Canada’s numbers disappoint, Carney and Bernanke speak and a bubble of bubbles.

• Reuters. Canada May retail sales slide for second month. “Canadian retail sales unexpectedly fell in May for the second straight month, led by a drop in building material and garden equipment supplies.”
• CBC. EI numbers rose in May. “The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits rose in May for the first time in eight months, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.”
• The Globe and Mail. Bank of Canada sees slower growth. “Economic growth from April to June slowed to almost half the pace of the previous quarter, kicking off four consecutive quarters in which austerity measures in Europe and a fragile U.S. rebound will contribute to a slower domestic recovery than the Bank of Canada had expected.”
• The New York Times. No Fed plans to give more support, Bernanke says. “The chairman of the Federal Reserve, in saying that it had no immediate plans to provide additional support to the economy, dashed the hopes of some economists and executives who have been pushing for action to add momentum to the sluggish recovery.”
• Bloomberg. Jobless claims in U.S. increase more than economists forecast to 464,000. “More Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign firings remain elevated even as the economy is expanding.”
• Infectious Greed. Hatzius: The U.S. slowdown. “Good deck from Goldman’s Jan Hatzius on the U.S. slowdown underway.”
• The Economist. Can anything perk up Europe? “When Europeans fear for their jobs and their savings, when their governments and companies cannot easily borrow money, when banks fail and the single currency trembles, then the European Union is facing not just an economic crisis, but a political crisis, as well.”
• National Post. Why isn’t the market collapsing? “To the bears and worrywarts, I have a question: Given the overwhelming bearish consensus, why isn’t the market collapsing?”
• National Post. Homeowners more financially fit. “I’ve repeatedly argued that the foundation of financial independence is a paid-for home. So it was nice to see a survey released yesterday bearing the headline ‘Homeowners are more financially fit.’”
• Canadian Business. Commodities as an asset class. “A new book by John Stephenson is focusing attention within the blogosphere (e.g. Canadian Capitalist and Michael James) on commodities as an asset class with long-run returns equivalent to stocks, lower volatility and no correlation to stocks.”
• Canadian Capitalist. A survey of broad commodity index ETFs and ETNs. “The expectation is that the commodity indexes will be correlated with commodity prices but may not track them perfectly. The ETFs and ETNs surveyed in this post track the total return version of the commodity index.”
• AllAboutAlpha.com. Recent evolution of commodities markets raises interesting new questions about the asset class. “While more liquid futures markets makes direct ownership of commodities futures practical, many are apparently turning to professional money managers for their exposure.”
• Humble Student of the Markets. How diversifying are commodities? “I would like to address the issues raised by my last post about buy-and-hold vs. dynamic asset allocation about the diversifying properties of other asset classes, specifically commodities.”
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade Making Money Make Sense. Types of bonds. “Bonds pay out regular amounts, usually twice a year on a semiannual basis. But bond trades are constantly taking place.”
• Million Dollar Journey. Deciphering the insurance puzzle – I. “One aspect of personal finance that is often overlooked is insurance. It’s often viewed as a product that is not needed, confusing, and/or simply expensive.”
• Million Dollar Journey. Deciphering the insurance puzzle – II. “In the last article, I briefly went over CMHC, mortgage life and term life insurance, let’s continue with other insurance options that are out there.”
• Canadian Finance Blog. What is the Registered Disability Savings Plan? “The Registered Disability Savings Plan, or RDSP, is a registered plan for parents or guardians to save for the future of a Canadian with a disability.”
• Balance Junkie. 5 financial bubbles: Are we facing a bubble of bubbles? “We’ve heard a lot about bubbles in the economic world over the past decade – so much, in fact, that it seems like we might be facing a bubble of bubbles.”

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