More perspective on slowing global demand and recent “strength” in US exports. Banking on continued demand from over-indebted, under-saved Canadians in the midst of a stagnant (and falling) housing market? Not to mention the fact that the Canadian dollar has been falling against the Greenback since last September, making US buys more expensive for Canadians with each passing week…HMMMM…
A breakdown of where U.S. exports are going.Here is a direct video link.
More postcards from the real economy: enormous global overcapacity is proving a formidable headwind to growth expectations. World trade has been falling since 2010 and the world is awash in overcapacity and oversupply: this is the same “huge misjudgment of the market” embedded in overly optimistic stock prices today.
Bloomberg Europe Editor David Tweed takes you to Germany’s deepest shipping port, which sits nearly empty due to the global slowdown in the container shipping trade.Here is a direct link.
Despite surging prices for homes and equities, consumer spending is contracting, registering its biggest monthly decline since September 2009. Quite simply, the wealth effect is rendered moot by languishing incomes.
No wonder yoy U.S. import growth has also plunged into negative territory, whether or not oil imports are included. In recent decades, this has happened only during U.S. recessions. Notably, unlike data for GDP and jobs, imports data are not revised substantially, long after the fact.
Some are surprised that inflation has failed to take off despite massive amounts of quantitative easing. The explanation is simple: recession kills inflation…
See: What wealth effect?
