16 Dec

Canadian Housing Remained Strong in November

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Posted by: John Dunford

Today’s release of November housing data by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) shows national home sales continued to run at historically strong levels last month. Competition among buyers remains intense in the detached-home market and townhouses. Still, condo apartment sales-relative-to-new-listings have slowed as new listings surged, especially in the City of Toronto. Thanks to […]

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14 Dec

Bank of Canada Confirms Commitment To Low Interest Rates

General

Posted by: John Dunford

Despite the good news on the vaccine front since the Governing Council’s last meeting in late October, the Bank of Canada reasserted its commitment to provide extraordinary monetary policy support for many months to come. The statement released today reiterated that the Bank will hold the policy interest rate at its effective lower bound of […]

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9 Dec

Bank Of Canada Keeps Overnight Rate Frozen At Effective Lower Bound

General

Posted by: John Dunford

In today’s policy announcement, the Bank of Canada stood by its pledge to hold its key overnight interest rate at 0.25%. “The rebound in the global and Canadian economies has unfolded largely as the Bank had anticipated in its October Monetary Policy Report,” the bank said. “More recently, news on the development of effective vaccines […]

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7 Dec

Canada’s Jobs Recovery Slowed Again in November With Second Wave

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Posted by: John Dunford

The Canadian economy rebounded sharply in the third quarter, posting its most rapid expansion ever. Still, it was a lower than expected gain, and early data show that momentum is quickly fading in the face of a second wave of the pandemic. Gross domestic product rose by a massive 40.5% annual rate in Q3, reversing […]

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4 Dec

Rebounding Q3 Canadian Economy Stalls in Q4

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Posted by: John Dunford

The Canadian economy rebounded sharply in the third quarter, posting its most rapid expansion ever. Still, it was a lower than expected gain, and early data show that momentum is quickly fading in the face of a second wave of the pandemic. Gross domestic product rose by a massive 40.5% annual rate in Q3, reversing […]

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3 Dec

Federal Fiscal Update–Finance Minister Freeland’s Debut

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Posted by: John Dunford

Justin Trudeau’s government, which has delivered the biggest COVID-19 fiscal response in the industrialized world, announced plans for another dose of stimulus and vowed to continue priming the pump as long as needed. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled $51.7 billion of new spending over two years in a mini-budget Monday, led by an enhanced wages […]

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17 Nov

Canadian October Home Sales Slipped for the First Time Since April

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Posted by: John Dunford

Today’s release of October housing data by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) shows national home sales fell 0.7% month-over-month (m-o-m) from September’s record high (see chart below). This is the first decline in five months, as market conditions remained tight and prices continued to rise. Competition remains intense in the detached-home market and townhouses, […]

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9 Nov

Canada’s Jobs Recovery Slowed in October With New Pandemic Restrictions

General

Posted by: John Dunford

The October Labour Force Survey, released this morning by Stats Canada, showed an employment increase of 83,600–well below the 378,000 gain in September and average monthly gains of 395,000 over the past six months (see chart below). Several provinces tightened public health restrictions last month in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases. These measures […]

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29 Oct

Bank of Canada Recalibrates Quantitative Easing

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Posted by: John Dunford

As expected, the Bank held its target overnight rate at the effective lower bound of 25 basis points with the clear notion that negative policy rates are not in the cards. Instead, the central bank will continue to rely on large-scale asset purchases–quantitative easing (QE). The central bank is recalibrating its QE program as promised […]

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27 Oct

Bank of Canada Will Stop Buying Canada Mortgage Bonds

General

Posted by: John Dunford

This Wednesday, the Bank of Canada will release its interest rate announcement and the October Monetary Policy Report. Most people expect the overnight rate to remain at 0.25%, where it has been since the pandemic hit. A few have suggested that the Bank could take a page from Australia and reduce overnight rates by 15 […]

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