U.S. consumers are likely to feel a modest jolt in commuting costs, as wholesale gasoline futures now point to an 8 percent rise in retail gasoline prices in coming days, with risk of a much more pronounced increase to follow.The surge is due to non-market derived pricing action caused by a recent policy shift from Washington on waivers around imports of Iranian oil. … READ MORE >
Canada
RSM offers a new index to measure Canadian financial conditions
RSM Canada has developed a quarterly index of Canadian financial conditions, using marketassessments of risk and accommodation as a proxy for lending and borrowing attitudes. … READ MORE >
RSM launches Canadian edition of The Real Economy
In the inaugural issue of The Real Economy, Canada, RSM Chief Economist Joseph Brusuelas closely examines the primary drivers of growth for 2019, which include modest consumer spending, government expenditures, and an economy bolstered by an increase in business investment. … READ MORE >
Uncertainty tax: the catalyst for underperformance in Anglo-American economies
An “uncertainty tax” linked to the economic realities of Brexit developments in the U.K. and trade tensions in the United States is damping overall economic activity in both economies. These issues, which are strongly linked to the breakout of economic populism around the world, are creating conditions for slower growth and recession if the current protectionist actions are sustained. … READ MORE >
Middle market companies yet to embrace hedging, despite mounting costs
Subtitle
Despite mounting cost pressures on their supply chains, just a fraction of middle market companies appear to be hedging commodity prices for the longer term, recent RSM research shows. Nearly 70 percent of executives surveyed in the proprietary RSM US Middle Market Business Index survey said they paid more for goods … … READ MORE >