Douglas Porter Quotations

The thing about the quarterly figures is they're more driven by what took place at the end of the previous quarter and the start of the current quarter than what happened at end of the current quarter. These numbers tell us spending had a little more momentum heading into 2003 than the quarterly figures would indicate.

Canadian consumer spending is finally poised to hit the brakes after a spectacular run earlier this year,

Given that there are virtually no other signs that Canadian spending suddenly weakened in February, this sharp drop in imports is likely to prove to be a fluke.

Clearly, Alberta is ground zero for wage pressures.

I think it will improve liquidity and the attractiveness of owning Canadian financial assets, although I don't see it as a watershed event for Canadian financial markets.

Usually the incentives and the ways builders are allowed to design subdivisions to allow for extra densities sooner or later reduces that cost by a lot.

I suspect there will be enough positive news in other areas to persuade consumers there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that the economy is moving to better times, but it will be a gradual process, and confidence may be flat in the next couple of months.

I'm actually encouraged by how well the economy hung in there in September and October during the worst of the energy price spikes. The bigger threat to growth is the rising interest rates.

It's a red flag. Any time the nation's largest retailer stumbles a bit, it's a warning sign.

These solid results suggest that the economy actually had a fair bit of momentum heading into 2003.