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Flaherty warns Canada's finance minister issued a dire warning today, saying the euro debt crisis could take the world to the brink of another recession.
In a speech in Tokyo, Jim Flaherty urged the 17-member euro zone to take "concrete actions" to deal with the dual debt and banking crises.
"It could even, potentially, bring the world to the verge of another recession," Mr. Flaherty said, according to Bloomberg News. (I think we might already be on the verge, but I'm not quibbling.)
"Global growth is weakening, downside risks have heightened considerably, and confidence has waned," Mr. Flaherty added.
How to fix Europe? The bond market has decided that the euro zone is rotten almost to the core.
What began as a rout in the periphery has now spread well beyond, as Eric Reguly writes in today's Report on Business. Yesterday, bond yields spiked for France, Belgium, Spain and Austria as well.
"The ECB stepped in this morning and bought Italian and Spanish bonds in the secondary market in order to help bring yields back down after borrowing costs jumped not only in those two countries yesterday but in several other major European countries, such as the Netherlands and Austria, as worries over the lack of resolution in Europe starts to spread," said Derek Holt and Karen Cordes Woods of Scotia Capital.
Yields then jumped again as the reprieve evaporated. Yet again, the markets are being fed by rumour and speculation, and there's little in the way of concrete developments, in the run-up to other bond auctions.
"Specifically, whispers were making the rounds that French and Austria were within a scratch of being downgraded, though we have not yet seen anything official," said Mark Chandler and Ian Pollick of RBC Dominion Securities.
"The French rumour has been circulating for a while and shouldn't be taken as too much of a surprise, though on Austria we are fairly certain the breeding ground for the rumour is a function of the Moody's visit to Vienna - though it should be noted this had been pre-scheduled for some time. On the back of this, however, peripheral spreads are actually tightening - again though, this could be chalked up to nothing more than ECB buying given the inconsistent backdrop. Recall, tomorrow we have an extremely heavy issuance calendar, with big supply coming down the pipeline from both France and Spain."
In a report yesterday, Richard Kelly, the chief of european rates and foreign exchange research at Toronto-Dominion Bank in London, said there are only three options for the euro zone: Large scale buying by the ECB, a fiscal union or a breakup.
Enbridge takes Seaway stake Canada's Enbridge Inc. today unveiled a new plan to ship greater volumes of Canadian and U.S. crude to the Gulf Coast, teaming up with Enterprise Products Partners L.P. to reverse a 150,000 barrel per day pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to Texas.
Enbridge is spending $1.5-billion (U.S.) to purchase a half interest in the Seaway crude pipeline from ConocoPhillips Co. , The Globe and Mail's Shawn McCarthy reports. Enterprise owns the other 50 per cent and operates the line, which currently brings crude from Texas to the smaller refining hub at Cushing.
Cushing has become a key choke point for Canadian crude producers, as a glut of supply there has driven down the price of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark against Canadian oil is priced.
Jobless rates climb Unemployment has become the blight of our times. It's not a jobless recovery, it's a job-loss recovery in this new era of austerity.
In Britain, according to official numbers released today, the unemployment rate now stands at 8.3 per cent, its highest in 15 years. More than 1 million youth are now without work.
In Portugal, the jobless rate has jumped to 12.4 per cent, also according to fresh numbers today. And in Spain, where unemployment is an ugly 20 per cent, there's no sign of a letup. Its statistics agency said today that economic growth flatlined in the third quarter, promising no easing in the jobless rate.
U.S. inflation easing slowly Not that inflation was a particular priority anyway for Ben Bernanke at this point, but it is easing.
Consumer prices in the United States dipped 0.1 per cent in October from September, largely as pump prices fell, and the annual pace of inflation slowed to 3.5 per cent from 3.9 per cent a month earlier. The so called core rate measured by the U.S. Labor Department came in at 2.1 per cent.
"Today's CPI and yesterday's [producer price index]report confirm that price pressures are moderating in the U.S., and support the Fed's ultra loose monetary policy," said senior economist Krishen Rangasamy of National Bank Financial.
In Europe, where the central bank has tied itself in knots fighting inflation, the annual pace remained unchanged at 3 per cent in October.
- U.S. inflation recedes as consumer prices drop
- Euro zone inflation a headache for ECB
- Bank of England slashes inflation, growth forecasts
Loblaw profit climbs Helped by financial services and higher food prices, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. enjoyed a better third quarter than a year earlier but still warned about coming pressures as the Canadian grocer invests further to update its systems.
In its third quarter, profit jumped almost 20 per cent to $236-million or 84 cents a share from $197-million or 71 cents a share a year earlier, The Globe and Mail's Marina Strauss reports. Revenue picked up 2 per cent to $9.7-billion from $9.5-billion.
- Higher food prices, apparel sales, financial services boost Loblaw
- Metro profit weakens in fourth quarter