Slow growth in Québec actually and in the coming months

The Institut de la statistique du Québec indicated January 21 that the Québec economy grew by only 1.1% in the first ten months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. It seems that growth is even less than that these days and it will stay slow in the coming months, based on the recent evolution of the Desjardins Leading Index published February 11.


Details at: https://www.desjardins.com/ressources/pdf/ipd0216e.pdf?resVer=1455201438000

Stay cautious

The Globe and Mail published February 6 (page F2) a summary of an interview between Stephen Roach, former chief economist at Morgan Stanley's, and Rudyard Griffiths. Here is the last part of the compte rendu

"What advice do you have?

These are difficult, treacherous times, and financial markets are displaying an extraordinary amount of volatility. I think a prudent strategy is to stay very cautious and not take an awful lot of risk in your individual portfolios until there’s a clearer sense of where the underlying economic fundamentals are heading, and what, if anything, central banks are going to do."

Slow growth of the world and american economies in January, according to PMI surveys

Purchasing Managers surveys published by Markit Economics show that the world and the United States economies grew in January, but at a weak pace. The surveys results are published at:

https://www.markiteconomics.com/public

Here are graphs that show some results of the surveys:

World economy

 

USA economy

Manufacturing activity in Canada