From Bloomberg today, two bright spots on the economic landscape:
The Conference Board’s sentiment index climbed to 39.2, the highest level since November, from 26.9 in March, the New York- based research group said today. The gain was the biggest since November 2005.
Home prices stabilize: A report from S&P/Case-Shiller today showed that the slide in home [...]
The 25.7 percent drop in exports has prompted The World Bank to cut its estimate of China’s growth in 2009 from 7.5 percent to 6.5 percent. The cut on Wednesday was the second time in the last four months the World Bank has reduced its estimate of China’s growth. The estimate before November was 9.2 [...]
What are the signs of the recession reaching bottom? There are a number of indicators that may be of some help. For the stock market, which usually turns up a quarter or two before the economy follows, the signs are weak, but at least in the right direction: First, an upturn in the total stock [...]
In a move that sets the American tone for the meeting this weekend in London, President Obama called for coordination of increased stimulus spending by the G-20 members and for increased international cooperation in regulating the world’s financial institutions. Most agree that a new world order is needed, but there is not agreement as to [...]
Two significant signs of the worsening global slowdown come from China and Germany–two of the world’s largest exporting countries.
Consumer prices in China fell 1.6 percent lower last month than the same month in 2008. This was the first decline since December 2002. February’s result represented a fast drop from an inflation rate of 8.7 percent [...]
The U.S. economy may be in recession but the U.S. dollar is strong relative to almost all other currencies.
For many years the tradition for a new American President has been to make Canada his first international visit. This underscores the close relationship between the neighboring countries.
President Obama and Ottawa from the American side of the St. Lawrence River
We share a long, un-guarded border with Canada, and we also share a common British heritage [...]
A general view of the Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Rome, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009.
The group shot above show the attendees of the meeting. The photo below is a close up of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, left, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, second from left, and [...]
The meeting today and tomorrow of the G7 finance ministers in Rome will be looking to America for leadership in solving the global banking crisis. Timothy Geithner, our Secretary of the Treasury must step up to the task.
The dramatic drop in production in the last quarter of 2008 actually understates the magnitude of the problem with our economy.
