CA Economic Fundamentals 2008-10

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What`s Behind the Curtain?
Canada
2008-10
Online Edition
CA Economic Fundamentals 2008-10

 

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Canada`s economy grew in July

Canada`s gross domestic product soared 0.7 per cent in July, led by the energy sector which accounted for almost half of the increase, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday.

Manufacturing and wholesaling industries also contributed"significantly" to the advance, the federal agency said.

It was the quickest month-to-month rise since March of 2004 and easily exceeded economists` forecasts.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...71-bd4b962f4e2b

 

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Homebuyer`s market looms across Canada

OTTAWA -- Canada`s housing market is close to becoming a buyer`s market for the first time in over a decade, says a report by CIBC World Markets.

Its projection that house prices will likely fall another five to seven per cent came as the real-estate industry reported the number of homes put up for sale fell in August from record levels of the previous four months.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/mon...04-cfa4161256df

 

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Most of us living from one payday to the next

OTTAWA - Most Canadian workers, and a lot more than two years ago, have been living paycheque to paycheque, according to survey results released amidst a global financial crisis that could tip the economy into a recession in which there would be fewer and even smaller paycheques.

"Feel like you have to really stretch your paycheque to make ends meet?" an analysis of the results released Wednesday by CareerBuilder Canada asks, adding that if so, "you are not alone."

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/bus...5f-db6d0e0968f7

 

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Long downturn in United States likely a good bet, IMF warns

OTTAWA -- The United States, Canada`s main export market, is likely headed for a deep recession, the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday in a report in which it notes that the current financial crisis there is the type that`s most likely to lead to such a downturn, and suggesting the government`s proposed bailout of the banking system is the right course of action.

And a Canadian bank is warning there will not only not be any recovery in Canada`s economy next year, it will be even weaker than this year, as will the U.S. economy.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...af-0b3b4a4a2216

 

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No easy way to stop Harper

The day before Friday`s release of the Leader-Post`s poll for the Palliser riding, a caller wavering between the Liberals and the NDP phoned to encourage the newspaper do similar polls for all 14 Saskatchewan ridings.

This way, the anti-Conservative voter said, those like him who simply wanted to stop Stephen Harper and Conservatives from getting a majority would have a better sense of which candidate was their best option.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...62-9560199057be

 

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Buyers still want to get into home ownership

Canadians still want to own their own home. For some, though, ownership might just have to be postponed for a while.

There is no urgency in the national marketplace for folks to race out and grab the first place they see in case somebody coming behind them snaps it up.

Things just aren`t as crazy as they were 18 months or so ago .

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/n...7c-6256ea02c979

 

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Why Canada may dodge U.S. crisis

It`s an economic Pearl Harbor.

That`s how Warren Buffett, the legendary stock picker and world`s second-wealthiest man, describes the current credit crisis and the threat it holds of triggering a global recession.

And because the economy is under attack, Buffett argued, the $700 billion bailout scheme passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday was needed to rescue troubled U.S. banks from insolvency in America`s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/511760

 

[DragonflyProperties]

Hi all,In the following report, Canada ranks 13th out of 131 countries/economies representing > 98% of the world`s GDP. The US is #1.Global Competitiveness Report 2007 - 2008

Date published: 2008

Source: World Economic Forum

Description: The Global Competitiveness Report series has evolved over the last three decades, offering invaluable insights into the policies, institutions, and factors driving productivity and, thus, enabling sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity.

Produced in collaboration with leading academics and a global network of research institutes, The Global Competitiveness Report provides users with a comprehensive dataset on a broad array of competitiveness indicators for a large number of industrialized and developing economies. This year`s edition features a record 131 economies, accounting for more than 98% of the world`s GDP.

Key findings:



Canada ranks 13th on the global competitiveness index out of 131 countries/economies with a score of 5.34 out of 7.[/color] style="color:black">[*]On the business competitive index, Canada ranks 14th for business competitiveness, 17th for sophistication of company operations and strategy, and 14th for quality of business environment.In comparison, Canada ranked 12th in the global competitiveness index in last year`s report.

http://www.gcr.weforum.org/

Keith

 

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Is an Internet tax coming?

The emergence of cultural funding as a hot-button political issue in the current election campaign appears to have taken virtually everyone by surprise. The roughly $50 million in cuts may be tiny in terms of the overall federal budget, yet the significant impact on the cultural community has propelled the issue onto the national stage. While leaders debate the merits of public funding for the arts, whoever forms the next government will quickly face a far bigger cultural funding issue that promises to make the current dispute seem like a short preview as compared to the forthcoming main attraction.

http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/512201

 

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Is it time to create a holding company?

By definition, a holding company is a corporation that is typically used to hold the stock of an operating company. The holding company itself does not produce goods or services; it has no employees. Its sole purpose is to own or hold shares of active companies with assets, people and business operations.

"Visualize the owner or the owner and his family at the top, the holding company, which is owned/controlled by the people at the top and, below that, the operating company," says Grant McDonald, partner in charge of tax services in the Ottawa office of KPMG.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/s....html?id=862345

 

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Smaller businesses leading economy

OTTAWA - Small- and medium-sized businesses will continue to hold up better than the overall economy during the downturn and into a recovery next year, says CIBC World Markets.

"This is significant," it says in a report released Monday, noting that this will be the first time in two decades that the small business sector has outperformed the economy during a downturn.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...d9-75dbae222323

 

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U.S.-style house crash not forecast

Canada`s top bank economists say the United States is headed for a longer economic decline and a slower recovery than during a typical recession – and this will sideswipe Canada and other economies around the world. They told a Toronto audience yesterday they expect the decline in U.S. home prices that triggered a widespread financial crisis and bank failures will continue, with a further drop of 10 per cent to the levels of 2002, before confidence and credit markets can start to recover.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/512857

 

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Canadian bank deposits secure, CDIC says

MONTREAL (CNS) -- Real-estate agent and former school principal Fran Rotman, 80, had one nagging concern entering Tuesday`s annual meeting in Montreal of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp.

If a major insurance company like AIG was to fold, might that also bring down the CDIC, the institution insuring the bank deposits of everyday Canadians?

The answer from CDIC president Guy Saint-Pierre reassured her. The CDIC, he said, was a Crown corporation, and as such a branch of the government of Canada.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...87-ae14ba13313f

 

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Person-to-person lending gaining ground on Web

Social lending, person-to-person, is getting more attention as other sources of small loans dry up. Borrowers are looking for angels willing to make small business and personal loans. Angels gamble that they can find dependable people, make some money and have some fun.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...48-e00361b865cc

 

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World banks lower rates

OTTAWA–Several of the world`s central banks, including the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve, have cut short-term interest rates by half a percentage point in a co-ordinated international action.

The banks said Wednesday morning they were acting to ease "the recent intensification of the financial crisis," in a move that will provide "timely and significant support" to the economy.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/513915

 

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Canadian housing starts remain solid

Canadian housing starts remained strong in September, running at an annualized rate of 217,600 units – but with noticeable weakness in Ontario.

Last month`s rate of new home construction was up a slight 200 units from August, according to data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., which cited strong activity in the multi-unit segment.

However, the seasonally adjusted rate of urban starts fell 6.6 per cent in Ontario, while rising or remaining unchanged in the rest of the country, the CMHC figures showed.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/513937

 

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Financial crisis threatens Canada-Europe free trade

PARIS - Canada could become a casualty if the economic crisis ramps up protectionist sentiment in Europe, a senior politician there said Wednesday.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country takes over the European Union presidency from France on Jan. 1, said in an interview his country will join French President Nicolas Sarkozy in backing a proposed Canada-European Union trade agreement.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...06-4cf1ea1ede13

 

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Minority gov`t OK with Harper

VICTORIA -- With polls showing the Conservative lead shrinking and after flirting early in the campaign with talk of a majority, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday he would be satisfied with just a win.

"As a Conservative, I`m satisfied with any mandate. If we can win two victories in a row, it`s a major advance for the Conservative Party," he said.

Harper has been asking voters to give his minority government a "stronger mandate" because the last Parliament was "dysfunctional."

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...e0-70830f31ac6c

 

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Economists predict further rate cuts

An unprecedented round of co-ordinated interest rate cuts by the world`s major central banks is unlikely to resolve the escalating financial crisis, while more action may be needed by the Bank of Canada to keep this country from slipping into a recession, economists cautioned yesterday.

Those warnings followed an early-morning move by the Bank of Canada to cut its overnight rate to 2.5 per cent from 3 per cent, part of a joint effort with six other central banks in the United States and Europe to tackle what has been described as the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/514426