“Britain is paralysed by Brexit uncertainty, the Eurozone – including its seemingly invincible German powerhouse – is stuttering, and China is experiencing its slowest economic growth since 1990.
“Even the US, which had been performing well of late, is seeing a slowdown as the sugar rush of Trump’s tax cuts wears off.
“The IMF frets about “a shadow over global economic prospects” while the World Bank warns ominously of “darkening skies”.”
http://www.cityam.com/274174/buckle-your-seatbelts-next-global-recession-world-not
“The UK economy came close to flatlining last month as Brexit uncertainty intensified and the global economy weakened, with employment levels falling at the fastest pace in almost nine years.
“According to the latest snapshot of Britain’s services sector – which accounts for 80% of economic growth – businesses have begun to delay hiring staff against a backdrop of subdued demand and concerns about the economic outlook…”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/05/uk-economy-brexit-employment
“Europe’s financial system faces “potential risks” to its stability arising from a no-deal Brexit, the Bank of England warned on Tuesday, as it extended its weekly lending facilities to include euros.
“With just 24 days to go until Britain is set to leave the European Union, the BoE said businesses and households across Britain and the EU were vulnerable.”
“Germany’s finance ministry has defended its so-called “bail-in” rules that cover failing banks the country’s finance ministry said when asked about a Bank of Italy official’s comment that they were damaging and virtually impossible to apply… Designed after the global financial crisis to shield taxpayers from costly bank bailouts, bail-in rules require investors in a bank to bear losses before public funds can be tapped.”
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/germany-defends-bail-in-banking-clause/
“Even for those who haven’t been following the vicissitudes of European banks blow by blow, the latest wave of money-laundering allegations to hit some of the region’s lenders is reason to look away in despair.
Firms from Swedbank AB to Raiffeisen Bank International are alleged to have handled a broad range of suspicious transactions involving Russian money.”
“Is Canada’s economy on the verge of slipping into a recession? Lower prices for oil, a slump in real estate prompted by tighter mortgage rules and slower business spending are some of the culprits for the slowdown cited by Statistics Canada.”
“Australia’s economy is coming to a screeching halt and the nation’s car dealers are bearing the brunt. Industry figures show new car sales in February were down a whopping 9.3 per cent on the same month last year.
“That backs up a 7.4 per cent slide in January, a 14.9 per cent slump in December and a 3 per cent fall over 2018 as a whole.”
“China is slashing business taxes as it tries to stop its economy from slowing down too sharply. The Chinese government on Tuesday predicted economic growth of between 6% and 6.5% in 2019.
“That’s a decline from last year’s 6.6% rate of expansion, which was already China’s weakest performance in three decades.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/04/business/china-economy-growth-2019/index.html
“Bank of Japan board member Yutaka Harada said on Wednesday the central bank would need to step up stimulus “without delay” if risks to the economy threatened its efforts to hit its inflation target…
“He noted the growing risks Japan faced, such as slowing demand in China, simmering trade tensions, volatile stock price moves and weak private consumption.”
“Negative events “can lead to a contraction in credit and positive events fueling a domestic credit boom that could potentially result in financial stress as it turns to bust…
“Of concern to investors and rating agencies should be that emerging market companies’ debt in foreign currency has exploded in the last decade. From to 2008 until about now, foreign currency debt has risen almost 100%.”
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