Filing tonight from The Prince Hotel in Lima Peru:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking here on the eve of the APEC leaders' summit, said markets “remain in a state of fear” and vowed to take “unprecedented fiscal actions if they are necessary” to stimulate economic growth and ease tightened credit conditions.
Harper was to have a one-on-one meeting with U.S. President George Bush on Saturday morning before giving a speech to CEOs and leaders from the 20 countries that make up the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. He will also have a private meeting with the president of South Korea on Saturday.
Both South Korea and Canada have been trying for nearly a decade to forge a new trade agreement.
Following the G20 leaders summit last weekend in Washington, stock markets in Canada and around the world suffered one of their worst weeks ever.
“The markets remain in a state of fear,” Harper said at a news conference here after he and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe signed a free trade deal between the two countries. “Those fears aren't always rational, but they're very real.”
Wait a hold-it!
Why is the PM attributing human characteristics to the markets? Markets are not human beings; they have no arms or legs, brains or brawn, let alone senses and feelings. Markets cannot be in a state of fear.
I call bull!
The markets are operated and dependant upon the people behind them, such as the speculators and analysts. The market reacts to their positions and emotions. They are in a perpetual state of anxiety and fear of what is going to fall next, and how badly, so they often over-react because of those fears.
So when Mr. Harper, or anyone for that matter, refers to the markets (people) as living in “a state of fear”, they would be quite correct to say so.