For those looking for some fresh economic bad news last week, it wasn’t hard to find.
On Friday, the country that is now by some measures the world’s biggest economy, China, slumped to its lowest ebb in nearly 30 years.
The United States, the biggest economy in dollar terms, had frightening news of its own as an unexpected slump in retail sales demonstrated that country’s economic superstar, the consumer, may be about to walk offstage.
Even Canadian economic gloom got some headline treatment as the papers’ business sections gave prominent placement to sombre predictions from David Rosenberg, chief economist at wealth management company Gluskin Sheff.
“Time’s up for Canada’s economy, experts say,” was the Toronto Star’s headline on the business section front over a story from the Bloomberg business news service that quoted Rosenberg as “putting the odds of a recession in Canada at 80 per cent.”
