Economic Ties to the US

In the US it's Martin Luther King day so the US markets are pretty much all closed except for some futures activity. It's holidays like this that remind us how dependent the Canadian economy is on the US, seeing that the bulk of our economy is export base, and the majority of our exports go to the US.

On this lazy day on the Toronto Stock Exchange, indices and stocks are barely moving and with pathetically low volume. Those that do show some activity are often issues that are sensitive to the futures markets, and usually take their cue from international markets.

While this certainly is a welcome break it is also sad in that it makes plain just how our economy is not really under our control. The politicians can prattle and spend all they like but a recovery in Canada will not come until the US recovers. There is no short term solution that we can implement here.