China's economic growth continues to cool off - MarketWatch

SHANGHAI--China's economy grew 6% in the third quarter, landing right on the central government's full-year baseline target for gross domestic product, as business activity continues to deteriorate in the world's No. 2 economy.

Growth across the board cooled in the third quarter, despite some recoveries in industrial production and retail sales at the end of the quarter, according to data published Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

But investment in fixed assets, a measure of construction activity that has long been a major economic driver but is becoming less so, was weaker in the first nine months, with a 5.4% rise from a year earlier. That compared with a 5.5% pace in the first eight months and was down from 5.8% growth announced after the first half.

Investment in the agricultural, manufacturing and industrial sectors retreated in September while infrastructure investment accelerated ahead of the Communist Party's celebration of its 70th year in power on Oct. 1.

Ding Shuang, an economist with Standard Chartered, said the pickup in infrastructure investment was attributable to greater bond issuances to finance projects launched by local governments, though he said the acceleration in September's industrial production was probably due to the inclusion by the statistics bureau of previously missed data.

Chinese growth has been on a downward trajectory for the past several years. Each quarterly slowdown in growth pulls the economic performance to new lows not seen since the current measure of GDP was adopted in 1992. The economy performed worse in 1990, when China was reeling from the 1989 crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square, which crippled investment.

The deceleration reported Friday compares with a 6.2% rate of growth posted in the second quarter--which economists said was driven by more lending--and a 6.4% figure in the first quarter, which was helped by a March tax cut worth 2 trillion yuan ($283 billion).

"Despite increased downward pressure on economic growth, major economic indicators remained in a reasonable range," a spokesman for the Statistics Bureau, Mao Shengyong, said, citing steady employment and inflation, aside from energy and food prices.

The fourth quarter, Mr. Mao forecast, would feature "conditions and supports" for the economy, including a less-steep drop in auto sales and industrial production, as well as stabilizing infrastructure investment.

Mr. Mao also cited apparent progress between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators as a positive factor, describing it as "a good thing for the markets and the global economy, including the Chinese economy."

Capital Economics's China economist, Julian Evans-Pritchard, wrote in a note that despite the stronger September figures, downward economic pressure is building.

"We expect monetary policy to be loosened before long in response, but it will take time for this to put a floor beneath economic growth," Mr. Evans-Pritchard wrote.

The quarterly figure was slightly lower than a median forecast for 6.1% growth in a poll of 13 economists by The Wall Street Journal. Beijing's target range for GDP growth of between 6.0% and 6.5% this year has anticipated a weakening performance. The average for the first nine months is 6.2%.

Last year, the Chinese economy expanded 6.6%.

Friday's report showed value-added industrial output in China rose 5.8% in September from a year earlier, accelerating from a 4.4% figure in August and better than a median 4.9% forecast of 15 economists surveyed by the Journal.

Retail sales climbed 7.8% in September from a year earlier, matching economist expectations. That was a touch better than August's 7.5% rise.

The 5.4% growth in construction activity matched economists' median forecast.

Home sales by value for the January-to-September period rose 10.3% from a year earlier, versus a 9.9% gain in the first eight months of the year. Investment in commercial and residential real estate gained 10.5% in the first nine months of the year, unchanged from the first eight months.

Construction starts were somewhat weaker, increasing 8.6% from January to September from a year earlier, compared with 8.9% in the first eight months of the year.

The government put the final consumption expenditure at 60.5% of the GDP in the first nine months of the year, with investment at 19.8% and net exports at 19.6%.

Liyan Qi and Grace Zhu contributed to this article.

Write to James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.com

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2019-10-18 03:51:00Z
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What are the risks of consuming cannabis edibles? Expert weighs in - CTV News

TORONTO -- With new regulations on cannabis edibles and extracts now in effect, one expert is warning users and parents of the risks involved with these new products and strategies on how to consume them safely.

Edibles is the broad term for cannabis-infused products, which can include beverages, cotton candy, dissolvable strips, gummy candies or baked goods.

But unlike smoking cannabis, the latency period after consuming edibles can range from half an hour to six hours before the "high" from the THC effect fully kicks in.

Dr. Amy Porath, director of research at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, told CTVNews.ca over the phone that “it takes a lot longer for people to experience those effects.”

“And that’s because the product has to go through the digestive system,” she said. One of the biggest mistakes people can make is to accidentally consume too much and experience a stronger, unpleasant and unintended high.

EFFECTS CAN LAST UP TO 24 HOURS

“What we want individuals to know is to expect that it’s going to take a bit longer before you feel the effects,” Porath said. “And not just wait 20 minutes and then take more because you think it’s not working or you didn’t take enough.”

Porath said residual effects could even be felt between 12 and 24 hours after consumption.

“It’s important to keep that in mind if say you’re using the product on a Sunday evening and you have to go to work on Monday,” she said.

EDIBLES CAN HAVE A MORE POTENT EFFECT

Porath also warned new users of cannabis extracts or edibles to be aware of potentially potent THC levels, which are placed on all product labels. She reiterated the government’s advice to “start low and go slow.”

She added that “it might be helpful -- if it’s your first time – to use with a trusted individual.”

Health Canada also strongly warned people not to consume cannabis edibles and get behind the wheel.

Although the government has regulated products to have plain packaging and child-proof caps, Porath advised people to ensure edibles are safely stored away from both children and pets.

“To them, it’s just a cookie or a brownie,” she warned. “If there are children in the house it may be wise to invest in a lockbox.”

She also advised people to get edibles from legal vendors because “there is that quality control. And you know you’re getting a product that isn’t contaminated that doesn’t contain mold.”

TRY NOT TO MIX WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES

The Canadian government has also warned users to avoid eating cannabis edibles with nicotine, alcohol, prescription medication, illicit substances or other health products.

Porath explained this was, in part, because “we know that there’s an additive effect when you’re mixing substances together.”

She also cited studies which show that for “individuals -- who are using cannabis on a regular basis or frequently -- there is a higher risk or increased risk of psychosis. And that risk is enhanced for those who have a family history of psychosis.”

Psychosis is an abnormal condition where sufferers have trouble determining what’s real and what’s not. Some other symptoms include incoherent speech, sleep problems and lack of motivation.

Porath also mentioned there were studies “suggesting there is a relationship between anxiety and depression but we don’t know the nature of the relationship.” This means people are potentially using cannabis to deal with those issues or those issues could be causing cannabis use.

“We still have a lot of research to understand what some of the effects are,” she stressed.

'CANNABIS IS AN ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCE'

Porath lastly made a general warning that “cannabis is an addictive substance.”

This means that for adolescents who start consuming cannabis frequently and regularly, “they have a much higher risk of developing what’s called a cannabis-use disorder or an addiction to cannabis.”

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October 18, 2019 at 02:11AM

GM workers will continue strike until they vote on new agreement - The Globe and Mail

The tentative agreement between GM and the UAW now will be used as a template for talks with GM’s cross-town rivals, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.

REBECCA COOK/Reuters

Striking General Motors workers will stay on the picket lines for several more days until they vote on a tentative four-year contract agreement with the company.

Factory-level officials from the United Auto Workers union voted to recommend the agreement to members at a day-long meeting in Detroit on Thursday. But they also voted not to return to factories unless members approve the deal.

About 49,000 workers have been on strike for more than a month, paralyzing GM’s U.S. factories and costing the company an estimated US$2-billion.

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On Wednesday, the company and the UAW reached a deal that would give workers a mix of pay raises, lump-sum payments and a US$11,000 signing bonus. In return, the contract allows GM to proceed with factory closures in Lordstown, Ohio; Warren, Mich.; and near Baltimore.

Details were posted Thursday on the United Auto Workers website as factory level union officials met to decide if they’ll approve the deal. Workers went on strike Sept. 16, crippling the company’s U.S. production and costing it an estimated US$2-billion.

The Detroit Hamtramck plant, which GM wanted to close, will stay open and a new electric pickup truck will be built there. Meanwhile, the Lordstown area will get a new battery factory that is expected to employ 1,000 workers. In addition, a company called Lordstown Motors could also set up a factory that would initially employ 400 workers. But neither of those would come close to the shuttered Lordstown assembly plant, which two years ago employed 4,500 people making the Chevrolet Cruze compact car.

The deal shortens the eight years it takes for new hires to reach full wages and gives temporary workers a full-time job after three years of continuous work. Workers hired after 2007 who are paid a lower wage rate will hit the top wage of US$32.32 an hour in four years or less. The deal also provides a US$60,000 early retirement incentive for up to 2,000 eligible workers.

The tentative agreement between GM and the UAW now will be used as a template for talks with GM’s cross-town rivals, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. Normally the major provisions carry over to the other two companies and cover about 140,000 auto workers nationwide. It wasn’t clear which company the union would bargain with next, or whether there would be another strike.

The strike at GM immediately brought the company’s U.S. factories to a halt, and within a week, started to hamper production in Mexico and Canada. Analysts at KeyBanc investment services estimated the stoppage cut GM vehicle production by 250,000 to 300,000 vehicles. That’s too much for the company to make up with overtime or increased assembly line speeds.

GM and the union have been negotiating at a time of troubling uncertainty for the U.S. auto industry. Driven up by the longest economic expansion in American history, auto sales appear to have peaked and are now heading in the other direction. GM and other car makers are also struggling to make the transition to electric and autonomous vehicles.

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Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with China and his tariffs on imported steel and aluminum have raised costs for auto companies. A revamped North American free trade deal is stalled in Congress, raising doubts about the future of America’s trade in autos and auto parts with Canada and Mexico, which last year came to US$257-billion.

Amid that uncertainty, GM workers wanted to lock in as much as they can before things get ugly. They argue that they had given up pay raises and made other concessions to keep GM afloat during its 2009 trip through bankruptcy protection. Now that GM has been nursed back to health – earning US$2.42-billion in its latest quarter – they wanted a bigger share.

The union’s bargainers have voted to recommend the deal to the UAW International Executive Board, which will vote on the agreement. Union leaders from factories nationwide will travel to Detroit for a vote on Thursday.

The earliest workers could return would be after that.

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October 17, 2019 at 11:27PM

Black market persists year after pot legalization - BC News - Castanet.net

Photo: The Canadian Press

Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, an unlicensed marijuana shop, in Vancouver.

The weed is expensive, the selection is limited, the black market persists, and licensed stores are scarce.

It's one year into Canada's experiment in legal marijuana, and hundreds of legal pot shops have opened. While many residents remain proud of Canada for bucking prohibition, a lot still buy cannabis on the sly, because taxes and other issues mean high-quality bud can cost nearly twice what it did before legalization.

Much of the drug's production and distribution over the years has been controlled by outlaw groups, including the Hells Angels, and replacing such criminality with safe, regulated sales is a key goal of legalization.

Yet legal sales in the first year are expected to total just $1 billion, an amount dwarfed by an illegal market still estimated at $5 billion to $7 billion.

"One customer told me, 'I love you and I want to support you, but I can't buy all my cannabis here. It's too expensive,'" said Jeremy Jacob, co-owner of Village Bloomery, a Vancouver pot store that feels more like a museum gift shop, with its high ceilings, graceful lighting, tidy wooden shelves and locked white cabinets hiding packages of marijuana. "The black-market producers are being well rewarded by legalization."

The nation has seen no sign of increases in impaired driving or underage use since it joined Uruguay as the only countries to legalize and regulate the sale of cannabis to adults — those over 19 in most Canadian provinces. Delegations from other countries, including Mexico, have visited Canada as they explore the possibility of rewriting their own marijuana laws.

But officials promised legalization would be a process, not an event, and they weren't wrong. Kinks abound, from what many consider wasteful packaging requirements and uneven quality to the slow pace of licensing stores and growers across most of the country.

Canada allowed provinces to shape their own laws within a federal framework, including setting the minimum age and deciding whether to distribute through state-run or private retail outlets. Some have done better than others.

The result: There now are more than 560 licensed stores across Canada, but more than half are in Alberta, the fourth-largest province.

Ontario and Quebec, which together make up two-thirds of Canada's population, have only about 45 shops between them. In Newfoundland, Canada's easternmost province, pot shop owner Tom Clarke said he's about to hit $1.5 million in sales but isn't making any money, thanks to rules that limit him to just an 8% commission.

Online sales, designed to ensure far-flung communities can access the market even if they don't have a licensed shop, have been underwhelming, at least partly because consumers are reluctant to pay with a credit card if that transaction might come to the attention of U.S.-based banks or border guards, said Megan McCrae, board chair of the Cannabis Council of Canada industry group.

Nowhere are the challenges of legalization more pronounced than British Columbia, which has had a flourishing cannabis culture since U.S. military draft-dodgers settled there during the Vietnam War era. They grew what became known as "B.C. Bud," high quality marijuana cherished by American consumers.

In Vancouver, which has 2.2 million residents and is Canada's third-largest city, there was tacit approval of marijuana even before legalization. Though storefront distribution of medical marijuana never was allowed by law, about 100 dispensaries operated in the city before legalization arrived.

Around the province, authorities have visited 165 illegal dispensaries in the past year and warned them to get licensed or shut down. Despite some raids, the government has been reluctant to close them all before more licensed shops open.

Licensing has been glacial, though, thanks to a change in power in the provincial government and cities being slow to approve zoning and other requirements, partly because the province has no tax-revenue-sharing agreement with local jurisdictions. Regulatory hurdles have also made it tough for B.C.'s many small growers to be licensed; instead, production is dominated by large corporations churning out pot by the ton from massive greenhouses.

Regulators hoped to have 250 legal shops operating in British Columbia by now; instead, they have only about 80 private stores and seven government-run shops. Through July, legal sales in B.C. were a meagre $25 million. Alberta, with a smaller population, hit $145 million.

"Everybody still uses their neighbours and their back yards," said Susan Chappelle of the British Columbia Independent Cannabis Association.

Nevertheless, the legal market has fans. Vancouver resident Sarah Frank, who used to grow her own marijuana plants, loves that she can walk into a clean, welcoming, legal shop and walk out with a few grams of her favourite cannabis, actor Seth Rogen's Houseplant Sativa brand.

"You don't feel like a criminal," said Frank, 41. "I have friends who can't travel to the States because 20 years ago they got busted with a joint."

Some who want to get into the legal business are still waiting. With legalization looming last year, Chris Clay shut down his gray-market pot shop on Vancouver Island for what he thought would be a few months, eager to apply for a license and reopen. A year later, he's still waiting.

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October 17, 2019 at 02:35AM

Stock markets broadly up on Brexit breakthrough - CBC.ca

Canada's main stock index edged higher as gains in the materials sector offset losses in the financial stocks, while U.S. stock markets pushed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 5.96 points at 16,433.14.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 37.66 points at 27,039.64. The S&P 500 index was up 10.25 points at 2,999.94, while the Nasdaq composite was up 27.27 points at 8,151.45.

A breakthrough in negotiations over Britain's exit from the European Union also injected confidence into markets and prompted investors to move money into riskier holdings.

The Canadian dollar traded for 76.13 cents US compared with an average of 75.75 cents US on Wednesday.

The November crude contract was down 38 cents at $52.98 US per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up 4.3 cents at $2.35 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up $1.10 at $1,495.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up 1.45 cents at $2.60 a pound.

Higher than expected earnings

Netflix rose after handily beating Wall Street's third-quarter profit forecasts.

U.S. bank stocks made strong gains as bond yields rose. Morgan Stanley climbed 3.5% after reporting solid third-quarter profit and revenue.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.76 per cent from 1.74 per cent late Wednesday

Investors have shifted their focus this week to the latest round of corporate earnings after weeks of trade war-related swings. Companies have turned in surprisingly good results and have so far managed to ease some of investors' concerns over the economy with their forecasts.

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October 17, 2019 at 11:18PM

Transportation Safety Board to investigate tug sinking on BC coast - BC News - Castanet.net

Photo: Google Maps

The Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of investigators to look into the sinking of a tug boat in Howe Sound.

The board says in a statement that the tug Sheena M capsized and sank on Oct. 1 not far from the BC Ferries terminal in Langdale.

The Canadian Coast Guard spokeswoman said there were two people aboard the tug and both got out unharmed.

A coast guard statement after the sinking said the tug, which remains at the bottom of Howe Sound, had about 1,000 litres of diesel and 200 litres of oil aboard when it sank.

The B.C. government's spill incident overview says Western Canada Marine Response Corp. deployed a boom around sensitive, high-priority areas near the incident site to protect resources at risk.

The overview says a search days after the sinking by wildlife specialists and members of the local First Nation found no oiled or distressed wildlife.

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October 18, 2019 at 03:33AM

Cannabis industry contributed to spike in home prices, housing shortages: survey - CTV News

TORONTO -- Canada’s booming cannabis industry has led to a spike in housing prices and home shortages in some regions, according to a new report from RE/MAX.

For example, Smiths Falls, Ont. -- home to Canopy Growth, which Bloomberg dubbed the largest cannabis producer in the world -- now employs 1,300 people.

An unintended consequence of that employment growth is a shortage of available homes.

RE/MAX states the surrounding Rideau-St. Lawrence region is in the midst of a housing shortage because of high demand. Home sales rose by 27.1 per cent year-over-year with average prices going up by 10.5 per cent.

“I think the real story is that the cannabis industry is creating jobs and demand in the (housing) market,” Christopher Alexander, RE/MAX executive vice-president of the Ontario and Atlantic region told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.

But Smiths Falls is simply part of a larger boom. The report explains that “this trend is more pronounced in Eastern Canada, where there’s a greater number of large-scale cannabis producers.”

Atlantic Canada, where these new operations have been setting up, has been experiencing an “economic renaissance,” the real estate company said.

In cities like Wentworth, N.S. -- which houses the Breathing Green Solutions facility -- new and active listings are down and months of inventory dropped from 45 in 2018 to nine in 2019, according to the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors.

The city’s September home sales have jumped exponentially year-over-year. One province over, in Atholville, N.B., which is home to Zenabis Global Inc.’s 420-person operation, the real estate market is similarly seeing a boom.

BIG PRODUCERS HAVE BIGGEST EFFECT ON REAL ESTATE

But RE/MAX is seeing similar spikes in other markets further west such as Ontario’s Windsor-Essex area, where cannabis producer Aphia has set up a 1,000-employee facility in Leamington, Ont.

In this case, September home sales spiked by nearly 8 per cent with average prices rising 9.10 per cent.

All that being said, Alexander noted the direct effects of the cannabis industry on real estate are not yet fully known.

“It’s still early because the industry is still in its infancy,” he said, explaining that when growth companies set up shop in small communities like Smiths Falls and Leamington, there’s a direct correlation to job creation and home sales.

Real estate for sale signs are shown in Oakville, Ont. on Dec.1, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Richard Buchan

“Whenever there’s job creation … it creates more demand in the marketplace and more often than not, (home) prices will start to rise,” Alexander said.

The report stated that while Western Canada doesn’t boast the same number of large-scale producers as Eastern Canada, the Prairies are seeing a “much heavier influx of cannabis retailers.”

Alberta -- which leans more heavily on private retailers -- has become a real estate hot spot in part because of the cannabis industry -- despite Canadians’ initial resistance to pot shops, RE/MAX said.

Calgary alone boasts 50 cannabis storefronts which dwarfs Greater Vancouver’s 23 pot shops or Toronto’s six legal shops.

HOMEBUYERS BUY NEAR POT SHOPS, DESPITE SUPPOSED OBJECTIONS

A recent RE/MAX consumer survey found that 65 per cent of Canadians said they didn’t want to live near a cannabis store. But Alexander says there’s a discrepancy between what prospective homebuyers say they want and what they end up doing.

According to a 2019 poll of RE/MAX brokers, one in five Canadians live near a cannabis store and 72 per cent of people surveyed said living near one ultimately wasn’t a factor in deciding to move.

“Consumers are funny in that regard,” Alexander said. When you take into account the shortage of available homes in Canada over the past five years, being next to a pot shop is “the last thing on people’s minds.”

On the other hand, 25 per cent of homeowners said they would actually move if a cannabis store opened up in their neighbourhood, with 44 per cent saying they’d like to live near a pot shop.

Although real estate is largely cyclical, Alexander didn’t expect demand for homes nor home prices to go down anytime soon.

He expected the “natural progression” of the current trend to be people looking outside of the cities where producers have set up shop to find cheaper homes.

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October 17, 2019 at 02:53AM