Canada’s economy unexpectedly stalled in August on weak global demand, and a slowdown in housing related products and services, Statistics Canada said in a Halloween Day release that spooked economists.
Canada’s gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced, shrank 0.1 per cent in August, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
The broadly-based decline, which defied economists’ forecast of a 0.2 per cent increase, led to speculation the Bank of Canada’s record low interest rate is unlikely to rise anytime soon.
The Canadian dollar also declined initially against its U.S. counterpart.
The economic contraction was the first in six months as weak global demand weighed heavily on mining, oil and gas extraction. Manufacturing of durable goods, including furniture and appliances, also declined.
At 1.2 per cent over last August, it was also the slowest annual GDP growth rate since January 2010.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cautioned against reading too much into a single month of data.
“We're going to see some variations, but overall, for the year we are on track with GDP growth,” Flaherty told reporters in Ottawa.
The finance minister is expected to provide more insight into the government’s revenue and deficit projections in the next few weeks in its fall fiscal update.
Despite being foreshadowed a week ago by the Bank of Canada’s downward revision to its third quarter GDP forecast, Wednesday’s dismal data took economists by surprise leading several to downgrade their quarterly or annual forecasts.
“Canada’s GPD: Boo!” BMO Capital Markets deputy chief economist Doug Porter wrote in a note to clients
Noting that 10 of 18 industrial sectors contracted, Porter said the report shows the economy is “struggling to churn out any growth whatsoever.”
Temporary maintenance shutdowns weighed on the mining, oil and gas sectors, as expected.
More worrisome was the slump in manufacturing, largely driven by a decline in durable goods production, economists said.
Weaker housing demand, likely the result of tighter mortgage insurance rules, is starting to constrain growth, TD Bank economist Diana Petramala wrote.
A robust housing market fuelled by record low interest rates has proven a mixed blessing as consumer spending has kept the economy growing but household debt levels soared.
In August, residential construction was down 0.1 per cent, and housing-related services, such as finance, insurance and real estate, also contracted. Real estate agents and brokers’ output was down 6.6 per cent in the month, the fourth monthly decline in a row.
Retail trade fell 0.1 per cent.
The few bright spots were in the public sector, where education and health made gains. Wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing also rose.
BMO reduced its annual forecast to 2 per cent from 2.1 per cent. CIBC revised its third quarter forecast down to 1 per cent from 1.8 per cent.
August’s weak performance could mean the Bank of Canada will have to put off plans to raise its record low interest rate, some economists said.
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Thursday, November 1, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Credit Card Debt Reduction
Getting into debt is easy but getting out of it can be a really difficult task. This holds good for any kind of debt and includes credit card debt too. Credit card debt reduction needs planning and discipline in the way you spend money.
Credit card debt reduction starts with a reduction in the expenditures you make using your credit card. So, the first trick for credit card reduction is to go shopping without your credit card (carry small amounts of cash). This credit card reduction technique isn’t asking you to stop shopping, instead it’s just asking you to seriously evaluate the need of anything you want to purchase and not just purchase it on the spur of the moment. So, if you really-really need to buy it, you will go back home to fetch your credit card thus introducing a delay that is instrumental in killing spur-of-the-moment purchases (and hence helping in credit card debt reduction). It gives you time to evaluate if it’s really worth going back home and getting the credit card for purchasing that item. So, in this case, credit card debt reduction is achieved by preventing the debt from building up further. It’s a very effective credit card debt reduction measure.
The other effective way of credit card debt reduction is debt consolidation i.e. consolidating debt from high APR credit cards to a low APR one. So this credit card debt reduction measure works by reducing the rate at which your credit card debt grows. Moreover, this way of credit card debt reduction also gives you a breather in the form of a short initial period when the APR is 0%. Besides credit card debt reduction, debt consolidation also brings some additional benefits which are basically in terms of rewards etc offered by the new credit card supplier. Thus this method of credit card debt reduction is really more than just a credit card debt reduction method – it’s a benefit provider too. If you are not comfortable in taking forward this method of credit card debt reduction, you can seek the help of a credit card debt assistance company.
Besides these two credit card debt reduction measures, which are really the most important credit card debt reduction measures, there are other methods too for credit card debt reduction. Another one is to ask your current credit card supplier for help in credit card debt reduction i.e. by lowering the APR. It might work out for you (as it does for some people).
Also remember, that there are people (professionals) out there who provide advice on credit card debt reduction (just in case you need them).
Credit card debt reduction starts with a reduction in the expenditures you make using your credit card. So, the first trick for credit card reduction is to go shopping without your credit card (carry small amounts of cash). This credit card reduction technique isn’t asking you to stop shopping, instead it’s just asking you to seriously evaluate the need of anything you want to purchase and not just purchase it on the spur of the moment. So, if you really-really need to buy it, you will go back home to fetch your credit card thus introducing a delay that is instrumental in killing spur-of-the-moment purchases (and hence helping in credit card debt reduction). It gives you time to evaluate if it’s really worth going back home and getting the credit card for purchasing that item. So, in this case, credit card debt reduction is achieved by preventing the debt from building up further. It’s a very effective credit card debt reduction measure.
The other effective way of credit card debt reduction is debt consolidation i.e. consolidating debt from high APR credit cards to a low APR one. So this credit card debt reduction measure works by reducing the rate at which your credit card debt grows. Moreover, this way of credit card debt reduction also gives you a breather in the form of a short initial period when the APR is 0%. Besides credit card debt reduction, debt consolidation also brings some additional benefits which are basically in terms of rewards etc offered by the new credit card supplier. Thus this method of credit card debt reduction is really more than just a credit card debt reduction method – it’s a benefit provider too. If you are not comfortable in taking forward this method of credit card debt reduction, you can seek the help of a credit card debt assistance company.
Besides these two credit card debt reduction measures, which are really the most important credit card debt reduction measures, there are other methods too for credit card debt reduction. Another one is to ask your current credit card supplier for help in credit card debt reduction i.e. by lowering the APR. It might work out for you (as it does for some people).
Also remember, that there are people (professionals) out there who provide advice on credit card debt reduction (just in case you need them).
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