Economic Indicators

Policies need time to ease credit market

Global equity markets remain in the cellar, as frozen credit markets slowly thaw. There have been a few stellar days on the market, but they have barely made a dent in the losses incurred over the past year. So far, the response to the credit crisis has included rate cuts, mortgage buybacks, coordinated takeovers and […]

By Steven Lamb |October 20, 2008

7 min read

Brace for slow recovery

If there was any doubt that North America is in a recession, it has been laid to rest by five of Canada’s top economists, speaking at the Economic Club of Toronto on Monday. The only question that remains is How bad will this be? “Trying to do an economic forecast in this kind of turmoil […]

By Steven Lamb |October 6, 2008

4 min read

Signs of the times

Manufacturing employment in Canada, as in the United States, is on a downward trend, despite the fact that in 2007, the proportion of employed people in Canada was at its highest level in at least three decades, while the national unemployment rate sank to a 33- year low of 5.8%. Despite job losses, retail trade […]

By Staff |October 1, 2008

1 min read

Who’s next?

Dominos keep falling. It started with Bear Stearns, then Fannie and Freddie got bailed out. Then came Merrill Lynch and Lehman, and then another bailout. This time AIG, followed by rumours of other merger deals. It’s strange to watch one of the most laissez-faire administrations in U.S. history resort to hard-core Keynesianism to prevent a […]

By Philip Porado |October 1, 2008

2 min read