Month: March 2020

Why Are Mortgage Rates Rising? Over the past month, the Bank of Canada has lowered its overnight rate by a whopping 1.5 percentage points to a mere 0.25%. Many people expected mortgage rates to fall equivalently. The banks have reduced prime rates by the full 150 basis points (bps). But, since the second Bank of…

  Bank of Canada Moves to Restore “Financial Market Functionality” The Bank of Canada today lowered its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points to ¼ percent. This unscheduled rate decision brings the policy rate to its effective lower bound and is intended to provide support to the Canadian financial system and the…

Fed Cuts Overnight Rate One Percentage Point But Markets Plummet In an unprecedented Sunday afternoon meeting, the US Federal Reserve cut their key policy rate by 100 basis points (bps) to a level of 0%-to-0.25% (see chart below). Also, the Committee announced increased access to the discount window where the Fed makes loans to banks….

Dr. Sherry Cooper live on CTV discussing the Bank of Canada cutting interest rate to 0.75%

Extraordinary Coordinated Policy Actions To Ease the Economic Impact of Pandemic In Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would introduce a “significant” fiscal stimulus package, as part of a coordinated effort with other Group of Seven countries to counter the virus-driven global economic slowdown and calm markets. In an exceptional press conference held at…

World oil prices are in free fall after Saudi Arabia slashed its crude sale price Sunday, signalling the start of a price war after OPEC talks with Russia broke down without an agreement on production cuts. The threat of increased crude supply, on top of prices already weakened over fears the global outbreak of a…

Dr. Sherry Cooper live on CTV discussing global market turmoil as oil prices plunge.

Global Markets in Turmoil, Oil Prices Plunge Along With Yields Markets shuddered in the face of a price war for oil and the economic fallout from the growing outbreak of coronavirus. Frightened investors poured into haven assets sending yields to unprecedented lows. Oil prices tumbled 30% after Saudi Arabia said it would cut most of…

Dr. Sherry Cooper discusses the Bank of Canada rate cut and subsequent Canadian mortgage rate drop on CTV News.

Steady February Job Market Ahead of Virus Scare Job growth in Canada remained robust last month with net employment gains of 30,300 – all of which were in private-sector full-time jobs. The unemployment rate rose a tick to 5.6%, but that is still down from a year ago and around multi-decade lows. The positive news…