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Archive for May, 2009

Has the recession bottomed out?

May 25th, 2009

recession-2Recession in the US will bottom out in fourth quarter, says Moody’s economist Economy won’t ‘kick in to high gear’ until 2011 or 2012, Mark Zandi says.

Mark predicts the battered economy will begin a slow upward climb after the recession in the United States bottoms out in the fourth quarter of 2009,

“The economy won’t come roaring back,” he said. “The sectors that generally lead us out of a recession — housing and vehicles — are flat on their back and won’t revive rapidly. The economy will kick into high gear in 2011 and 2012.”

It is expected that China will lead the way followed by the United States. Mexico will likely follow since Mexico’s economy has suffered as the global crisis chokes demand in the U.S., which buys 80 percent of the country’s exports.

Mexico needs U.S. consumer demand to pick-up and it does not look good if consumer confidence is an indicator of future demand and unemployment is a driver of consumer confidence. The Congressional Budget Office expects the unemployment rate to keep rising through 2010 to peak over 10%.

It does not look like the recession in Mexico has bottomed out and it does not look like it will in the near future.

Jose Ruiz is a Principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ Monterrey office. As an executive recruiter he has worked on executive search projects for multinational clients in industrial sectors and consumer markets. He can be reached at +52 (818) 8625-6521 or jruiz@heidrick.com

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit
www.heidrick.com

Mexico Indexes, Mexico Industry , , , , ,

News this week is not expected to be good. But it marks the past, not the future.

May 18th, 2009

auto-manufacturingMexico’s central bank cut its key interest rate by three quarters of a point Friday saying strong action was needed because the economy had contracted more than expected this year after a fall in exports to the United States and the national shutdown to control swine flu.

This will be an active week:

On Monday, we are expecting to hear that March industrial production declined 8.41 percent year-on-year (according to a Reuters survey).

On Wednesday, the release of the gross domestic product numbers are expected to show the economy shrinking 7.61 percent in the first quarter, compared with the same period a year ago.

On Thursday, March retail sales data are expected to show a decline of 5.93 percent, while Mexico’s consumer price index for the first half of May is expected to fall 0.3 percent.

“A string of sluggish economic data should reinforce expectations of a potentially deeper rate-cut cycle,” RBC Capital Markets said in a research note.

However, it is widely believed that the first signs of an economic turn around will come from US consumer indicators. As the US consumer goes so does the economy in Mexico.  The peso and Mexican stocks soared as US recession fears began to ease early this week.

Jose Ruiz is a Principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ Monterrey office. As an executive recruiter he has worked on executive search projects for multinational clients in industrial sectors and consumer markets. He can be reached at +52 (818) 8625-6521 or jruiz@heidrick.com

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit
www.heidrick.com

Mexico Indexes, Mexico Industry ,

Are things feeling positive?

May 11th, 2009

46The peso remains strong floating around 13 pesos to a dollar and inflation in April was reported at 0.38%, an improvement over March’s 0.58%

In another positive sign for manufacturing in Mexico the U.S. government report showed employers cut fewer jobs in April than economists forecast. The U.S. buys 80 percent of Mexican exports.

“This was a good number,” said Jaime Ascencio, a fixed- income strategist in Mexico City at Actinver SA, the nation’s biggest independent money manager. “It raises bets that diminishing job losses will translate into more consumption.”

Economists are forecasting Banco de Mexico will trim its target to 5.25 percent from 6 percent on May 15, according to the median of 16 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. The bank has reduced rates by 2.25 percentage point so far this year to 6 percent last month in an effort to revive growth.

With information from bloomberg.com>

Jose Ruiz is a Principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ Monterrey office. As an executive recruiter he has worked on executive search projects for multinational clients in industrial sectors and consumer markets. He can be reached at +52 (818) 8625-6521 or jruiz@heidrick.com

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit
www.heidrick.com

Mexico Indexes, Mexico Industry , , ,

ERIAC Capital Humano – La Revista del Ejecutivo de Recursos Humanos

May 8th, 2009

Eriac Capital Humano¿Qué hace a un buen lider en tiempos de crisis económica?

ERIAC Capital Humano - La Revista del Ejecutivo de Recursos Humanos

Num 46 | Mayo-Junio 2009

Por Jose Ruiz 

[Read Article] [Download PDF]

 

 

Jose Ruiz is a Principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ Monterrey office. As an executive recruiter he has worked on executive search projects for multinational clients in industrial sectors and consumer markets. He can be reached at +52 (818) 8625-6521 or jruiz@heidrick.com

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit
www.heidrick.com

Leadership , ,

Economic activity in Mexico came to a screeching halt

May 7th, 2009

Mexico-Swine-FlueIt’s been a week headlined by swine flu as most of Mexico’s economic activity came to a screeching halt in unprecedented action to curb the spread of the disease.

Actions halted nonessential state services as well as the private sector from May 1 to May 5.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is confident will soon return to normal and regain economic momentum. “Mexico is trying to return to normalcy as soon as possible,” Calderon said in a televised interview broadcast yesterday. The President said it is too soon to estimate the economic impact caused by the virus. “Some economic sectors may recuperate immediately,” he said.

Experts estimate the economic halt has cost 2 billion pesos ($150 million) of lost gross domestic product per day.

Health Minister Jose Cordova declared yesterday that the epidemic is in a “declining phase” and appears to have “contained itself”.

Activity in the country began to return to normal on May 6.

Jose Ruiz is a Principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ Monterrey office. As an executive recruiter he has worked on executive search projects for multinational clients in industrial sectors and consumer markets. He can be reached at +52 (818) 8625-6521 or jruiz@heidrick.com

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit
www.heidrick.com

Mexico Industry , , , ,

Jose J. Ruiz | Executive Recruiter
Heidrick & Struggles | Executive Search in Mexico