Economic growth in Canada and the world is slowing, OECD says

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development released new data on Monday that suggests Canada's economic forecast has gotten progressively gloomier for almost a year, an outlook that it shares with most other major world economies.

"In the United States and Germany, the tentative signs of easing growth that were flagged in last month's assessment, have been confirmed," the international agency that tracks wealthy nations said, "with easing growth momentum remaining the assessment for Canada, the United Kingdom and the euro area as a whole, including France and Italy."

The data, known as the OECD's Composite Leading Indicators, has a track record of anticipating turning points in the economy six to nine months before they come to fruition. OECD analysts look at things like order backlogs, business inventories, business confidence surveys and many more indicators to get a handle on where things are headed.

A reading below 100 doesn't necessarily imply that a recession is underway or imminent, but it does imply the economy is growing at less than its long term average. Canada hasn't been above that level since last May, and currently stands at 99.1.

Monday's numbers are based on readings taken in November. The figure for all OECD nations as a whole is at 99.3, the lowest overall figure since 2012.

Brazil, India, Russia and a handful of other countries are bucking the slowdown trend, and are all currently growing at or above their usual pace, the OECD's numbers show.