Skip to main content

Featured

Channel Tunnel Chaos Enters Day Two as Power Fault Drags On

The disruption, caused by a fault in the system's overhead power supply, on Tuesday upended plans for thousands of passengers in London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Rail passengers travelling between the UK and mainland Europe are enduring a second day of major disruption after a power failure shut down the Channel Tunnel, halting both Eurostar and LeShuttle services. The fault, linked to the overhead power supply, brought traffic to a standstill and left thousands of travellers stranded on both sides of the Channel. Although some services have begun to move again, operators warn that delays and cancellations will continue while engineers work to stabilise the system. Eurostar has urged passengers to avoid travelling unless essential, as many trains remain suspended or heavily delayed. LeShuttle customers are also facing long queues, with significant backlogs reported at both Folkestone and Calais. The timing has added to the frustration, hitting one of the busiest travel per...

article

Canada's Economy Shows Mixed Signals: Strong Growth in October, Contraction in November

 

Canada's economy exceeded market expectations with 0.3% growth in October, led by increases in oil and gas extraction and manufacturing, but gross domestic product likely contracted in November, data showed on Monday.

Analysts had forecast a 0.2% month-over-month rise in October, but the actual growth rate was higher. September's growth rate was also upwardly revised to 0.2% from an initial report of 0.1%. However, preliminary estimates for November indicate a contraction of 0.1%.

The stronger-than-expected growth in October was driven by a rebound in the goods-producing industry, which rose 0.9% after shrinking for four consecutive months. The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector expanded 2.4% after three straight months of declines. Manufacturing also saw a rise of 0.3% in October.

Despite the positive performance in October, the preliminary data for November suggests a contraction, with declines in sectors including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, as well as transportation and warehousing. These declines were partially offset by increases in accommodation and food services and real estate and rental and leasing.

The Bank of Canada has been cutting interest rates to address slower growth, with a recent 50 basis point reduction bringing the key policy rate to 3.25%. The central bank will release fresh forecasts along with its next rate decision on January 29.

With October's stronger-than-expected gain and November's decline, the industry-based data point to the economy growing at a 1.7% annualized pace in the final quarter, assuming December growth is flat.



Comments