Phantasmix Stock Market Blog

Bacon-flavored vodka — kills flu bacteria and helps you deal with the pork withdrawal symptoms.

As a live witness of the SARS debacle, I’d like to reminisce for a bit. We had 251 SARS cases in Canada, with 17% mortality rate (very high!). People stopped eating out and shopping at the malls, Chinatown was a “no-go zone” for a long time, tourism was hit, movies stopped filming in our “Hollywood of the North”. SARS had cost Ontario’s health-care system $945 million.

Economic impact, especially on the city of Toronto, was quite staggering and lasted for close to 3 years. Two years AFTER the last SARS case my friends in the U.S. kept asking me if we’re still taking precautions, staying in, if we had been hit etc. etc.

So if this swine flu takes hold, economic effects are unpredictable and the costs can be quite high.

Consensus (briefing.com): -4.7%

GDP Falls 6.1% On Record Drop In Investment

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. economy contracted violently again in the first quarter of the year as business investment declined at a record rate, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Real gross domestic product fell at a 6.1% annualized rate in the first quarter, nearly matching the 6.3% decline in the fourth quarter of 2008. The two-quarter contraction is the worst in more than 60 years. The big story for the first quarter was in the business sector, where firms halted new investments, and shed workers and inventories at a dizzying pace to bring down production and stockpiles to match the lower demand from U.S. and foreign markets.

Source: MarketWatch

Can you imagine the Pope saying this?

If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.

Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetans