Canada-U.S. Business Council: "Global Financial Instability: Outlook From Award Winning Financial Forecaster" November 17, 2011

The global economic outlook is clouded by risks. Fears of a double-dip in the U.S. economy have been added to the seemingly growing list, which had previously included Europe's sovereign debt crisis as well as Japan's shaky recovery from the devastating effects of the earthquake. In the U.S., the soft job market, weak housing, financial market stress and the fiscal situation are acting to slow the economic recovery. In this uncertain environment, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been forced to maintain current easy policies until mid-2013. Canada is not immune from the global turmoil and the Bank of Canada is now in neutral mode.

Dr. Sherry Cooper will discuss the economic and financial outlook for the U.S. and Canada against this backdrop of important cross-currents.

Dr. Sherry Cooper

Executive Vice-President and Chief Economist

BMO Financial Group

Dr. Sherry Cooper is in constant demand as a speaker and writer because of her ability to simplify and de-mystify the complex subjects of economics and finance. Sherry is also very good at what she does. She received the Lawrence Klein Award for U.S. forecasting accuracy in 2010, beating out a panel of 50 economists predicting the four-year period from 2006 to 2009. This was no mean feat, as the period encompassed the U.S. housing bubble, financial crisis, recession and recovery.

Canada' national newspaper calls Sherry "the megawatt celebrity economist". She leads a highly respected team of economists and has been repeatedly cited as one of the most influential women in Canada. Dr. Cooper is regularly quoted in the financial press and you have heard her often on radio and TV. Sherry published her third book, The New Retirement: How It Will Change Our Future in January 2008 and it was a blockbuster bestseller.

Dr. Cooper has an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and began her career at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. Following five years at the Fed, she joined the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) as director of financial economics and moved to Canada in 1983 to become Chief Economist at Burns Fry.