The News Distilled: “The Worst…Since 2008”

I’ve been having a serious case of “financial headline” déjà vu.  Over the past month I’ve been seeing the phrase, “the worst…since 2008”, repeated over and over throughout various economic and financial articles.  The repetitive nature of this ominous headline seemed glaring.  But was it really as pervasive as I thought?  Or was I just seeing something that wasn’t there?

Fueled by this “Neo”-like  curiosity, I decided to look into it further.  I searched for any article from the past month that said, “worst” + “since 2008”, “since the Great Recession”, “since the financial crisis”.

This search yielded rich results of news articles which confirmed my observations.   Without much surprise, these articles painted a gloomy picture of the global economy, reminiscent of 2008.

Despite the one-sided nature of this search, it’s generally “not good” to draw strong parallels with the Great Recession.  If the global economy continues down this path, we could end up experiencing an economic déjà vu.   Only this time we may be faced with the truth of reality as we come to realize that “Blue Pills” are suddenly hard to find.

Image Credit: Matrix.Wikia.com
Image Credit: Matrix.Wikia.com

The articles below summarize some fascinating insights into various economic struggles around the world.

Asia

China
China stocks saw Worst Jan since 2008(Monday, 1 Feb 2016)

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index tanked more than 24 percent last month while the Shenzhen Composite tumbled 27 percent, taking the title of Asia’s worst-performing indices in what has been a tumultuous start to the year.

Japan
Nikkei Suffers Worst Weekly Decline Since 2008(February 12, 2016)

For the week, the Nikkei dived 11.1 percent, the biggest weekly drop since October, 2008.

Worst Asian Junk Bond Start Since 2008 Limits Lippo Debt Revamp. (February 1, 2016)

Standard & Poor’s has eight Indonesian companies on negative outlook or on review with negative implications, the highest level since 2009.

Japan’s exports suffer Worst post-crisis fall as Chinese demand slows (February 18, 2016)

Japan’s annual exports in January fell the most since the global financial crisis as demand weakened in China and other major markets…Exports fell 12.9% year on year in January in their fourth straight month of declines…led by a slump in shipments of steel and oil products.

Indonesia
Indonesian GDP, Worst since 2008/09 crisis. (February 5, 2016)

On quarterly basis, GDP, however contracted by 1.83%, again a bit better than 1.93% expected contraction. Economists expect, Indonesian GDP growth to stick around 4.5% in first half of 2016 due to slowdown in China.

India
India: FFI (Foreign Institutional Investor) selloff in Jan Worst since 2008(Jan 27, 2016)

Foreign institutional in vestors (FIIs) have net sold equities to the tu ne of nearly Rs 10,700 crore so far in January , making it he worst start to a New Year (worst January) since 2008 when the global financial crisis roiled the markets across the world.

Taiwan
Taiwan logs slowest annual growth since ’09 (Jan 29, 2016)

The island nation’s gross domestic product expanded 0.85 per cent in 2015, the slowest rate since 2009. Meanwhile, GDP dipped 0.28 per cent in the final three months of 2015 — the second-straight month of contraction.

Taiwan’s exports could suffer as in financial crisis: official (2016/02/17)

Exports have sustained a double-digit drop for eight consecutive months, the Worst since the 2008-2009 financial crisis Yeh said Tuesday, adding that exports in the first three months of the year could all be negative. If this is the case, Taiwan will experience again the longest decline in exports of 14 consecutive months, which occurred during the financial storm, Yeh said.

Australia

Australian consumer confidence just had its Worst start to a year since 2008(Feb. 1, 2016)

Ominously, ANZ note that the last time sentiment fell in January was in 2008, right before the onset of the global financial crisis.

U.S.
Fitch: High-yield defaults Worst since financial crisis (Feb 19 2016)

Eleven U.S. high-yield bond defaults have occurred this month, according to Fitch- the highest one-month count since September 2009.

U.S. Public Pensions Post Worst Returns Since Market Crash(February 2, 2016)

Government-worker retirement plans had 0.36% return last year…the smallest advance since 2008.  State and local pensions count on annual gains of 7 percent to 8 percent to pay retirement benefits for teachers, police officers and other civil employees. When pensions don’t meet their targets, governments have to put more taxpayer money into the funds to make up the difference. The need to do so has led to credit-rating cuts for New Jersey, Chicago and Illinois, which are being squeezed by rising retirement bills.

HFR: CTAs Shina as Hedge Funds Post Worst Start Since 2008(Feb 5 2016)

Hedge fund performance since the start of the year has been the worst since 2008, according to new data from Hedge Fund Research.

Worst 12 months for high-yield bond funds since financial crisis (February 12, 2016)

Fewer than one in 10 US high-yield bond funds delivered positive returns last year

No Inflation in Sight, Say Two Bond Masters (February 20, 2016)

Personal consumption, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. GDP…according to the fourth quarter estimate…was the Worst year-end showing, year over year, since just after the 2008-09 recession ended.

This has been the Worst quarter for company earnings reports since 2009 (Feb 16, 2016)

The fourth-quarter earnings season, currently wrapping up, is shaping up as the worst quarter for earnings growth since the financial crisis, Bank of America analysts said

 Restaurant Industry Suddenly Tanks, Worst Plunge since the Beginning of the Financial Crisis (February 3, 2016)

The Current Situation Index had hit an all-time high of 103.8 last July, at a time when the restaurant industry, while keeping a worried eye on the market turmoil and the slowdown, was still optimistic that restaurants were independent from it all, that Millennials would pull through, and that consumers in general were still hanging in there. Since then, the Current Situation Index has plummeted 4.2%, on par with the worst 5-month plunge during the Financial Crisis. Back then, the index started out at a lower point, from 102 in early 2007, dropped for two entire years, in all 6.3%, to hit 95.7 in early 2009, before edging back up.  So this is not a good sign. These kinds of plunges only occur when something big is going on.

Europe

European banking sector records Worst performance since 2008 amid global turmoil. (February 8, 2016)

Fears over a sell-off in the European banking sector have gathered pace after the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index, the gauge of the banking sector in Europe, recorded its sixth consecutive weekly decline, the worst streak since 2008.

Worst Earnings Letdown Since Crisis Add to Europe Stock Woes. (February 16, 2016)

Europe’s earnings season is only half-way through, but so far even stable profit generators are showing signs of capitulation.

UK

UK productivity gap widens to Worst level since records began (Thursday 18 February 2016)

The gap – up one percentage point on the previous year – was the widest since 1991 and showed a particularly marked deterioration since the onset of the financial crisis and deep recession of 2007-09….Productivity among all the G7 countries deteriorated since the so-called great recession, but the ONS said Britain had been hit hardest.

Canada

 Alberta job losses last year Worst since early 1980s recession: Statscan (January 26, 2016)

Alberta’s job losses last year were 19,600…those losses exceed the 17,000 jobs Alberta shed in the Great Recession in 2009.  It’s the worst year since, 1982, when the province lost more than 45,000 jobs, amid the double-whammy of a global recession and the notorious NEP, a federal government program that capped prices, raised taxes and dramatically discouraged investment in the oil patch.

Canada: Retailers just endured their ‘worst year’ (February 19, 2016)

“[2015] was the Worst year since the Great Recession for Canadian retail,”
It’s been 13 months since Target Canada filed for bankruptcy protection in an Ontario court on Jan. 15, 2015, capping one of the most disastrous expansions in the history of the retail business.

Russia

Russian economy has Worst year since financial crisis (Jan 25 2016)

Russia’s economy shrank 3.7 percent in 2015, the worst drop since the depths of the global financial crisis, as the country struggled with a drop in the price of its oil exports and international sanctions