Economics Newsletter – July 3, 2022

A new UWES article, a stock contest update, upcoming events, and more!

Written By: Peter Robertson and Syed Afridi

Canada’s Economy at a Glance

Economics Society News, Events, and Articles 

-Join us for a networking event hosted with FARMSA on July 6th from 530-7PM in HH 1108

-Read our first article of the term The Cost of Overincarcerating Indigenous Canadians by Pashmina Rupani

-Check out how you are doing in our stock contest with the updated rankings below!

News and Noteworthy

Canadians are in a spending mood heading into summer. What that means for inflation
New data released by TD Economics suggests that despite rising prices, consumer demand is up significantly this summer. The report suggested that real spending in May was up 15% year-over-year, largely due to pent-up demand and increased savings throughout the pandemic. Recreation and entertainment saw the biggest increases in demand, with spending up 40% from pre-pandemic levels. Read more.

Canada’s economy grew in April, but May contraction expected
New data from StatsCan this week showed that real GDP grew 0.3% for the month of April. The largest growth was seen in the mining, and oil & gas sectors, with increases of 3.3% and 3.9% respectively. Despite this growth, updated estimates for May show an expected decline of 0.2% which would be just the 2nd monthly decline over the past year. The expected decline in May is largely due to falling home prices and a slowdown in many good-producing sectors. Read more.

Here’s why experts say Canada isn’t headed for a recession
As inflation has continued to rise over the past several months, there has been a rising fear among the general public that Canada could be entering a recession. Senior economist James Marple says these fears are largely overstated as Canada’s economy is still bouncing back, with real GDP expected to have grown at an annualised rate of 4.4% for June. Marple believes the healthy state of the labour market and continued GDP growth will be enough to counteract the effect of increased inflation rates on Canadians throughout the rest of 2022. Read more.

Bitcoin rally falters as digital assets struggle to gain footing
Bitcoin, fresh off its biggest-ever monthly decline, whipsawed traders with wild swings on Friday as digital assets struggle to regain their footing. The largest token rallied as much as 11.3% in Asia on Friday, briefly closing in on the $21,000 level. Bitcoin then quickly gave up most of those gains, trading around $19,400 at 11:30 a.m. in London. June’s 41% drop was the steepest in Bloomberg data going back to 2010. Read More.

The end of Roe v Wade will hurt poor women most, economists warn
The United States Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, the nearly 50-year-old landmark decision that recognised women’s right to abortion, will come at a high economic cost, some economists warn while other experts and anti-abortion advocates argue that higher fertility rates will have a positive effect on the economy. Read More.

Surging Fuel Costs Are Causing Demand Destruction, Says Vitol
The global surge in the cost of fuel is starting to weigh on demand, according to the world’s biggest independent oil trader.Consumers are being hit by the run-up in gasoline, diesel and other oil products, Mike Muller, head of Asia at Vitol Group, said Sunday on a podcast produced by Dubai-based Gulf Intelligence. Read More.

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