Canada’s economy grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter, missing market expectations of 1.4 percent growth but matching the Bank of Canada’s recent forecast.  Royce Mendes, a CIBC World Markets economist, said that although the 1.3 percent growth “isn’t anything to write home about, the revisions coupled with strength in final domestic demand growth do reinforce the Bank of Canada’s...

China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) increased from 49.3 in October to 50.2 in November, ending six months of contraction and surpassing Wall Street Journal economists’ prediction of 49.5. (Numbers above 50 indicate expansion.) Nonmanufacturing PMI jumped from 52.8 in October to 54.4 in November.  The Chinese Central Bank, however, warned that rising household debt in China accounts for 60...

In the third quarter, the Mexican economy came in flat. It contracted 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 and also contracted in the first two quarters of 2019. Thus, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth, Mexico meets the Government/Bankster official criteria for being in a recession.  Unadjusted GDP dropped 0.3 percent from the third quarter of 2018...

South Korea, the fourth largest economy in Asia, is on track for its worst export performance since the financial crisis of 2009, when there was 13.9 percent drop in shipments.  This November, South Korean exports fell for the twelfth month straight, down 14.3 percent from this same month a year ago. Shipments to China dropped 12.2 percent in November from...

You don’t have to be good at math to add up the numbers. Country after country, from personal income to GDP, from autos to oil, the numbers are weak and going down. Global trade slipped 1.3 percent in September compared to October, reversing gains made in the previous two months. Compared to September 2018, global trade slipped 1.1 percent, which...

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced his resignation last Friday in the wake of the most violent day in the ongoing street protests. The previous day, over 50 demonstrators were shot and killed by government security forces and dozens injured. Since the protests began in October, some 450 have been killed and 19,000 wounded.  Mahdi said he was resigning so...

Over the past six weeks, Chile has seen widespread strikes from a society that is sinking deeper into poverty while the level of income inequality rises.   Last week, a national, two-day strike by trade unions, which included dock and transportation workers, teachers, miners, and other key sectors brought the nation to a virtual halt. The strikes took place despite...

After a chaotic month of protests resulting from a disputed election and subsequent ousting of President Evo Morales, conditions have calmed down following the Bolivian Congress’s approval for a new election to select a full-time president.    While a date has not been set, the upcoming election is expected to take place no later than 23 April 2020. Former President...

Last week, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act was passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress and then signed by President Trump. The bill imposes sanctions on any Chinese or Hong Kong official found responsible for human rights abuses against pro-Democracy protesters who have taken to the streets for over six months now. The U.S. action comes...

Picking up the year-long momentum of the grassroots Yellow Vest populist movement that was sparked by rising petrol taxes, a national strike has been called this Thursday by major trade unions, including Air France, railway workers, truck drivers, teachers, firemen, postal workers, and dockworkers.  The rallying cry is centered around reduced pensions, income inequality, and the imposition of additional austerity...