Graph of the week
Easy come, easy go • In the lead-up to the economic meltdown, credit card companies papered the United States with mailings offering cards to just about anyone who’d sign up. Since the credit bubble burst, those offers have become a rare sight in American mailboxes.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
- Hosting a dinner party but can’t afford the brie? Too broke to buy a new tie for that meeting? Britain’s middle class has solved the problem—theft. A survey found middle-class consumers have turned to shoplifting to keep up appearances. No longer able to afford luxury items, they’re nicking quality cuts of meat and branded designer goods. Shoplifting is up 20 per cent to $8.7 billion.
- Another victim of the burst housing bubble is emerging—bubbly. Ahead of the crucial holiday season, French champagne makers are witnessing sluggish demand for their high-end sparkling wines. Bottles of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1998 that sold for $150 last year are 15 per cent off now, with prices expected to fall further. Meanwhile, retailers in Britain have had to slash prices by a third.
- How much are 200 $1 bills worth? US$43.7 million when they’re part of a silkscreen by Andy Warhol and sold at a Sotheby’s auction. In the surest sign that the art world has sprung back to life, bids for the classic image easily blasted by the US$12-million estimate. Last Wednesday’s auction of 65 items earned US$134.4 million, more than double what was expected.
- Sex sells, even during a recession. Sex store proprietors say business is booming despite the downturn. Babeland, a national chain of sex stores in the U.S., saw sales rise 10 per cent in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, an employee at a San Francisco Good Vibrations store has pointed out frugal living starts at home. “For the price of a movie and dinner, buy a vibrator, stay home and have fun.”
LATEST INTELLIGENCE
World leaders at the APEC summit in Singapore highlighted the importance of trade, particularly with China, in fuelling the global economic recovery. But greasing the wheels may be easier said than done as China called on the U.S. to abandon protectionist measures and Washington pressed Beijing to relax its currency policies.
“A lot of people are concerned about a wider [U.S.-China] trade war.”—Jiang Zhaokang, Beijing-based trade lawyer
“Our two countries need to oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations.”—Hu Jintao, president of China
“While Canada’s economy was built through trans-Atlantic trade, our future prosperity will increasingly depend on our ties to the Pacific.”—Prime Minister Stephen Harper
“The challenge Obama is facing is that the influence of the U.S. is rapidly waning and that he has little credibility.”
—Marc Faber, fund manager, Marc Faber Ltd.“China’s got big issues of its own and certainly doesn’t want to move on the currency, and it’s concerned
about some protectionist rumblings from the United States.”—Stephen Roach, Asia chairman, Morgan Stanley
“Economies around the world are beginning to grow again. But we cannot return to the same cycles of boom and bust.”—U.S. President Barack Obama
The Week Ahead
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19: Statistics Canada will report wholesale trade figures for Septembe r. A rise of 1.2 per cent is expected.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23: U.S. existing home sales for October will be released, with annualized sales expected to hit 5.65 million.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24: Will America’s GDP expand again in October? Economists forecast an increase of 3.3 per cent, a vast improvement from the 0.74 per cent drop last year.
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