Economy

Canada reported weaker than expected retail sales report. Instead of a 1.0% rise in January, StatsCan reported a 0.3% decline. Weakness was especially noted in the ex-auto component which was flat instead of up 0.7% as the consensus…

If firms that defrauded their customers gained a competitive advantage over their honest rivals private market discipline became perverse and drove honest firms into bankruptcy. The CEOs that lead accounting control frauds create…

By Claus Vistesen The past week has shown the dark side of media coverage and the analysis of current events. It is a test on just how much information you stuff down the public's throat. In the narrowness of my own world, the financial…

By Edward Hugh As Japanese officials continue to toil away in what we all hope will be a successful bid to avert a worst case nuclear meltdown, even while thousands of Japanese remain missing and unaccounted for, financial market…

This chart was put together by David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff. It shows that wage growth in the U.S. is not keeping pace with inflation. For the statistical recovery to continue sustainably, we will need to either see this trend reversed.…

This morning the Chinese central bank lifted the reserve requirement for banks another 50 basis points to a record 20% in order to curb speculation. The Chinese have been forced to tighten monetary policy due to inflation concerns and…

From the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: The survey’s broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, increased from 35.9 in February to 43.4 this month (see Chart). This is the highest…

Here are some links that seem useful in the context of the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi 1 nuclear power plant situation. I also have a picture about radiation levels in Japanese below. The Haaretz link is related because it shows that some…

By Marc Chandler The Japanese nuclear accident has implications for Europe. The EU wants to have stress tests on members nuclear plants. The tests are not mandatory, but may be difficult to refuse. Switzerland has halted its nuclear…

Rising agricultural produce prices helped boost U.S. export prices, while oil boosted import prices. Exports were +8.6% and imports +6.9%.