-time…

After finding that UK and European manufacturing are in the doldrums, today we hear that UK services are also contracting. This surely must mean that the UK is in or will soon be in recession.From Bloomberg News:U.K. services from airlines…

With a slew of layoffs ranging from airlines to banking, expect both claims data and the unemployment rate to spike up substantially. This week may be the first such week as jobless claims came in at 404,000, the 2nd time over 400,000 this…

So after much posturing about inflation and what to do about it, the Fed backed down, and the ECB stepped up to the plate. What the effect on currencies and the bond market will be is anyone's guess. But, given the Fed's rhetoric does not…

The data was better than expected. I will look to see what a drill down says about the data. My initial take is that the data look fairly benign: construction fell by 43,000, manufacturing employment fell by 33,000. Within…

Update 4 Jul 2008: see a fuller answer to this question at my new post: The ECB is right and the Fed is wrongThat's the question Ambrose Evans-Pritchard addressed in his blog yesterday. I am firmly in the deflationist camp, meaning…

Oil tightened its squeeze on world economies today soaring to a new high of over $145 a barrel. Eurozone growth is also expected to take a further hit at lunchtime when the European Central Bank is expected to raise rates to curb…

Money Week points out the scenario for Taylor Wimpey, the UK house builder resulting from the top-of-the-market merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey, now that shareholders have rejected its rights offer:We've been saying you should…