中新网9月16日电 美国投资银行雷曼兄弟公司申请破产，加拿大股市也应声倒地，多伦多股市指数暴跌五百一十五点，让经济议题再成为加国联邦大选的焦点。不过，加国总理哈珀表示，加国经济成长或会走缓，但无论加、美两国，都还不至于沦入经济衰退窘境。
据“中央社”报道，哈珀15日在渥太华一项选举造势活动上表示，面临最近的种种挑战，美国经济虽不稳定，但并未崩盘，也未陷入衰退。他指出，美国金融危机发生迄今已一年，如果加美两国经济要崩溃或陷入衰退，早该出现，不会拖到此时。
正率领保守党竞选连任的哈珀认为，世界经济或会遭逢更大困难，但无论从房地产、政府财政或金融部门来看，加国经济体质健全，应不致出现与美国同样的情况。
哈珀也趁机批判最大反对党自由党党魁狄安在这次大选中主打的绿色转变计划(Green Shift)，指其中开征碳税的主张不合时宜，在现今情势下，政府应谨慎行事，避免在征税或新支出上“冒进实验”。
狄安则反驳说，保守党在经济上毫无作为，任由加国经济“撞墙”，哈珀上台两年来，加国经济成长率已退居八大工业国之末，以今年上半年为例，美国经济问题层出不穷，成长率却仍高于加拿大。
新民主党党魁林顿也批评保守党对企业毫无约束，对金融机构的监管尤其不足，也让消费者权益暴露在极大风险之下。
不过，尽管哈珀出面信心喊话，加股十五日仍然随着美股一起大跌，多伦多股市指数暴跌五百一十五点，以一万两千两百五十四点作收，跌幅达百分之四。
加国丰业资金公司经理凯勤表示，未来几天市场必定崎岖难行，但与美国同业相较，加国金融机构体质远较健全。
美国金融风暴波及加拿大 股市受牵连大跌
中新网9月16日电 加拿大金融机构甫度过美国次级房贷风暴，损失数十亿元后，现在又面临全球第四大投资银行雷曼兄弟公司破产及美林公司被收购的风险。大家对前景均非常悲观。
据“中央社”报道，15日，多伦多股市一开盘就跌了百分之二点二，加拿大帝国商银由于在雷曼公司也有投资，损失最重，股价跌了百分之三。
帝国商银是在美国次级房贷风暴中损失最重的加拿大金融机构。虽然这家银行声称在雷曼兄弟公司的投资并不多，但仍难免池鱼之殃。
自从去年夏天美国次级房贷风暴发生以来，加拿大金融机构股价已下跌了百分之十四。金融管理机构今天表示，加拿大金融机构十分健全，政府目前并无计划对加拿大银行进行纾困措施。
加拿大金融机构督察办公室发言人吉尔斯表示，虽然美国政府正在研拟纾困措施，但加拿大暂无任何特别计划。吉尔斯表示，加拿大金融机构资本健全，足可应付金融市场发生的任何状况。
加拿大央行：加拿大金融体系保持良好
外汇宝网/加拿大央行周一试图稳定市场，该央行向市场保证称，加拿大国内银行基础稳固，并处于有利位置，能够度过此次源自美国的全球金融动荡。
加拿大央行发言人Jeremy Harrison表示：”加拿大的金融体系保持良好。”
Harrison补充道：”尽管加拿大的信贷状况仍然具有挑战性，但从很多方面来看都要优于其他主要市场。”
Harrison此番言论重申了加拿大央行副行长朗沃思(David Longworth)上月的讲话。
Financial crisis ‘worst I have ever seen’: BMO economist
Last Updated: Monday, September 15, 2008 | 5:25 PM ET
CBC News
It might not have had the visual impact of Hurricane Ike in Texas, but Monday’s shakeup on Wall Street likely is a similarly “once-in-lifetime” event.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Financial Group.
What Cooper saw was a financial meltdown with Lehman Brothers becoming the biggest bankruptcy in American history and blue-chip investment house Merrill Lynch & Co. becoming a green light discount special and taken over by Bank of America.
The result at the end of Monday was two financial giants disappearing along with the prospects for a short-term U.S. economic turnaround.
Shaky Wall Street
“It’s all basically going down the drain,” said Franz Wenzel, who helps oversee about $830 billion as deputy director for investment strategy at Axa Investment Managers in Paris, to Bloomberg News. “The rhythm of the shoes that drop has accelerated. That’s what we follow with caution.”
As a measure of how bad the Wall Street situation became, stock sellers dumped equity issues at an increasingly rapid pace as the day progressed.
As markets closed, the Dow Jones industrial index fell 4.4 per cent, or 500 points, and, in Canada, the TSX slid by 5.4 per cent, or 515 points. That represented the TSX’s second worst day of the year.
Some equity holders were initially concerned that other financial heavyweights, such as the insurance company American International Group Inc. and the country’s savings-and-loan Washington Mutual would follow Lehman into bankruptcy proceedings.
Other investors just decided that the turmoil of Monday combined with recent bad economic news was enough and they sold for peace of mind.
The markets were buoyed somewhat during the day by central bank intervention. The European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada, the Swiss central bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve all pledged more financial resources to allow ailing firms to cover shorter debt coming due earlier.
As well, a group of 10 financial institutions pledged a total of $70 billion US for firms seeking cash.
“These actions reflect the extraordinary market environment. The banks are committed to continuing to work closely with one another … to ensure the industry is doing everything it can to provide additional liquidity and assurance to our capital markets and banking system,” said the group in a press release late Sunday night.
Soothing Talk
Unlike central banks, however, North America’s political leaders took a more hands-off approach to Wall Street’s problems.
U.S. President George Bush talked about the ability of the country’s financial markets to recover on their own.
“In the short run, adjustments in the markets can be painful both for people who have investments and employees of affected companies. In the long run, I am confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient and can adjust to these developments,” he said at the White House on Monday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson went even further, saying Washington was not interesting in bailing out Lehman.
“I never once considered that it was appropriate to put taxpayer money on the line in resolving Lehman Brothers,” Paulson told reporters on Monday.
Potential suitors for distressed Lehman were scared off in recent negotiations after Washington refused to offer guarantees to possible buyers.
Earlier this year, the federal government did extend public assistance to ailing Bear Stearns, a troubled brokerage firm that was eventually bought by J.P. Morgan Chase.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a similarly measured response to the global economic turmoil.
“I don’t think now that the atmosphere should turn to one of complete doom and gloom,” he said in Ottawa. “My own belief is that if we were going to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now.”
Advisers said individual investors still need to have a strong financial plan — and stomach — to deal with recent ups-and-downs in the equity markets.
“Something [like this] happens every few years,” said Dimitri Mastoras, regional manager for BMO Retail Investments in Toronto. “It is how you react that’s important.”
Nervous markets
Still, that type of stolid attitude might not be long-lasting, either for policymakers or individuals.
Economy watchers are worried that the cataclysm in the financial world could wind up affecting the so-called real economy in terms of lower savings and incomes for individuals and slower GDP growth for the country.
“It’s clear we’re one step away from a financial meltdown,” said Nouriel Roubini, chairman of the consulting firm RGE Monitor.
Thus, Washington might be forced to get more involved if the problems in the investment sector keep growing, experts said.
After all, the underlying health of the economy might not be that important if investors believe the financial problems are growing.
“Just the psychological impact of this kind of failure is going to be significant. It will colour people’s feelings about their well-being and the integrity of the financial system.” said Samuel Hayes, finance professor emeritus at Harvard Business School.
Harper unfazed by market crisis
Dion accuses Conservative Leader of leading Canada’s economy to a performance that lags even the troubled U.S.
BRIAN LAGHI and DANIEL LEBLANC AND CAMPBELL CLARK
Globe and Mail Update
September 15, 2008 at 6:59 PM EDT
OTTAWA and ST. JOHN’S — The American financial crisis has quickly reverberated on the campaign trail, with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper saying that the Canadian economy is surviving the turmoil and that fears of a recession are in the past.
“I don’t think the atmosphere should turn to one of complete doom and gloom,” Mr. Harper told reporters this morning as he kicked off the second week of the Conservative Party’s re-election campaign.
“My own belief is if we were going to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now.”
Later today, Mr. Harper took his fight for re-election to economically banged-up southern Ontario, aiming to wrest away seats he needs for his majority from local Liberals.
Mr. Harper warned a crowd of about 600 party faithful in London that Ontario would be particularly hard-hit by Stéphane Dion’s Green Shift, saying the carbon tax portion of the policy would hurt Ontario’s manufacturing sector.
“The carbon tax will badly hurt the economy of Southwestern Ontario,” Mr. Harper said.
But Mr. Harper may find himself with a challenge on that front, given the battering Ontario’s manufacturing industry has taken over the past few years. He was also reminded in a Liberal advertisement released to the media yesterday of remarks uttered by his finance minister, Jim Flaherty, who said earlier this year that, if he was advising international investors on where to put their money, Ontario would be the last place.
The speech took place in the riding of London North Centre, currently held by Liberal Glen Pearson. Southwestern Ontario is seen as ripe territory for potential growth, often voting Progressive Conservative before that party merged with the Canadian Alliance. There are currently two Liberals, one Tory and one NDP representing London.
Mr. Harper’s response to the collapse of a second large U.S. investment house Monday, and the opportunistic takeover of a third, comes as the Toronto stock market tumbled, the Canadian dollar continued to lose value and the price of oil closed below $100 U.S. a barrel for the first time in six months.
The TSX pared 515.55 points, as the demise of the Lehman Brothers brokerage and the sale of Merrill Lynch deepened worries about the U.S. economy and its impact around the world.
The Canadian market fell more than four per cent and is down 18.7 per cent from its most recent high June 18.
Mr. Harper said that, although there are significant problems in the United States, its economy is still resilient and not in recession.
“I wouldn’t throw in the towel on any of this quite yet,” he said.
Mr. Harper has pitched his party as the best-placed to handle turbulent economic waters, particularly in opposition to Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion’s Green Shift, which includes a tax on carbon. However, his declaration that the fears of a recession are behind the country may somewhat undercut that argument.
Speaking in Ottawa, Mr. Harper used the U.S. financial crisis to argue that the ideas of his opponents are unworkable in the current climate.
“This is not a time for wild experiments and new taxes or grand new spending schemes,” he said. “Governments must be able to act with prudence during a difficult economic time.”
Mr. Dion shot back by suggesting Mr. Harper has been a rudderless economic manager who spent on election-minded gimmicks but led Canada’s economy to a performance that lags even the troubled U.S.
Mr. Dion said the Liberal Green Shift would cut taxes on areas that would stimulate the economy – incomes, savings, and business profits.
“The difficulties in the United States are something that we worry about. But still, they are outperforming the economy of Canada today. Their first six months [of 2008] have been better than ours in terms of economic growth.”
“Mr. Harper did nothing to prepare Canada [for] that. Nothing to invest in the productivity of our economy. Made bad choices regarding the way he spent – he spent more than any other government before him, but he built nothing,” Mr. Dion said.
He said Canadian economic growth was slower than that in the U.S., and other G8 countries, in the first six months of 2008, and that Canada lost more jobs in July than in any month since 1991, when Brian Mulroney was prime minister.
He added later: “And what is the plan of Stephen Harper, anyway? It’s the same mistakes that have been done under Mulroney. He spent a lot, he has no direction, and we are close to deficit and close to a recession.”
NDP Leader Jack Layton pointed to the financial crisis as proof that Canada cannot follow in the footsteps of the United States, and cannot afford to elect a right-wing government.
“Events in the United States’ financial markets are a clear warning about what happens when government doesn’t do its job and deregulation goes too far. This is another example of why conservative governments are bad for the economy,” Mr. Layton said.
William Robson, president of the C.D. Howe Institute, agreed with Mr. Harper that the Canadian economy remains relatively strong despite the economic turmoil south of the border. Still, Mr. Robson said the American financial crisis will certainly have an impact on Canada.
“They’re raining on our party,” he said.
Mr. Robson said he is encouraged that on the election trail, none of the major party leaders is promoting a return to deficits or opposing the Bank of Canada’s low inflation targets. He said it is a sign of a growing maturity on the Canadian political stage, pointing out that the situation will not have an immediate effect on people’s every day lives.
“When things get rough, it’s the time to remember our long-term objectives,” Mr. Robson said.
Before making his remarks, Mr. Harper announced a spending promise worth $147-million that would allow self-employed Canadians the opportunity to access maternity and parental benefits enjoyed by other wage earners who pay into the EI system.
“Ironically, self-employed Canadians who are successful and who create jobs must pay into the EI system on behalf on their employees, but cannot access those benefits themselves,” Mr. Harper said. “This is not right.”
Currently, self-employed Canadians cannot contribute to the Employment Insurance scheme and, thus, are not eligible to receive maternity benefits that other employees who do pay into the fund enjoy. Those Canadians eligible for maternity benefits and want to remove themselves from the work force to stay home with their newborns can receive a year’s worth of benefits at around 60 per cent of their salary.
There are currently 2.6-million Canadians who work for themselves in the country.
The program would be funded by premium payments. It is another in a series of tangible announcements that the Conservative began making during the last election. They include notions like help for apprentices, GST cuts and other pledges.
Asked if announcement was an effort to attract female voters, Mr. Harper said it was a policy to respond to a real need.
In St. John’s, Newfoundland, Mr. Dion unveiled a $250-million proposal for funding refits of fishing boats to make them more energy efficient, and argued that using less fuel will save them more as diesel-fuel costs rise than Mr. Harper’s proposal to cut diesel taxes by two cents a litre in four years.
The same approach will make Canadian businesses more competitive, especially if corporate and personal taxes are cut, fuelling savings and investment, he argued.
“We need to cut taxes on the productive activities – on our income, savings, investments. On the investments the fishermen need to do to have good vessels – we need to cut taxes on that. And we need to shift it to pollution. And then it will be good for the economy because you will cut taxes on productive activities. It will be good for the environment because you out a price on pollution. As long as it is free, it will be difficult to reduce it,” he said.
“And it will be good for the people, because we Liberals will cut taxes especially for middle and low-income Canadians. A family that is living with $20,000, they will receive $2400 of tax credits from the government.”
Mr. Dion continues to be dogged by criticisms, even from within his own party, that his plan is not getting through to voters, who don’t understand it and fear it’s just another tax.
Monday, as he campaigned in St. John’s, John Efford, the federal natural resources minister in Paul Martin’s Liberal government, said most Newfoundlanders don’t get it, and are wary about being taxed more.
“I can tell you the average person on the street doesn’t understand the carbon tax,” he told reporters.
Mr. Dion, however, insisted that it is good economics – and that Mr. Harper has focused on election-minded tidbits to attract voters. He didn’t specify what he was referring to, although Mr. Harper has brought in a series of narrowly-targeted tax credits he promised in the 2005-06 campaign, for tradespeople’s tools, kids sports programs, and bus passes.
“Stephen Harper is only concerned about the next day, the next poll, to show gimmicks to buy your vote for the next election. Never he’s concerned about the next generation,” Mr. Dion said.
With a report from The Canadian Press
